Intern - Getting Them Ready We wrote this webbook for young professionals, seasoned professionals, and students in CE, CM, and ConE programs. We know too well how academia works as it relates to how difficult it can be to adopt a new textbook into the curriculum. We wrote this book to help make an impact in an area that we are so passionate about. Our goal is to encourage faculty to adopt the student edition of this webbook for the construction materials and methods course. We strongly believe that students interested in the heavy civil construction area should have access to the webbook even if the book is not adopted as a required textbook. We believe that over time, the students who have used this book will advocate for and encourage faculty to embrace it. Textbook adoption takes time in academia. Our plan "B" is to get the student edition of the webbook into the hands of every CE, CM, and ConE student (if they do not have access) by encouraging construction organizations to make it available for their interns as soon as they sign them on. Undoubtedly, those organizations could see immediate benefit if they did. What Are The Skill Sets That Construction Organizations Advertise When Looking For Interns? We have the data to answer this question, and here is the data gathered from construction organizations' advertisements looking for construction students. These relate to the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to effectively plan, execute, and control construction project outcomes. [wpcode id="13191"] The topics that students are taught in college in construction materials and methods course should easily translate to the skill sets employers look for. That is not always the case, and it is easy to see where the gaps are when one reads some of the required textbooks that most educators use in teaching construction materials and methods course. What Is The Current State of Practice When It Comes to How Construction Materials and Methods Course is Taught? An in-depth review of the textbooks used in the course quickly reveals that the textbooks are written at a 30,000-foot view, and requires the students to fill the missing information. The textbooks have useful information, but they do not directly translate to some of the skill sets employers look for from an intern. We recommend and encourage students who are interested in heavy civil construction to augment those required textbooks with the student edition of our webbook. Foundational Course The construction materials and methods course is the foundational course students need to build their construction knowledge on, and easily tackle upper-level courses such as the cost estimating course and the project planning and scheduling course. Lack of foundational knowledge in construction materials and methods could affect a student’s internship readiness and translate to a grueling internship experience. We wrote the student edition of this webbook to get students ready. We believe that the knowledge that the students bring during their internship should translate to improved company bottom line and a return on investment. To make that happen, the students need access to real-world project-based foundational knowledge on construction materials and methods.
