PDEng position at ASPARi - Designing Course Materials for Road Construction Education at the HBO level

The PDEng is a 2-year post Master Degree technological designers programme. This programme at the University of Twente contains an educational part that will be followed at the University, and a design project that will be carried out collaboratively at educational institutions, ASPARi network companies and other relevant professional organisations. The educational programme will have an in-depth and broadening character with ample attention for professional development and will be partly tailored to the design project. High level, creative and innovative course materials will be designed in collaboration with HBO educational institutions, Dutch knowledge centres and contractors aligned to the ASPARi network.

The Challenge
ASPARi’s collaborative research efforts with several of the leading construction companies in the Netherlands highlights several issues. Firstly, it highlights the complexity of the challenges facing construction companies if they are to improve process control, have better control over the planning and scheduling of resources and work, and thereby reach the required levels of quality required for dealing with performance contracts and longer guarantee periods. Secondly, the research outcomes reflect the current needs of the construction industry. The combination of an appropriate research methodology, explicit data, opportunities for reflection and extensive collaboration between asphalt construction teams, technologists, management and researchers provides external validity and confirmation that the learning is relevant and current. More importantly for education, they highlight several gaps in learning, knowledge, skills and attributes that are needed to deal with changing “rules of the game” for construction companies. Thirdly, the introduction of new technologies such as GPS, infrared, laser and other sensor technologies in road construction, highlights the need to change current curricula.

Two questions then arise: (1) What learning, knowledge, skills and attributes should graduates have to be able to deal with these rather challenging changing circumstances? (2) Which course materials should be developed for instruction at the HBO level to ensure that the current workforce is able to cope with the demands of a rapidly changing and technology-rich construction industry
The mission of this design project is to:
“Develop innovative course materials for Road Construction Education at the HBO level”

The overall purpose is to develop innovative course and instructional materials for a Road Construction course. The main outcomes are:
Analysing typical construction projects to develop related case studies for educational purposes. Typical examples are – the construction of freeways, provincial roads, ring roads, local streets, roundabouts, cycle paths and road crossings
Identifying and developing work tasks from the case studies that clearly differentiates levels of responsibility required and the educational needs for the level of responsibility
Differentiating tasks on the basis of time-frames (the time required for operational, tactical and strategic planning – daily, weekly, etc.)
Matching tasks and levels of responsibility with work functions
Designing and developing lecturer and student online tools for the developed course and instructional materials

During the educational part of the programme, you will receive a customised education package consisting of among others, courses in road design and construction, developing online course materials, instructional strategies and the use of visualisation and simulation for education.

If you have any further questions about this vacancy of the PDEng programme in Civil Engineering, please contact Dr. Miller at s.r.miller@utwente.nl or telephone: +31 53 489 5886.

Please send your application, with a curriculum vitae, a list with grades of courses attended, references and, if applicable, a list of publications before 15 October 2014.

Further details:
https://www.academictransfer.com