Needs Assessment Part 1: Identifying Common Tasks of 21st Century CM Graduates Using Alumni Feedback

Tom Leathem; Richard Burt

doi:10.29007/1zdq

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Needs Assessment Part 1: Identifying Common Tasks of 21st Century CM Graduates Using Alumni Feedback

9 pages•Published: May 26, 2024

Tom Leathem and Richard Burt

Abstract

The need for construction management programs to maintain a curriculum that is relevant to current and future industry needs is a regular challenge. Needs Assessment is a systematic approach to evaluating curriculum to determine the most appropriate structure. The most accessible option for conducting a curricular needs assessment is to do it within the program among the faculty and administration. While it is essential for these stakeholders to be key participants, their view includes only a portion of the critical perspective. A holistic evaluation should include multiple perspectives from key stakeholders, namely faculty, students, and industry. However, little literature on needs assessment incorporates the student perspective. This paper reports on results of employing a focus group approach to gain insight from recent graduates of a CM program to determine the essential activities required of new graduates in the construction management industry within their first three years. Results from two different focus group sessions indicate recent CM graduates conduct numerous technical activities, but more importantly a strong set of soft skills activities.

Keyphrases: CM Graduates, Essential Activities, focus groups, needs assessment, soft skills

In: Tom Leathem, Wesley Collins and Anthony J. Perrenoud (editors). Proceedings of 60th Annual Associated Schools of Construction International Conference, vol 5, pages 21--29

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/h1tQ
	https://doi.org/10.29007/1zdq

BibTeX entry

@inproceedings{ASC2024:Needs_Assessment_Part_1,
  author    = {Tom Leathem and Richard Burt},
  title     = {Needs Assessment Part 1: Identifying Common Tasks of 21st Century CM Graduates Using Alumni Feedback},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of 60th Annual Associated Schools of Construction International Conference},
  editor    = {Tom Leathem and Wes Collins and Anthony Perrenoud},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Built Environment},
  volume    = {5},
  pages     = {21--29},
  year      = {2024},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2632-881X},
  url       = {https://easychair.org/publications/paper/h1tQ},
  doi       = {10.29007/1zdq}}

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