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Teaching construction project management with BIM support: Experience and

lessons learned

Forest Peterson a,, Timo Hartmann b, Renate Fruchter a, Martin Fischer a

a Stanford University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, United Statesb Twente University, Department of Construction Management and Engineering, Netherlands

a b s t r a c ta r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Accepted 21 July 2010Available online 4 November 2010

Keywords:

Building Information Model (BIM)

Scopetimecost

Estimate

Schedule

Quantity takeoff

Construction design

Project management

Project-based learning

Situative learning

Virtual learning

Thispaperpresentsexperiences andlessons learned duringthe introduction ofBuilding Information Models (BIM)

in construction engineering project management courses. We illustratively show that the introduction of

BIM-basedproject management tools helped theteachers of twocourses to develop more realistic project-based

class assignments that supported students with learning how to apply different formal project management

methods to real-worldproject management problems.In particular,we show thatthe introduction of BIMallows

educators to design a class project that allowed the use of more realistic cases that better simulate real-world

project conditions, helped students to learn how different project management methods integrate with each

other, integrate change management tasks in a class assignment, and learn how to optimize project plans.

2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Knowledgeof project managementtheory is importantto participate

on a project. While mistakes in the classroom result in lower marks,

mistakesin thefieldcan affectmorale, waste resources, andin theworst-

case scenario cost someone's life. Academics universally agree that

practically applicable knowledge about construction management tools

and methods is difficult to learn. This is mainly because explicit

understanding about how to apply formal methods and tools within

the unique situationsencountered on most construction projects is hard

to gain. The application of most formal tools and methods requires

project managers to have an in-depth understanding of project-specific

information. Forexample, if a critical equipment or subcontractor fails to

perform as anticipated what impacts will this have on time and cost and

whatimpact will potential alternative operationmethods have. Answers

to such questions cannot be generalized and trivialized; they cannot be

developed through the formulaic application of the necessary project

management concepts, but depend greatly on project-specific informa-

tion. This provides a problematic situation that universities face during

the development of construction management curricula. In the past,

students had to learn practical application of methods on very simple

abstract examples because of the limited time available. This approach

did not allow students to learn how to adjust the application of project

management methods to specific real-world project contexts. To

overcome this shortcoming, educators complemented their formal

illustration of the method through abstract examples with stories of

howproject managers applied the methods successfullyon pastprojects.

While this learning approach is an improvement to only learning the

formal working of the method, the retrospective characterof storytelling

does little to help students to build up an understanding about how to

apply a certain method to solve a practical problem. In hindsight, a story

of a successful application of a method to a project management

problem, in particular, if told well, sounds obvious, while applying a

method to solve a problem that onefaces is notso easy. To overcome this

dilemma a combination of the two learning methods is necessary, during

which students applyformal methods within simulated contexts of real-

world construction projects. The design of such projects within the tight

boundaries of construction management classes is not easily possible

because it simply takes too much time for students to understand the

method and all the project-specific information to apply the method.

Due to this problem, construction professionals still acquire much

knowledge through learning-by-doing [1] with on-the-job training

activities, and it is not surprising that many criticize construction

management university programs as ineffective [2].

In this paper, we argue andprovidefirst illustrativeevidencethat the

integration of project management tools based on BuildingInformation

Models (BIM) can help educators to develop project management

class projects that simulate realistic practical situations, such as the

Automation in Construction 20 (2011) 115125

Corresponding author.

E-mail address: [email protected] (F. Peterson).

0926-5805/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2010.09.009

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Automation in Construction

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2010.09.009http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2010.09.009http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2010.09.009mailto:[email protected]://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2010.09.009http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09265805http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09265805http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2010.09.009mailto:[email protected]://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2010.09.009

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generation of a complete bid package based on a complete set of bid

documents. In particular, we show that BIM supports project manage-

ment learning activities with two distinctive features. First, BIM allows

the storage and generation of project-specific information in a

structured way. This structured way of working allows students to

understand the in-depth information of a specific project's context

relativelyquickly.Additionally, BIM allows the storage of project-related

information in a central database. This central storage allows for the

automation of many tedious work tasks that are required during theexecution of formal project management methods and the reduction in

repetitive tasks that students traditionally had to do redundantly. These

twoadvantages allow educatorsto designclass project assignments that

simulate real project conditions more realistically than before.

The structure of this paper is as follows: First, we elaborate

theoretically on the earlier-described practical dilemma that construc-

tion management educators face today using education theories and

develop a theoretical hypothesis of how BIM can overcome this

dilemma. After briefly discussing our research methodology, we then

provide first illustrative evidence for our hypothetical claim by

qualitatively analyzing two project management classes that applied

BIM-based applications. Afterwards, we discuss the theoretical implica-

tionsof ourfindings from analyzing the two classes. We close the paper

by briefly suggesting directions for future research and by providing a

summarizing conclusion.

2. BIM to support project management education

Project planning and execution depends on the valuing and

trading-off of the scope, time, and cost of the project [3,4]. Plans and

specifications represent theproject scope. Scope defines the work that

is required to complete the project successfully. Based on the scope,

project planners estimate the time it takes to carry out the work and

the costs of doing so. In practice, whether practitioners are aware of it

or not, project planning and execution is integrated project manage-

ment. In practice, the plans, specifications, quantity takeoff, schedule,

and estimate document the scope, time, and cost. Project managers

constantly translate information from these documents to understand

how the scope, time, and cost relate. While a number of formal projectmanagement methodsexist, suchas, Earned ValueManagement[5],AIA

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) [6], and ConsensusDOCS 301 series BIM

addendum [7], that promise to allow forthe generation of project plans

that integrate scope, time, and cost, the application of these formal

methods in practice still depends heavily on the experience of the

project manager. Projects operate in drifting environments [8] and,

thus, it is an art, based in tacit-knowledge, to understand when and

how to apply a specific project management method during the

planning and production processes.

To help students learn how to generate integrated project plans,

educators usually base their project management courses on two

underlying technical approaches: The cognitive scheme approach and

the behavioral approach [9]. Thecognitiveapproach focuses on learning

standardized project management methods in a formal way. Educatorstry to identify the most important methods and assume that students

mainly need to internalize the theoretical working of these methods to

be able to generate professional project plans. The cognitive learning

approaches consider the psychological learning behavior of students,

but they hardly help students to learn how and when to apply the

learned project management methods in real-world situations. At best,

educators help students to learn about possible applications of those

methods using relatively basic and abstract assignments. On the other

hand, educators who apply the behavioral approach base the students

learning on the assumption that it is possible to learn integrated project

management practice by imitating the successful behavior of others. To

do so educators gather experiences, critical incidents, and specific

occurrences frompractice. Educators assume that telling students these

stories helps them to learn how to apply project management methods

in real-world contexts. In terms of successful learning, these approaches

often fail because they neglect the complexity of the multiple

intertwined factors that even for the most experienced project

managers require some time to understand for a specific project

context. Stories cannot provide the thick context needed to understand

howproject managers in thepast successfullyapplied themethod. To be

successful, educators need to integrate both of the traditional learning

methods. Such integration requires complex teachinglearning assign-

ments that enable the application of formal project managementtheories through role-play in simulated environments of real-world

project settings [9]. Only with such assignments, students can develop

the voluntary intuitions [10] that help them to not only learn formal

project management methods, but also to develop strategies that allow

them to understand when and how to apply these methods in practical

contexts.

