The Application Of Game-Based Learning In Construction Management

A Master of Science thesis in Construction Management by Yara Ashraf Farouk Moussa Elenany entitled, “The Application Of Game-Based Learning In Construction Management”, submitted in May 2024. Thesis advisor is Dr. Vian Ahmed. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).

Abstract

As the construction industry heads towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the gap widens between industry demands and fresh graduate capabilities. In today’s fast-paced digital age, there are three key industry needs for construction managers: strong theoretical understanding, adept technical skills, and transferrable soft skills. However, the existing traditional Construction Management (CM) pedagogy struggles to meet industry demands and student expectations regarding the development of transferrable soft skills. Experiential learning offers a great advantage to students in CM education to develop and exercise transferrable skills as well as allow them to construct meaningful knowledge based on their own experiences and at their own pace. Game-Based Learning (GBL) is a practice under Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) that uses simulation & gaming environments. While previous efforts have brought valuable insights for GBL in CM pedagogy, there still remains gaps in this research field. This thesis focuses on filling one gap, which is the lack of studies on digital games simulating the challenges of resource management. The aim of this study is to develop and evaluate a digital simulation game as a complementary teaching tool to reinforce CM students’ understanding of resource management and enhance their transferrable skills primarily decision-making and problem-solving.