UOBUIL1027: Introduction to Construction Management

ASSESSMENT 2: REPORT

This assessment activity contributes to 50% of the total course grade.

RATIONALE:

The purpose of this assessment is to develop core academic and professional capabilities for both professional and academic reading and writing. Reading is integral to communication and learning, especially important when communicating your learning. As you read, you reflect on current knowledge to pursue further knowledge. As such, reading for academic purposes involves analysing, interpreting and evaluating texts. This means that you will be required to reflect on the reading to determine what the key messages are that the author is portraying and to infer the underlying message. It is important to determine the validity and credibility of the information the author uses to persuade or influence the reader. This is what it means to select scholarly sources. Similarly, when writing, you will carefully select and use information to persuade your readers. Written communication involves developing, expressing and sequencing ideas in a logical way and in an acceptable format, which for this assessment, will be an analytical report.

There are two parts to this assessment:

Part A: Reading Journal: 3 reflections on 3 scholarly sources in preparation for writing a report (Part B)

Part B: Analytical Report – drawing on your research to write an analytical response to a vision statement.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

CO1. Outline the history, characteristics and external environment of the construction industry.

CO2. Identify the key principles of sustainable development and the role of sustainable construction.

CO3. Distinguish and explain the roles and interactions of sectors, professions, business entities, regulatory and advisory bodies involved in the industry.

CO4. Describe the building process and explain the roles, duties and relationships of themembers of the building team.

CO5. Demonstrate an understanding of the key elements of management of construction organisations and projects.

TASK DESCRIPTION

PART A: READING JOURNAL (20% OF COURSE GRADE)

Introduction

Read and reflect on three scholarly sources to be submitted as an Appendix with your analytical report (Part B). A scholarly source is written by a qualified author who is an expert in their field and has usually been peer-reviewed, by experts for accuracy and quality. You are to select three academic journal articles from the provided Scholarly sources list and then select another three Scholarly sources as you read more widely. The information gathered in these scholarly sources will be used to write the Analytical Report (Part B). Thus, as you read, select those sources that provide information relevant to the ‘statement’ written below.

The validity of this statement is what you will use to frame your response for the analytical report.

Vision Statement

There is a need to rethink and improve traditional ways of managing construction projects to accelerate the construction industry's transition to a digital future.

Reading Journal Entries

You are only required to submit three reading journal entries as an Appendix with your analytical report. In each reflection you will need to include full citation details for the source that you have read, and address the following questions:

What haveI justread?[Your response tothis question is toincludethefull citation details for thesource you have read, withthe same information and formatting as the citation included in the Reference list of your report.]

What were the key points?

How do they relate to my selected report topic?

What points may be useful to include in my report?

What questions does this reading raise for me to pursue further?

How do my own experiences or observations relate to this reading?

Formative Reading Journal Entry

To assist you in developing your reading journaling skills you can participate in an activity that allows you to submit a formative reading journal entry toa discussion forum. You can submit your formative reading journal entry anytime from Week 1 up until Week 9. You will also be able to receive some feedback from the online tutor. Please also use this opportunity to learn from your peers.

SCHOLARLY SOURCES LIST

Use and acknowledge appropriately three of the scholarly/academic journal articles listed below. Please note that the linkstothe above academic journalarticles havenot been provided toallow you topractice locating articles. The UniSA Library has created a Construction Management, Quantity and Building Surveying website to help you get started and to find the below scholarly/academic journal articles.

Agustí-Juan, I, Müller, F, Hack, N, Wangler, T & Habert, G 2017, ‘Potential benefits of digital fabrication for complex structures: Environmental assessment of a robotically fabricated concrete wall’, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 154, pp. 330–340.

Ayinla, KO & Adamu, Z 2018, ‘Bridging the digital divide gap in BIM technology adoption’, Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 25, no. 10, pp. 1398–1416.

Faltinsky, R & Tokunova, G 2018, ‘Information technologies and construction sector: Why construction loses competition for innovations to other industries?’, SHS Web of Conferences, vol. 44.

García de Soto, B, Agustí-Juan, I, Hunhevicz, J, Joss, S, Graser, K, Habert, G & Adey, BT 2018, ‘Productivity of digital fabrication in construction: Cost and time analysis of a robotically built wall’, Automation in Construction, vol. 92, pp. 297–311.

Ghaffarianhoseini, Ali, Tookey, John, Ghaffarianhoseini, Amirhosein, Naismith, Nicola, Azhar, Salman, Efimova, Olia & Raahemifar, Kaamran 2017, ‘Building Information Modelling (BIM) uptake: Clear benefits, understanding its implementation, risks and challenges’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 75, pp. 1046 –1053.