So far, developing such complex real-world situations for learning

integrated project management is not easily possible [11]. Due to time

and resource constraints it is not possible to design assignments during

which students would need to createa project plan that integrates scope,

time, and cost with project data that represent real-world detail. The

manualgeneration of an integrated project plan is a labor-intensive task.

Students need to understand the project drawings and specifications,

take off the quantities, find matching data about costs and productivity

rates in standard databases, and finally, establish a schedule and a cost

estimate to show the relation between scope, time, and cost. Within the

scope of most construction management curricula the workload of

project planning makes it impractical to learn cost and time manage-

ment as an integrated topic [12]. If integrated project management is

presented to the students, the case project details that practicing project

planners need to account for in the field must either be simplified to a

large extent or the case focused on challenging niche scenarios that

students would encounter as construction engineers.

Educational researchers have long established that computer

technologies are an important component to support project-based

learning [13,14]. The advancement of BIM-based project management

tools has the potential to overcome thesepracticaleducational problems

and, with further advancement, additional practical educational pro-

blems,such as learning rates.This is no differentwith theintroduction ofintegrated BIM-based tools in project management courses. There have

been significant achievements made in the use of BIM software tools to

teach architectural design and quality analysis [15,16].

An adaptable BIM system has taken form [1720] since the

introduction of computers into the construction industry. The construc-

tion industry has applied BIM in practice. Engineers and project

managers are applying BIM-based tools on a number of projects [21].

While general issues with collaboration and representation of context

are still stumbling points [17,22], several key changes supporting BIM

tools' capacity to structure and centrally store data has allowed for their

introduction in university classes. In particular, such an introduction is

now possible because:

the availability of toolsfrom multiple vendors provides robustness. the sufficient support for integration and interoperability provides

adaptability of the tools.

the widespread adoption of BIM provides a suitable selection of case

material.

the level of detail transition functions built into most BIM tools

resolves issues with representation across inherently different

abstractions of scope, time, and cost, and

the improved function for storing and linking information with BIM

components provides integrated data reuse.

These recent improvements in BIM tools allow educators to provide

their students with off-the-shelf software tools thatoffer them structured

support with integrating scope, time, and cost of a project plan in a way

that was not easily possible earlier. First, the application of BIM-based

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tools reduces the time that students need to spend on some of the

labor-intensive tasks. BIM-based tools, for example, decrease the time for

students to take off the quantities to generate the bill of materials,

schedule,and estimate [23]. Further, theintegration of modernBIM-based

tools with existing standard cost and productivity databases reduces the

time that students need to spend on collecting and keying these data

manually. Additionally, BIM-based tools theoreticallyallowthe integrated

application of several project management tools for one project. For

example, BIM-based tools allow the integration of traditional CPM Ganttchart visualization methods of schedules with 4D visualizations and

line-of-balance visualizations [24]. With traditional tools that did not rely

on an integrated BIM database to accommodate iterations in design or

optimization checks, students had to adjust changes in the underlying

project data in each of the representations manually. Due to these

workload constraints,it wasdifficult foreducatorsto facilitatethe learning

of different methods in an integrated fashion. Hence, educators

traditionally introduced and presented each method in isolation and

designed assignments that only addressed one of these methods. With

BIM-based project management software, it is now possible to use

different methods that all use data from one data source. This allows

students to learn how to use different methods in an integrated fashion.

Another advantage of the use of BIM-based project management tools

during project management class assignments is the possibility to

introduce teaching of change management methods and principles.

Incorporating changes in project plans is one of the most important tasks

of project managers in practice. Since construction projects exist in

drifting environments they require the frequent adjustment of project

plans to reflect changing conditions. In current project management class

projects,changemanagement,however, plays a rather minor rolebecause

the incorporation of changes in already established project plans is a very

time-consuming and labor-intensive task. BIM-based project manage-

ment tools allow for the storage of once established relations between

scope, time, and cost and thus enable the automatic update of most parts

of a project plan when changing one of the sub-parts.

All these advantages together allow educators to design better class

projects that allow students to learn how to optimize project plans.

Having an integrated BIM that allows different applications to calculate

schedules and estimates and to visualize project plan information, BIMshould allow students to find bottlenecks, wrong assumptions, and

other deficiencies in their project plan. Additionally, with the help to

changeone part of the integrated project plan and automatically seethe

consequences on the other parts, students are theoretically able to

evaluate, even within the restricted time and resource constraints of a

project management course, different alternatives to mitigate discov-

ered deficiencies. Overall, this functionality should allow students to

understand how to optimize project plans, something that was not

possible before.

Concluding, we hypothesize that the application of BIM-based

project management tools allows educatorsto design class projects that

allow for:

1. the use of holistic real-world cases.2. the combined teaching of different integration methods for project

planning information.

3. the incorporation of change management tasks in assignments, and

4. increased opportunities to teach project plan optimization.

3. Research methodology

To provide evidence for the aforementioned hypotheses, we

qualitatively analyze how BIM supported the learning of project

management methods in two construction management university

classes:The ManagingFabrication and Construction class at Stanford

University and the Integrated Project Management class at the

Twente University in The Netherlands. This multiple case study

allowed us to investigate the phenomenon of how BIM can support

construction management education within a real-world educational

context [25]. We selected both cases mainly because of our familiarity

with the classes. The first author of the paper worked as a teaching

assistant for the Stanford University class for two years. The second

author also assisted the Stanford class for one year and since has

designed the class at Twente University based on the experiences

gained teachingthe class at Stanford. Thethird author routinelyselects

from the Stanford student pool of knowledge for another course and

provides the opportunity to observe the students utilizing the skillsthey gained the previous quarter compared to students from other

universities [26]. The fourth author of the paper was the driving force

behind developing a class that integrates BIM-based technologies at

Stanford in thefirstplace. Theobservation of students in a consistently

presented classroom environment provides some degree of a

repeatable context and therefore allows some comparison of observa-

tions across multiple academic years. Both classes are well suited to

replicate findings across two quite different educational settings.

While the one class allowed us to provide evidence for the paper's

hypotheses using the setting of a research school in the Silicon Valley

with many non-local students, the second case allowed us an

opportunity to replicate these findings in the setting of a Western

European school with a mainly local student population.

