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A Comparative Study of Traditional and Compressed Scheduling on Undergraduate Construction Students’ Performance

9 pagesPublished: October 23, 2017

Abstract

There is a continual need to modify the way tertiary institutions do business to meet the needs of a changing society. The focus has been on success and retention whereas the new strategy in New Zealand supports wider economic growth and prosperity. There is a need for tertiary organisations to think about existing models and means of delivery, inclusive of new and emerging technologies as well as a continued expectation of the ability for tertiary institutions to deliver content via time and cost efficient means. Traditional scheduling involves concurrent enrolment in numerous courses with less contact time over a 16- week timeframe, whereas compressed scheduling focusses on 2 courses per 8 weeks with more instructional time per week. This paper evaluates the use of compressed scheduling methods for first and second year courses on an undergraduate programme in construction in New Zealand. The quantitative study compares end of course exam results, gender, age enrolment and residency status of 2 first year courses and 3 second year courses for the students from 2011 to 2016. The outcomes are consistent with the literature and support the proposition that a similar student learning experience can be achieved in traditional and compressed courses. The findings of the study suggest that concerns associated with offering courses or providing alternative teaching pedagogies associated with traditional and compressed scheduling are unfounded. Interestingly the females in the study performed better in a compressed schedule as compared to a traditional schedule and warrants further research.

Keyphrases: adult learning, compressed scheduling, construction student performance, traditional scheduling

In: Marsha Lamb (editor). AUBEA 2017: Australasian Universities Building Education Association Conference 2017, vol 1, pages 235-243.

BibTeX entry
@inproceedings{AUBEA2017:Comparative_Study_Traditional_Compressed,
  author    = {Nicola Naismith and Lara Tookey and John Tookey},
  title     = {A Comparative Study of Traditional and Compressed Scheduling on Undergraduate Construction Students’ Performance},
  booktitle = {AUBEA 2017: Australasian Universities Building Education Association Conference 2017},
  editor    = {Marsha Lamb},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Education Science},
  volume    = {1},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2516-2306},
  url       = {/publications/paper/42Tc},
  doi       = {10.29007/xfx7},
  pages     = {235-243},
  year      = {2017}}
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