Engineering education and a field journal at construction sites

Civil engineering graduates report that exposure to actual construction sites during their undergraduate training may be beneficial to their career development. This research describes the incorporation of a field journal assignment at construction sites into a land development engineering course. The authors sought to determine if student observation of active construction would result in self-reported increased proficiency in two areas: field journal skills and construction engineering skills. Results suggest that this assignment does facilitate students' proficiency in these two skills sets and can increase students' understanding of the complexity involved in active construction sites.