The experimenters collected data, as will be described later, to allow

analysis that will lead to improvements in the classes, to allow

comparison between classes and to share results with others that

want to implement a similar class. Our close participation with the two

classes allowed us to collect detailed data from a number of sources.

First, and maybe most importantly, we were able to observe the

students and their progress closely. Additionally, we collected other

class-related information such as lecture notes, slides, assignment texts

and solutions,and intermediate andfinal grades. Additionally, through-

out teachingthe classes, students were encouragedto provide feedback

on the learning process and the class design. The different data sources

together allowed us to increase the reliability of our research results

through thetriangulation of data [25,27]. One tool that proved helpful to

provide structure to these rather messy and ad-hoc data collection

efforts was the generation of a number of research reports during our

early and ongoing problem definition and during our later data analysis[28]. Those drafts helped us to understand the data and observations

from the classes better and served, as mentioned by Jorgensen [29], a s a

valuable addition to the often irregular and unsystematic data

collection. A comparison of the final grades from one class (the other

class followed a stricter problem-based form and so did not include an

examination) withprevious and successive class quarters compares the

affect of the BIM-based environment on the students' examination

scoresand provides insight into anychanges in thepatterns of strengths

and weaknesses in knowledge.

The participant research set-up allowed us to gain insights into the

classes and collect data from different sources without influencing

learning processes by artificially introducing outside observers that

most likely would have influenced the natural behavior of both

educators and students. We can assume that students and educatorsbehaved in a normal classroom manner. While the direct involvement

with thedesign andexecution of thetwo classes allowedus to gain deep

insights into the learning activities and progress of the students [29], it

might have caused observer bias during dataanalysis. To counteract the

inherently biased analysis of data, we engaged the third author of the

paper, who did not actively participate in the classes, to review the

findings from an outsider's perspective [30]. In this way, we were

hopefully able to counteract some biases during the analysis of our

observations from the classes.

To provide evidence for the four hypotheses the next sections

describe illustratively two different project management classes that

incorporated BIM-based project management tools in their class

assignments. We provide background about the classes, describe the

data we collected, and provide evidence for the hypotheses.

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4. Case description

4.1. Managing fabrication and construction class Stanford University

4.1.1. Class background

The first example of a BIM supported project-based learning format

is the graduate-level Managing Fabrication and Construction course

taught at Stanford University. The class has been incrementally moving

towards the BIM-based format as permitted by software tools since1994. The class consisted of a mixture of lectures, in-class exercises,

assigned labs, team projects, presentations, discussions, and examina-

tion. With parallel coursework in cost estimating, expected undergrad-

uate coursework in a dedicated scheduling course, and the practical

experience that graduate students typically have from internships and

employment, most students were already proficient in the non-

integration aspects of project management. To extend the prior

knowledge of the students, the course's goal was to provide an

environment for students to learn advanced project management

topics,such as the significance of integrating scope takeoff, time process

scheduling, and cost estimating; as well as less easily observable issues,

such as accounting for time-variable cost, identifying the driving

production rates, understanding the implications of large and small

batching of work operations, and minimizing wasted resources. In

general, throughout the course, the students should have gained an

intuition for maximizing productivity, ensuring feasibility, and mini-

mizing risk. Through the introduction of BIM-based project manage-

ment software tools into the labs and a team project, the students had

the opportunity to engage in holistic real-world cases in a learning-by-

doing environment. In this environment, the students applied several

project management methods to develop and optimize a project plan

with the goal that they achieve an intuitive understanding of when to

apply these methods.

The course format relied on documents from recently constructed

projects as case study material. The use of real documents from a recent

or ongoing project presented the students the same medium they will

encounter as construction managers, therefore representing real-world

conditions closely. The case project's project manager provided the

students with thearchitectural scope andspecifiedquality intheformofa BIM. Hence, the students were not responsible for BIM modeling

themselves. The autumn 200809 quarter serves as the case example

usedhere,while previous and subsequentquartersprovide comparative

context. The 39 enrolled students divided themselves into 13 project

teams of three. In the autumn 200910 class, rather than use a

pre-designed BIM system, each group designed the system integration

from a selection of available software tools. Accompanying the software

set-up, lectures presented the underlying theories for the use of

ontological breakdown structure languages to convey context, the

inherent trade-offsbetween scope,time, andcost, andthe strengthsand

weaknesses of these abstract concepts. The class started with the

introductionof thecase project, a simplified BIM, and several BIM-based

applications that manage scope, time, and cost. The goal of this

introduction was to allow students to form their teams, visit the project,gain familiarity with the project documents and the lab environment,

install the BIM software tool, and acquaint themselves with the

software's user interface.

During the first lab, students learned to use the software tools and

generate an initial project schedule using the critical path method at an

operations level of detail without consideration for a feasible location

breakdown. The students developed a time plan using the software tools

as individual components without integration. The student teams relied

on spreadsheet software and paper notes to represent calculations for

quantities and durations. In this stage, the students typically found that

the limitations of the system were in the one off trait of the non-

integrated system. Changes in non-integrated plans resulted in rework of

nearly the entire plan. The students presented the results using the

provided simple BIM integrated with their time schedule as a 4D model.

This simple integration served as a first introduction of the integration

concept. Lectures at this phase emphasized case studies that illustrate

misrepresentations and context breakdowns of project management

typical of non-integrated project plans. After the initial introduction and

lab, the teaching assistantintroducedthe students to the three integration

software tools necessary to complete the integrated project plan (Table 1).

In the second lab, the students used the actual project case study

material to complete one full cycle of passing data through the

integrated project plan BIM system, resulting in an initial integratedprojectplan.The baseline wasa significant turningpointin thecourse as

students spent a significant amount of time intensively learning the

integration details necessary to complete an iteration or first pass. Lab

assistance and sometimes vendor technical support was necessary to

complete this lab. The students used the line-of-balance project

management method and iterated several times to find a solution

with a consistent workflow and labor resources. Professor Fischer

provided the students international project contacts after the second

lab. From this list, the students selected a project and contacted the

projectmanagerto obtainproject documentsand collaborate to develop

a BIM for the project. The students identified contradictions and

opportunities for optimization. The students then shared the results

with the class and sponsor through a presentation and written report.

Overall, the students' learning process replicated to some degree

practical experience in a controlled environment.

