Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

Workforce training is needed throughout the construction industry to create and maintain competent workers; unfortunately, most construction training and education research focuses on university student education. The focus of this dissertation research is the current state of educational-theory embedded construction workforce training, how such trainings are effective, and how they may be further optimized based on established educational theory. This is accomplished through a review of construction training for current industry professionals, an evaluation of the assessment criteria used to measure effectiveness, followed by the creation of a framework for construction training.

There is a lack of recommendations for improvement of construction training across the industry. To establish the current state of construction industry training, a review of education theory-integrated training for construction professionals is undertaken. To measure the extent of educational theory integration, this dissertation summarizes studies that meet inclusion criteria, identifies the frequency of occurrence of Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs as a measure of student learning outcomes, and identifies and compares commonly used words within the identified construction training literature and foundational educational theory literature. The results provide a baseline of education theory-integrated construction training research, from which gaps and best practices can be identified.

Existing construction training programs are not properly measured for effectiveness. A review of the current methodologies used in construction trainings published in archival literature is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of training programs. These practices are compared against the Kirkpatrick Model, an evaluation framework. The assessment methodologies in the literature are synthesized with corresponding levels found in the Kirkpatrick Model.

Properly integrating educational theory into construction workforce training has the potential to improve industry training; however, there is a dearth of studies that present details of this integration process. To address this gap, a training framework is created to educate material installers on material properties, selection, and installation. This framework is based on andragogical and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. An assessment tool provides a method of evaluating similar training agendas to improve instructional design before training implementation. The created framework culminates by establishing linkages from educational theory to proposed training modules.

Committee Chair

Friedland, Carol

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.5487

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