Construction cost management
The aim of this task is to empower you to have ownership of your own professional development. This involves reflections on translating theory into practice and provides an opportunity for you to understand your own learning, as follows:
Demonstrating the application of engaging theory with practice.
Analysing individual experiences and identifying areas for improvement in practice.
Evaluating professional competences through observation and evidence related to recognized professional skills framework.
Recognizing personal strengths and successes as well as mistakes and weaknesses.
Objectives
To appreciate the value of reflecting on practice.
To prepare students to critique their own practice.
To prepare students to critically engage theory with their own practice.
To organize and produce a reflective portfolio.
Task
Over the duration of the programme, compile a personal portfolio consisting of a series of reflective accounts of specific incidents that provide opportunities for translating theory into practice. There should be six incidents which can be drawn from:
site visits,
group work,
carrying out a specific assignment
feedback on a specific assignment and
extra-curricular activities.
Ensure that you have at least one from each type of incident. Prepare a report of this series of learning incidents connecting your learning to some aspect of theory.
A key element of this portfolio is your consideration of revisions to your own future practice and consideration of self-awareness. Thus, it is likely that you will be writing in the first person, in the active voice and with a careful consideration of multiple perspectives. This portfolio is intended to be used to build into a cumulative document that provides a reflective account of examples of your learning and development throughout the programme. It is also a good idea to think about different forms of reflection (e.g. flowcharts, diagrams, words, etc.)
It is important to make strong links between theory and practice. This will require you, for each incident, to choose at least one concept from any module that you wish to explore in more detail. The idea is to reflect on how theory may be applied to practice, developing a view as to whether theory or observed practice needs further development. It will be useful to relate your discussion of practice to a recognized professional skills framework. The write-up of each incident will require you to pursue further reading, ideally focusing on journal papers that report the results of research but ensuring that the focus is on reflection rather than the technical context the incident. The following questions are offered as prompts to help you develop your account of each incident:
What was interesting about the incident you have chosen? Was there anything surprising or new to you that caught your attention?
What was it about the concept you chose that made you decide to choose it?
Are there any particular aspects of this concept that you feel you did not fully understand? Are there any aspects of the incident that seemed unusual?
How does your observation serve as an example of the application of the concept in a real-world setting? This could relate to construction work, to academic work, or to anything else that you come across while studying, as long as it relates to a concept that has been introduced in one of your modules.
Can you demonstrate a connection between your learning and a recognized professional skills framework? (For example, make sure that you include discussion around the requirements of the professional institution most relevant to your career plans.)
Give examples of how you think your learning around this issue might influence the way you carry out your future professional work.
These questions would enable you to deal with four aspects, for each incident (not necessarily in this sequence):
Event: what happened and what did it make you feel?
Problemitization: explain one particular issue that this brought to your attention
Rationalization: investigate the kind of research that would help with explanations
Action plan: conclude with what you would do differently if you were in such an event in future