4.1.2. Case analysis

Thestudentswereable to createa completely integrated projectplan

witha mixof software from multiple vendors within theconstraintsof a

lab assignment. The students could not have produced a comparable

project plan without BIM in the same or less time at the same level of

detail and with the same completeness. The completeness and detail in

the integrated project plan then provided the holistic and thick context

that created a more realistic environment for the students. The student

preparation for this lab took several weeks and the after-lab reports and

presentations required a similar period. No one vendor specifically

supported the integrated system, but most software had import/export

functions that coupled with interoperable formats and software

specifically intended to allow universal import/export functionalityand provided for a non-vendor-specific integrated system. To provide

context, thecase study material provided a 40 MBBIM (does notinclude

the quantity takeoff, schedule or estimate). Student teams consistently

required over thirty lab hours to iterate through the fully integrated

system of scope, time, and cost. This duration is with support from a

couple of lab assistants and sometimes vendor technical support; with

less support the students would have taken longer. Compiling the

integrated projectplan consisted of seven steps: (1) operation selection,

(2) takeoff or linking of BIM components to the operations, (3) deriving

recipe-formulas for operations without a corresponding component in

the BIM, (4) scheduling, (5) compiling a 4D model check, (6) cost

estimating, and (7) an audit review. The operation selection took the

students two hours, presumably longer than typical, since they were

learning the software tools at the same time. The students used astandard database with a work breakdown structure the BIM repre-

sented automatically in each component; therefore, the operation

selection included defining the work breakdown structure. The linking

of BIMcomponents to the operations list for the takeofftook aboutnine

hours (thehoursgiven areteam hours)to complete 240 distinct links to

component groups for a BIM with 15 element types and 66 locations to

define the foundation, eight floors, and six structural and two

architectural workzones. The next step was the derivation of specific

recipe-formulas for each input to, in this case, thirty output quantities;

this step took about six hours. The schedule calculations of duration,

network sequence, and resource leveling turned out to be significantly

faster using the line-of-balance software than Gantt chart or CPM

software. Compiling activities from operations, determining the driving

production rate, linking network logic, assigning crews, and optimizing


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took twelve hours to complete. The scheduling tool imported the

quantities by location through an XML interface from the recipe-

formulas. The students calculated durations from the product of the

quantities, production rates,and crew assignments.At this level of detail

and stage of iteration in optimizing, it would have required significantly

more time with common CPM tools. A preceding class attempted a

detailed location-based schedule with a CPM software tool and

considered the task impractical. The students compiled a 4D model

from the BIM and the corresponding schedule; the students corrected

the errors in the schedule they noticed and made iterative checks of

workflow, resource leveling, key milestones, and total duration. The 4D

model required 400 distinct links between the activities and BIMcomponents, requiring about two hours. The number of distinct links in

the quantity takeoff (240 links) and the 4D model (400 links) differ

because of the methodthat eachsoftwaretool'slink function works.The

quantity takeoff tool represents locations in the operations list and links

the BIM components by location automatically, therefore resulting in a

reductionof one-sixtiethin thelinking effort.The 4D modeling tooldoes

not automatically recognize location (unless the students use a perfectly

precise BIM component and schedule activity naming standard) but the

increaseis notsixtyfold. This is because thescheduleis at a lower level of

detail than the quantity takeoff so there are fewer items to link to an

equal number of BIM components, overall still resulting in more links

than the quantity takeoff. The next step was to pass the quantities from

the recipe-formulas and the time-variable quantities from the schedule

to the cost estimate. This step took one half hour. Professionals andstudents alike often ignore or at best abstract the time-variable

quantities in non-integrated plans. This is likely because they must

complete the schedulefirstand then update theestimate if theschedule

changes. The reuse of quantities for the estimate removed a data entry

task and reduced the data entry error rate typically 10% or greater

reducing rework and mistakes. The last step was to audit for mistakes

and pass through the process again. Since the students had previously

formed the links the corrections did not require linking or derivation of

recipe-formulas, the most time consuming steps, and so was nearly

instant. This last task usuallytook onehalf hour. Thestudentsperformed

thesesteps sequentially. This thirtyhour duration includes assumptions.

The teaching assistant checked the project plan in depth only for

completeness, total cost, anda quickreview forquality.He assumed that

the quality of the plan is suitable, that student teams applied their

resources equally, and that the team efficiency and coordination was

perfect. Therefore, in reality, the true duration to complete the

integratedproject planmay have been greater or smaller thanobserved

and the true experiences of students we observed may have been

inconsistent. This would result in a false measure of performance. For a

given level of effort to create the project plan, with BIM the students

could better document their work for future reference or iteration. For

example, the students produced six files for the integrated system:

takeoff, estimate, recipe-formula, schedule, 4D, and BIM. Some students

with professional experience in estimating intuitively understood the

value of theBIM-based system,but believed thatthey could complete an

estimate in less time using a non-BIM format. To them, the value of BIMlay in the repeatable aspect. Non-BIM iteration often takes an equal

amountof time since thestudents must mostlyreconstructthe schedule

and cost information each time. The students with professional

experience perceived that with BIM, the first iteration took longer, but

all subsequent iterations reduced the workload significantly.

The students' experience with learning project management

practices through a BIM-based system resulted in key observations

made by the students of how they were able to save time by the

following advantages that BIM offered during the process of generating

an integrated project plan:

BIM System workflow

With the BIM system, corrected mistakes propagated throughout

the integrated project plan and significantly reduced reworkdelays(non-integrated formats tendto fall apart if students do not

find their mistakes prior to progressing to the next component of

the plan).

Integrated functions (recipe-formulas) for the quantities of BIM

components that were not included in the BIM allowed reduced

workload and facilitated the integration of the project plan across

multiple levels of detail.

Reduced data entry allowed increased levels of detail, allowing

greater accuracy per item.

The BIM-based process contributed to reduced waste of project

resources often attributed to miscommunication between the

quantity takeoff engineer, the scheduler, and the estimator. The

students accomplished this reduction through BIM-enabled cross-

functional communication.

Table 1

Software used in the Stanford University class. The relative sequence that software tools are listed represents the integration path, there are multiple integration paths, in particular

the 200910 class.

Year BIM (pre-made) Scope Time Cost and database Integration|

interoperable

Ontology

language

200607

10 teams

AutoCAD 2006 Architectural

Desktop (ADT)

Primavera P5.0

Graphisoft

Control 2007 v2532

Navisworks

JetStream v5.5

CIFE WBS [28]

200708

17 teams

AutoCAD 2007 ADT Tocoman iLink3 2007

ADT v3.0.9.1

Primavera Project Manager

P5.0

Sage-Timberline Estimating

Extended v9.4.3

Common Point 4D AROW [31]

Vico Control 2007 v2614 Sage-Timberline RSMeans

Commercial Knowledgebase

Tocoman Express

v2.0

Tocoman Quantity

Manager

200809

13 teams

Revit 2009 Archi. Tocoman iLink3 2009 Revit

Beta v3.0.10.4

Primavera Project Manager

P6.1 | P6.2

Sage-Timberline Estimating

Extended v9.5 prerelease

Navisworks Manager

2009.1

MasterFormat

2004 [32]

Vico Control 2009 Beta

v47284

Sage-Timberline RSMeans

Commercial Knowledgebase

Tocoman Express

v2.0.3

Microsoft Project Tocoman Quantity

Manager

200910

10 teams

Tekla 15.0

Revit 2010 Archi.

