DA5043 - Advanced Construction Technology

Most of your learning on this degree apprenticeship module will be in your workplace. You will gain a theoretical understanding of the topics through live (online or face-to-face) university sessions and online resources such as recorded lectures, videocasts, podcasts, electronic books, journal articles and websites. Your involvement in quantity surveying tasks will enable you to put the theory into context, thereby cementing your understanding. Lectures and seminars will be used to focus and reinforce building technology and design and will involve; practical exercises, videos and technical detail on recently completed projects.

You will agree with your Workplace Mentor a Module Learning Plan (MLP) designed to achieve the Module Learning Outcomes via a series of directed workplace learning activities, such as local site visits to provide real building appraisal and evaluation opportunities, and visits to completed buildings and real time construction projects, allowing you to develop a greater understanding of how construction technology theory is put into practice.

Opportunities will also be provided for you to develop your understanding through peer and tutor interaction in discussion groups and research rich debates during live classroom or synchronous online seminars and workshops. You will be encouraged to draw on your own professional experiences to share best practice and contribute to debates. In addition to the development of your team working skills in the workplace, you will also apply team working skills in this module through collaborative group working during the production of project information.

Modules on your programme will typically span 11 weeks, with scheduled or directed activities each week, and one piece of summative assessment submitted in week 12 or 13. This may also be supplemented with up to one day of face-to-face interaction, if appropriate, at Northumbria University or a regional hub. In total the module will include around 11 hours of live ‘Seminars’ (synchronous classroom and online delivery via Blackboard Collaborate), 7 hours of recorded ‘Lectures’ (asynchronous online delivery via Blackboard or Blackboard Collaborate), 2 hours of ‘Tutorials’ (1-to-1 support from Workplace Mentor and Workplace Coach), and 40 hours of workplace learning activities. The remaining hours in the Notional Student Workload for the module are attributed to independent learning, with the estimated ratio of tutor-guided to student independent learning at 2:3 for a Level 5 module. This is indicative and will vary between modules.

Your module tutor(s) will deliver an online module induction session and lead live sessions that enable you to interact with your tutor and peers. They will provide and direct you to essential and recommended online resources available via the University’s eLearning Portal and University Library. Outside of live sessions, they will provide advice and respond to questions via the eLearning Portal.

Your Workplace Mentor will support you in developing your Module Learning Plan. You will be provided with a guidance document that outlines the principles of workplace learning and provides examples of a large and diverse range of potential workplace learning activities. You may also discuss your Module Learning Plan with your Workplace Coach.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
MLO1: You will be able to apply advanced construction technology principles to multi-storey buildings and justify solutions to construction problems.
MLO2: You will be able to appraise and evaluate the design of complex buildings and produce solutions to design problems.
MLO3: You will be able to analyse aesthetic and building user-related considerations for complex and multi-storey framed buildings and produce appropriate solutions for given case studies.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
MLO4: You will be able to evaluate case studies and use professional technical reports to communicate to a range of Built Environment stakeholders.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
MLO5: You will be able to work effectively as part of a project team, taking into consideration the opinions and views of other team members.

You will be formatively assessed by the completion of the workplace learning activities identified in your Module Learning Plan. You will receive informal, often verbal, formative feedback from your Workplace Mentor, and sometimes from other colleagues and your Workplace Coach. You will also have the opportunity for formative feedback from your module tutor(s), particularly during Assessment Guidance sessions.

Your summative assessment will provide you with the opportunity to translate your workplace learning into a coherent output that demonstrates that you have achieved the module learning outcomes.

This will be in the form of a written report including technical and graphical information (4000 words or equivalent). This will include 1: appraising and evaluating design solutions for a complex multi-storey building or infrastructure project in terms of construction technology, technical and performance requirements; and 2: appraising and evaluating a proposed or completed building or infrastructure project in terms of aesthetics, design, construction technology and user considerations.

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This module is an integral part of your Degree Apprenticeship programme, designed in collaboration with employers to meet the requirements of the Chartered Surveyor and Construction Surveyor Apprenticeship Standards and provide a solid skills base for career progression and professional qualification.

You will learn the principles and practical application of building technology for design and construction of complex and multi-storey buildings. This will include advanced construction techniques and materials, associated aesthetics and user-related considerations. You will visit both completed buildings or infrastructure projects and those under construction to appraise and evaluate the design and construction technology of both completed buildings or infrastructure projects and those under construction.

You will gain theoretical understanding through university sessions and online resources but as a Degree Apprentice, you will do most of your learning in the context of your quantity surveying role via a series of workplace learning activities agreed with your Workplace Mentor.