Tocoman iLink3 2009 Tekla

Autodesk QTO

Vico Constructor

Micr osof t Pr oj ect 2007 Vico Estimat or Naviswo rks Man age

2010

Varies per

student team

Vico Control 2009 Tocoman Express

v2.0.3

Tocoman Quantity

Manager Vico Presenter


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With these time savings, students were able to learn advanced

project management concepts, such as:

Time-based quantities: Among the quantities that are most

difficult to derive for project managers are time-based quantities,

for example, the quantity takeoff unit for a crane. The students

derived this quantity from the schedule rather than the BIM.

Intuition for workflow: Another difficult concept to learn in a

classroom environment is an intuition for workflow. With the

line-of-balance project management methodstudents gained this

intuition through observation of scenarios where slowing an

operation to better align the workflow resulted in reduced project

duration.

Projectmonitoring: TheBIM-based system provided the expected

quantities by location and time, therefore providing a better

understanding of project monitoring.

Project management fundamentals: Most field hands can intui-

tively explain the fundamentals of project management; they

learn this through years of practical experience. The BIM-based

process represented the same knowledge through a formal

representation of context and relations.

The learning-by-doing format exposed the students to a less

predictable environment than typical of a classroom. This was animportant point to providing a practical experience. To help counter

inherent issues with software, the teaching assistant established a

relationship with a specific IT specialist at each vendor. In this way,

when necessary,support andpatches were available withinhours.As BIM

becomes an increasingly common component of project management

tools, the skills to set up and maintain the BIM system will become

increasingly important. Through this dynamic unstructured experience,

the students learned to adapt to andmitigate issuesas theyappeared.This

same skill should prove useful when dealing with longstanding project

managementissues identified throughearlyapplications of BIM [17], such

as model-sharing, process knowledge, stakeholder motivation, human

computer interface limitations, informationflow, and the lackof generally

accepted exchange standards [22].

The BIM-based format helped students to form an intuitiveunderstanding of the critical path (CPM), location-based scheduling

(LBS), and 4D visualization project management methods. These

methods helped to illuminate the need for greater interaction between

the BIM modeler, takeoff engineer,scheduler,and estimator.Often,once

students had completed the scheduling sub-part of the integrated

project plan, having then fulfilled the two roles of BIM modeler and

scheduler, they grasped the significance of integration and became

aware of the reduced workload and significance this would have on the

completenessand detail they would be able to represent. TheBIM-based

system helped the students to learn optimization of the schedule, a goal

when maximizing productivity while ensuring constructability. The

optimization was feasible with the location-based scheduling applica-

tion using the line-of-balance view. The students optimized for

workfl

ow, resource leveling, and duration. They iterated throughthese three optimization foci until changes were negligible. Without

the BIM the connection between the quantities and the schedule and

from the schedule to the costs would have been lost, and the students

would not have gained as holistic an understanding of the scope, time,

and cost relations.

4.2. Integrated project management Twente University

4.2.1. Class background

The second case example is the Master class Integrated Project

Management at Twente University in The Netherlands. The class

introduced BIM-based technologies to support students with efforts to

integrate the three projectmanagement aspects of scope, time, and cost

using an in-class project that closely resembled realistic conditions. In

particular, students had to explore the current technological possibil-

ities to integrate project management databy learning the functionality

of BIM-based applications and applying them to establish an integrated

project plan for a real-world project.

During the 2009 class,students successfully developed an integrated

project plan for a two storey mixed use building for a local theater

company in Hengelo, The Netherlands. The functions of the planned

building comprise the storage of the group's theater props, the hosting

of thegroup's offices, andthe provision of a recitalroom.The projectwas

in close proximity to the university which allowed students to visit the

building site to obtain location-specific site information. The educator

provided the students with the complete set of bid documents for thisproject as the information basis for the generation of the integrated

project plan. Therefore, we can very well state that the class project

resembled real-world conditions very closely.

Overall, 14 Construction Management and Engineering graduate

students participated in the class. For the project assignment, the

instructor divided these 14 students into three groups offive, five, and

four students. In the first two weeks of the class, the instructor

introduced thestudents to theconcept of BIMand gavethemthe task to

evaluate a number of BIM-based project management applications

(Table 2) and choose an initial application suite for establishing an

integrated projectplan. At the beginning of every consecutive week, the

instructor then addressed one aspect of integrated project management

during a one to two hour lecture.

In the first week of generating the integrated project plan, thestudents generated a 3D BIM from the project drawings and specifica-

tions. Each student group selected a hierarchical modeling approach by

dividing the different components of the building into a product

breakdown structure (PBS).The groups then assigned the responsibility

to model in BIM the different components of the PBS to different group

members. During the 3D building information modeling, all groups

reported struggles with missing details in the 2D drawings. This forced

students to make assumptions about the scope of the project to allow

them to generate a complete BIM suitable for project management.

In the second week of the project planning effort, the students then

created an initial cost estimate using quantities extracted automatically

from their BIM linked to cost recipes. If the vendor provided standard

recipes the students used these,else, the students createdtheir own. Such

recipes, or assemblies, expand from the BIM the required representationof the construction steps and resources in the production information to

allow the calculation of costs based on the BIM components quantities

extracted from the BIM [33]. Within one week, all groups were able to

Table 2

Software used in the Twente University class.

Year BIM Scope Time Cost and database Integration Ontology

200809

5 teams

Revit 2009 Archi.

Vico Constructor

Tocoman iLink3 2009

Revit v3.0.10.4

Microsoft Project Tocoman Excel

Estimator

Navisworks Manager

2009.1

Vico Control 2009 Tocoman Express v2.0.3

Vico Constructor Tocoman Quantity

Manager

Vico Estimato r Vico Pr esen ter


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produce a cost estimate that was closely integrated with the scope

modeled in the BIM. Based on the chosen recipes the students then

developed a construction schedule in the next week of the class.

During the final two weeks of the class, students then optimized

their project plan. In week five, students analyzed and improved their

construction sequence by linking the geometrical scope of the project

with their construction schedule using 4D technology [21,34]. This

technology allowed them to visualize their planned construction

sequence spatially and to encounter and solve technical and spatialconflicts inherent in their initially planned construction sequence. In

week six, students used line-of-balance diagrams [24] in an effort to

optimize the schedule to ensure the balanced use of all the required

resourcesover theproject duration. To track theprogress foreach week,

thestudents summarized their week'swork withina weeklyreport. The

report outlined the strategy they used during the week, described the

newparts of theintegrated projectplan,and evaluatedthe usefulness of

theBIM-basedsoftware thegroup hadchosen to support thegeneration

of that aspect of the project plan.

At the end of the class, the students incorporated a number of

changes into their final integrated project plan. Students had to

change their integrated project plan in consideration of a number of

hypothetical events. The main objective of this last assignment was to

assess how well the students had integrated each of the project

management sub-concepts into their overall project plan by testing

howgood each group wasable to quickly changeany of the integrated

aspects of scope, time, or cost and determine the effects of changes on

one of these aspects on the other two. The change scenarios for the

students were:

Task 1: The client company requests a change in the design of the

facility. Enlarge the area of the storage space by 30%, change your

integrated project plan accordingly and generate a report that

clearly communicates the influence of this design change on the

overall cost and duration of the project.

Task 2: Due to a strike of all workers, all construction work stops

during weeks three and four after the start of your project. What

are the effects of this stop on the costs and on the schedule in yourintegrated project plan?

Task 3: The client asks you to accelerate work to make up the time

you lost during the strike. He offers to pay an additional Euro

50,000 if you manage to bring the project home at the originally

planned completion date. Please assess whether you are able to

accelerate your project plan within this additional budget to reach

the initially planned completion date.

4.2.2. Case analysis

In summary, each of the three groups was able to develop an

integrated project planwithin theclass duration of lessthan ten weeks.

The value of theirintegrated project plans became particularly evident

when each of the groups was able to complete the three final projecttasks that required them to incorporate scope, schedule, and resource

changes into their project plan. It would not have been possible forthe

students to finish this assignment without the availability of a truly

integrated project plan.

It is questionable whether the students would have been able to

generate the integrated project plan without the help of BIM-based

applications in the first place. In particular, the quantity take-off task

would have probably been too labor intensive. Despite the inexperience

of the students with cost estimating and the unfamiliarity with the

specific project, all student groups were able to generate a reasonably

detailed and complete estimate within a week. We can attribute this

increased productivity during the estimatingtask of the second week to

advantages discussed in the next paragraph that BIM provides the

students during their work.

These advantages relates to the general requirement of a cost

breakdownstructure for estimates that categorizes the components of

a building into different cost categories. To develop such meaningful

cost categories estimators require a good understanding about the

technical functions of the building design. Students reported that

modeling theproject in BIMhelped them to understand theimportant

technicaland geometricaspects of thebuilding. This hints towards the

possibility that the structured way of modeling a project in BIM

supported students with their efforts to understand project drawingsand specification at the start of a class project. This better

understanding, in turn, allowed students to develop different cost

categories that helped them to structure their estimating effort. In

addition to the time savings due to a faster understanding of the

building design, the automated functionality of taking-off quantities

directly reduced the time that students had to spend manually

counting and measuring the quantities for each of the cost categories

defined previously. Overall, the time saved allowed students to focus

on more important conceptual tasks related to project details that

they would probably not have been able to account for without the

use of BIM-based project management tools.

Next to the overall success with generating an integrated project

plan, students were also able to apply different project management

methods simultaneously using the integrated project information. All

groupscreated a 4D model,a line-of-balance schedule,and a cash flow

diagram that allowed for a meaningful analysis of their project plans.

However, even with these advanced project management tools at

hand, students were not able to optimize their integrated project plan

on a global level. The advanced tools used project information in

different formats and levels of detail than the integrated project plan.

To use these tools, students, therefore, had to change and enter

information that they imported from the integrated project plan

manually within the advanced project management tool. This

required change with respect to the level of detail making it difficult

forstudentsto understand howthe problems they identified using the

advanced tools would affect the integrated project plan on a global

level. While students were able to understand a part of their project

plan better using these advanced methods and find deficiencies of the

plan at the detailed level of functionality of the advanced projectmanagement tool, they were not able to optimize their project plans

globally according to the problems they realized. This finding might

point to a general trade-off that project managers have to make when

planning with integrated project management software. On one hand,

a completely integrated project plan can save much time and effort

during the planning phase and allow for quick adjustment of specific

information. On the other hand, there are situations when an

integrated project plan cannot display information in a meaningful

way to enable sound project management decisions. In this case,

project managers should recreate some information using another

format making it likely that the format is not directly interoperable

with the rest of the project plan and, thus, obstructing the core benefit

of BIM to store all project related information in a central data

repository. In the next section, we will describe the findings from thetwo cases.

5. Case analysis, findings, and implications

5.1. Comparison of the Stanford class exams

The grades of the course's final exams provide an indicator of the

students' knowledge at the end of the class. The class exam is paper-

based. To provide as transparent a representation as we could, we

chose to compare theexam results for thefour years of available exam

results, starting with 2006:

2006: the last time the class was taught without the use of BIM-

based project management tools for all students and all aspects of


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scope, schedule, and cost management (called non-BIM in this

paper)

2007: the class was taught with a number of BIM tools, but not yet

as a completely integrated project plan. The students built an

integrated project plan as a finalproject butcould notintegrate the

cost sub-part and so completed this separately.

2008: thefirst time students used BIM to integrate all parts of their

project plan.

2009: the BIM format was changed from a single system compiled

from multiple vendor tools prior to the class to a format allowing

the students to design a system or select a system provided by a

vendor.

While the overall structure of the exam did not change over the

years, the 2006 non-BIM exam did not include integration-based topics,

such as the work breakdown structure ontology, theories of different

planning methods, and integrated project modeling. A comparison of

scores in the main project management topics can provide answers to

how the introduction of an integrated project plan allowed by

BIM-based tools changed the learning patterns of students compared

to the students that did not learn with an integrated toolset for topics

like project task networks, critical path method, location based

scheduling, and schedule float. To account for differences in the exam

questions for each of the main topic areas over the years, we chose to

compare the questions for the areas that did not change. To allow for a

quantitative comparison of the scores we present the average scores of

students for each of the four years as percentages of the maximum

number of possible points.

As would seem intuitive, overall, the students who learned withBIM

were better at concepts related to integrated scope, time, and cost, but

were not as good at calculating scope, time, andcost manually (Table 3).

They performed equally on qualitative schedule network logic analysis,

that is, defining where critical activities, activity float and total float

reside, scheduling best practices, and planning. The scores from the

resource-leveling question do not show any change in understanding.

Thismay bedue tothe use inall fourclasses of a line-of-balance tool that

included resource leveling as a core component, possibly some studentsintuitively grasped this concept well while othersdid not.Therefore, the

students in thebaselinecourse mayalready have realized the benefitsof

learning the resource-leveling as an integrated topic. The comparison

shows that students instructed without BIM appear equivalent or better

at computationally preparing a critical pathmethod (CPM)schedule,are

better at location-based scheduling (LBS) concepts, and better at

calculating float. We must be cautious with this conclusion since the

overlap in scores indicates that the difference between the means may

not be significant. Students that learned without BIM appear better at

ontological work breakdown(WBS)concepts andtheirscores indicate a

more cohesive group. Without a baseline this trend is not precise. One

trend that may be a factor is software vendors have increasingly

included the WBS in their software as an automated function, removing

the students' focus on this item. For example, Revit automaticallyassociates components with the work breakdown structure ontology

from MasterFormat, Uniformat, and OmniFormat. The main conclusion

for the impact of advanced planning methods we can draw is that the

range of student scores appears to have tightened, indicating a more

cohesive learning experience for the students. The shift in advanced

planning scores may be due to the multi-BIM format; the tradeoff could

be that while thestudents become more competent in building the BIM

system itself they may not be building a BIM system that covers all the

methods and topics. The single-BIM and non-BIM course material was

selected and specifically checked that it provided a complete context to

the course topics. The exam comparison indicates that with respect to

the class that partially integrated BIM, the class that completelyintegrated the BIM had a deeper knowledge about how to use multiple

methods, such as line of balance, CPM, and 4D scheduling. In contrast,

the class that used multiple BIM tools lost some of this understanding,

although the best and average students had gained an understanding

comparable to the previous two years, but understood integrated

project modeling topics better. It appears that students did better on

conceptual questions and questions about how to best optimize a

project plan and worse on questions about standard CPM procedures,

such as CPM network scheduling or calculating project float. The exam

results reflect a shift from a quantitatively technical understanding to a

qualitatively holistic understanding of project management methods.

The advanced and integrated project management tools remove the

repetitive and predictable tasks, which are typically computational and

can be testedmore easily, while those tasks thatare holistic and difficult

to define and test remain as manual tasks. Therefore, students exposed

to a series of advanced BIM tools showed some degree of strength in

these manual, more conceptual tasks over understanding the detailed

mechanisms of the computational and repetitive tasks that are now

automated.

5.2. Cross case analysis

The case studies at both universities, while including a different

student demographic and being conducted independently by different

experimenters, found similarities (Table 4). Both student groups were

able to compile an integrated scopetimecost project plan within the

constraints of a class. The Twente format allowed the students to

complete the BIM process on a different timeline than Stanford's,Twente presented the material with a linear series of weekly

deliverables compared to the Stanford approach that emphasized the

final generation and presentation of the integrated project plan. Both

experimenters found the inclusion of either a product breakdown

structure or a work breakdown structure to represent the integrated

projectplan sub-parts andtheir level of detail as a critical attribute. Both

cases included the use of multiple project management methods, with

parallel implementation of 4D modeling, location-based scheduling, and

CPM. Student teams in both classes delivered reasonably detailed

project plans at the unit cost and master schedule levels of detail. Both

experimenters believe that it would not be possible to achieve the level

of detail and the plan completeness without the use of BIM. The failure

or breaking points of both cases were also consistent. Neither class was

able to include the goal of a meaningful global optimization iteration,something that has notbeen attained by anyof theclass observed. It still

requires a significant effort for the students to deliver the level of detail

and completeness; hence, the students were exhausted at the end of

Table 3

Historical comparisons of the final examgrades forCase 1. Percentages indicate the average ratioof examscore to the maximum reachable score for selected questions in each ofthe

exam topics; standard deviation is indicated in parentheses.

Task

network

Resource

leveling

Critical path

method

Location based

scheduling

Float

analysis

WBS

ontology

Advanced planning

methods

Integrated project

modeling

Overall

Non-BIM 86% (18) 83% (13) 85% (23) 91% (13) 82% (10) 85% (3)

Partial-BIM 82% (13) 91% (18) 70% (21) 89% (26) 53% (16) 78% (15) 76% (10) 79% (21) 77% (12)

Single-BIM 82% (13) 86% (14) 78% (17) 73% (26) 74% (22) 61% (18) 87% ( 9) 77% (10) 77% (8)

Multi-BIM 88% (15) 50% (23) 75% (30) 69% (27) 49% (27) 48% (13) 90% (10) 67% (18)

Average 85% ( 3) 77% (19) 77% ( 6) 80% (11) 70% (15) 63% (15) 70% (20) 82% ( 7) 76%


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their marathon BIM modeling, quantities scoping, and planning,

scheduling, and estimating sessions and were not interested to push

the assignment boundaries. In earlier non-integrated assignments,

exploration outside the assignment bounds was common amongst the

top ten percent of students, but the experimenters did not observe this

activity on the integrated assignment. However, the average project

plan delivered in the BIM classes was comparable to the solutions

deliveredby the top students in thenon-BIM class.Both classesalso had

trouble with format and level of detail in exchanged data that

additionally restricted the optimization of the project plan.

The core differences between the Stanford University and Twente

classes were the inclusion of BIM modeling, change management, and a

cash flow analysis at Twente. While the BIM modeling and cash flow

were important inclusions that the Stanford teaching assistants should

adopt, it is the changemanagement aspect thatis truly interesting. If the

changeis in project scope or methodof construction, forexample,due to

a changed quality specification, then this is the catalyst for iterative

globalchanges to theintegrated projectplan.Incorporating changes as a

simulation of typical post-award project work is an important

component to move the experience of the students from the typical

class exercise replicating an estimating office to the holistic represen-

tation of the field office environment.

5.2.1. Findings

The aforementioned cases clearly show that the introduction of

BIM-base project management tools allows the integration of morerealistic project situations in project management classes. This

integration, in turn, allows the students to learn theoretical project

management methods, such as estimating and scheduling using

complex real-world project scenarios. The cases illustrate that BIM-

based project management tools allow students to generate integrated

projectplansfor real-world complex projects.Our findings, in particular

the comparison of the first case with earlier classes that did not use

BIM-based tools, show that this generation would not have been easily

possible without the use of the BIM tools.

The cases show that BIM-based project management tools provide

students with a structured way to understand project documents and

automated many repetitive tasks and thus helped students to focus on

more in-depth project planning details. Hence, the cases illustrate that

BIM reduced the workload on students with respect to traditionalproject management tasks like quantity take off and thus freed time to

include more realistic project details, therefore exhausting the students

with this level of detail on such a scale. The reduced workload, in turn,

made the introduction of realistic project assignments into the tight

timeframes of the above classes possible. Overall, though, the workload

for the students has increased from the more formulaic version of the

class. However, it would be inconceivable to ask students to deliver an

integrated project plan for an actual project with the traditional,

fragmented project management methods.

The findings from the two cases also show that the integration of

BIM-based project management tools improved the learning activities

of thestudents relative to integrated projectmanagement. By using BIM

tools in class, the students of the class could go beyond learning project

management methods theoretically and then applying them on small

independent examples. In bothcases, the educators were able to design

assignments during which students needed to generate detailed

integrated project plans. Hence, the two classes allowed their students

to learn about the true application of different project management

methods in an integrated and realistic real-world case. For example,

Twente students in the second case used the same projects to apply 4D

line-of-balance scheduling and cash flow diagrams to optimize their

project plans.

Learning project management with BIM tools allows students to

understand the complexrelation and interplay betweenthe advantages

and disadvantages of the project management methods and to see how

and when they help to optimize project plans. Additionally, thefindings

from case two show that the integration of BIM-based tools in a project

management class project allows for the integration of change

management tasks in class projects. The students of the second case

would have hardly been able to complete thefinal change management

assignment in one week without having an integrated project plan that

allows for the automatic update of the impacts of changes in one of the

factors scope, time, or cost on all others. In this way, the BIM-based

project management tools allow students to learn how to react to

changes and how to adjust project plans to counteract unwanted

consequences of project changes.

In summary, the cases provide illustrative evidence for our

hypothesis that the integration of BIM-based project management

tools in project management class assignments helps to use projects

that are more complex, increases the opportunity to learn how to use

different project management methods for a single project, and how toincorporate changes. However, the cases do not sufficiently illustrate

that theintegrationof BIMtools allow students to learn how to optimize

their project plans usingadvanced projectmanagementmethodologies.

Despite the integrated application of 4D and line-of-balance method-

ologies, we could not determine if students were able to optimize their

project plan and to detect deficiencies in an existing plan. We assume

that despite the use of modern tools, the true optimization of project

plans still relies on work experience and that we still fail to support our

students to acquire this knowledge through action-based learning

methods.

6. Limitations and suggestion for future research

Overall, we observed similar characteristics in both classes and are

confident that the reported observations are real. While our observa-

tions provide a degree of predictability for other classes that the

integration of BIM-basedtools will also allow forthe integration of more

detailed and realistic class projects, we must caution for the overall

generality of the findings for all project management classes. It is

necessary to review the inherent weaknesses in spite of this intuitive

confidence in the results. A study that is based upon only two case

studiesopensdiscussionsaboutthe generality of thefindings. Therefore,

throughout this paper, we cannotand do notclaimthat ourobservations

are applicable for the implementation of BIM-based project manage-

ment tools in other educational settings than the two we provide

exemplarily here. However, the insights of the two cases clearly show

how the application of BIM improved specific learning activities within

Table 4

Evidence how the use of BIM increased our ability to teach.

School Use of real-world case Integration of different PM methods Change management Project plan optimization

Stanford

University

Multi-story steel framed structure with

concrete foundation. BIM modeled from

the original contract documents.

Students learned how to apply critical path, line-of-

balance, and 4D scheduling techniques.

No evidence. Local optimization of

workflow, time duration,

and resource leveling.

University of

Twente

Two storey mixed use building for a

theater company. BIM modeled from

the original contract documents.

Students learned critical path, line of balance, and 4D

schedulingtechniques. Additionally, students usedresource

leveling and cash flow time series visualizations.

Onthefinalassignment,students

integrated changes with respect

to scope, time, and cost.

No evidence.


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these classes, which might serve as a strong indicator of the general

applicability of thefindingsbeyond the specific two-class settings of the

paper. Nevertheless, to improve thefindings' generality we suggest that

future research explores empirically to what extent the application of

BIM can increase the opportunity to design more realistic project

management assignments. One way to gain more in-depth insights into

this area is the application of a more sophisticated case study research

plan, for example, a standardized and validated exam or questionnaire.

To resolve the exam format issue of learning through a virtualenvironment and the examination in a paper-based format, we suggest

researching a method to administer the exams virtually. We suggest

that researchers conduct structured experiments using control groups

and intervention groups that do not use BIM-based tools and that work

on the same project case, with the same tasks and deliverables. Such a

study will allow for the direct comparison of the effect BIM-based tools

have on the amount of realistic project detail educators can integrate in

their class projects. Additionally, we suggest that researchers develop

survey instruments that allow the collection of data for more formal

statistic data analysis. Such research can then provide quantitative

results for the improvements that BIM allow with respect to different

factors, such as the level of detail of thecaseusedin class settings or the

understanding for which types of project management tasks BIM saves

time and for which tasks it increases time in educational settings.

In addition to a more structured case and survey studies, we suggest

thatresearchers also evaluate howotheradvantages of BIMcan improve

the design of university classes. One often-discussed advantage of BIM

in the literature is the benefits that BIM offers to improve the

communication between different project participants, see for example

[34,35] and [21]. Future research could, for example, show how BIM

supports the design of classes that facilitates students to learn multi-

disciplinary distributed project management.

Finally, we alsosuggest that researchers conduct longitudinalstudies

that not only show how BIMcan support the design and learning within

educational settings, but also provides evidence that students (or

continued education of projectteams to tackle anticipated niche project

scenarios) wholearn with BIM perform better within their practical job.

The question is, to what degree can the presence of BIM-competent

engineers be expected to reduce project risk, that is, contingency. Ourclaim that more realistic class projects support the education of better

project managers is, while logically convincing, not based on any

empirical evidence about better long-term performance in practice.

Researchers should also test the application of BIM-supported project-

based learning within other cultural settings than the presented

Western United States and Western Europe situations. Different

cultures respond differently to various learning styles and the

assumption that an action-based learning style improves project

management competencies of students varies to an unknown degree

between cultural contexts [36].

7. Conclusion

In this paper, we show that the introduction of BIM-based projectmanagement tools helped educators of two project management

courses to develop class assignments based on more realistic project

settings andinformation to support students with learning howto apply

different formal project management methods to real-world project

management problems. In particular, we show that the introduction of

BIM allowed the educators to design class projects that include more

realistic cases that better simulate real-world project conditions, helped

students to learn how different project management methodsintegrate

with each other, and integrate change management tasks in a class

assignment. We analyzed the learning activities of two project

management classes that integrated the use of BIM-based project

management tools in their learning activities.

In general, we believe that the advantages illustrated here show that

BIM-based project management tools can significantly increase the

quality of education delivered by project management programs that

are more in tune with the challenges the students will face in practice

over the next few years. By integrating more detail and reality in class

projects, students will be able to learn better how to apply different

formal project management methods to specific project contexts. The

better education of students, in turn, should reduce the timethat newly

hired professionals need to spend on learning-by-doing assignments in

the field until they become valuable contributors to a project team. In

conclusion, we believe that the integration of BIM-based projectmanagement tools into university curricula already has the potential

to increase project management skills.

Acknowledgements

We appreciate the software tools and support provided by the

vendors: Autodesk, Vico, Tocoman, Primavera, Sage, and Tekla. We are

also thankful to the students that took the courses and provided the

feedback on their experiences.We thank thereviewers of this paper and

its earlier drafts, including Tobias Maile, Amir Kavousian, Jung In Kim,

Tony Dong, Olli Seppanen, Tomi Tutti, Richard See, Dana Probert, and

Thomas Wingate. We are thankful for the BIM modeling provided by

Sangwoo Cho. In earlier classes, Atul Khanzode developed a substantial

portion of the course material that eventually became the integrated

BIM component. We are also grateful for the course material contribu-

tions of teaching assistants Maria Brilaki and Mauricio Toledo and their

willingness to share the results from the classes they supported.

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