Li, J, Greenwood, D & Kassem, M 2019, ‘Blockchain in the built environment and construction industry: A systematic review, conceptual models and practical use cases’, Automation in Construction, vol. 102, pp. 288 – 307.

Love, PEDE & Matthews, J 2019, ‘The ‘how’ of benefits management for digital technology: From engineering to asset management’, Automation in Construction, vol. 107.

Rogers, D 2019, ‘A visit to the Oracle: Reviewing the state of construction industry digitalisation’, Construction Research and Innovation, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 11–14.

Singh, V 2019, ‘Digitalization, BIM ecosystem, and the future of built environment: How widely are we exploring the different possibilities?’, Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management.

Smith, D 2019, ‘The robots are coming: Probing the impact of automation on construction and society’, Construction Research and Innovation, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 2–6.

FINDING OTHER SCHOLARLY/ACADEMIC JOURNAL ARTICLES FOR YOUR ANALYTICAL REPORT

You will also need to find another three scholarly/academic journal articles to assist you in writing your Analytical Report.

PART B: ANALYTICAL REPORT (30% OF COURSE GRADE)

In Part B of Assessment 2, you need to write an analytical report that discusses the validity of the statement below. Your analytical report must be well informed, with reference to the six scholarly sources selected.

Vision

There is a need to rethink and improve traditional ways of managing construction projects to accelerate the construction industry's transition to a digital future.

ANALYTICAL SKILLS

In the building and construction sector, you will be required to critically analyse information. Decisions made based on the analysis of the information could make a difference between a more successful or less successful project outcome. This analytical report will help give you the skills for professional life.

Analytical writing is used to show relationships between pieces of information. It is used to compare, assess or evaluate (for example, several approaches, theories, methodologies or outcomes). It has a structure based on the ordering of sections in the findings/discussion in relation to each other and uses evidence from various sources. The terms are explained below:

Analysis: examine closely; examine something in terms of its parts and how they are related to each other.

Findings/discussion: considering and offering some interpretation or evaluation of something; present and give a judgment on the value of arguments for and against something (compare).

Report: clearly structure a document to present information about an investigation that has been undertaken. The clear structure allows specific parts of that information to be easily located by the reader. You will need tofollow the provided structure for your report.

REPORT STRUCTURE

For this assessment you should structure your report as set out below:

SECTIONS	STAGES	COMPONENTS AND HEADINGS
Preliminary section: Provides the context and background information		Title Page
		Table of Contents
		Executive Summary
		Main section of body of the report: Presents the key aspects of the report – what was done, what was found, and what this means?	Stage 1 Introduces this section	Introduction
	Stage 2 Presents the findings and your analysis of these findings		Main sections organised under appropriate headings and subheadings (Headings are used to identify the aspect dealt with in each sub-section)
Stage 3: States the implication of the findings and analysis	Conclusion: Summary of main points and provides a statement of conclusions.
Supplementary Section: Contains extra information		Reference List Appendices Include the reading journal as an Appendix

Preliminary section:

1. Title Page: Title of the report (attention grabbing and coveys the theme of the report content), prepared for (Lecturer’s name); prepared by (Your name, and student ID, course code, date)

2. Table of contents: A separate page that includes all headings and subheadings and corresponding page numbers (the headings serve as a guidepost for your reader)

3. Executive Summary: A summary of the report that is usually written last. It should be a standalone document and does not require headings, quotes or bullet points. It summarises the purpose and scope of the report, type of analysis and findings.

Main Section:

Introduction: Contextualises the report for the reader. It explains the purpose of the report, what it aimed to discover and how the information will be represented:

a general statement about the topic to orient the reader

a brief overview of the theoretical framework

a clear thesis statement outlining your position/s on the statement an overview of the themes covered in the report

Findings:

What did you find out?

Are there similar or alternate views?

Draw on your theoretical frame and the literature (your research) to discuss the statement.

Organise your discussion into sections with headings and subheadings.

Advice:

When researching and writing, it helps to organise your writing into sections. This involves organising your research into themes. As you do this you will notice that some authors write about similar viewpoints and others may have contrasting views. Recognising these similarities and differences is what an analytical researcher does.

It is always beneficial to keep the course objectives in mind. The course objectives are a statement of the learning goals for this course and thus are inextricably linked to assessment.

Hence, the objectives may assist your thinking when you are gathering your research and organising your research into ‘themes’ for discussion. This part of the research phase may take some time, but it is well worth the effort as it will help you to analyse the information you have gathered into clear and logical sections.

Once you have categorised your information into sections, you then complete the writing for the sections.

Conclusion: Summarise the report and reiterate your main arguments. Ensure that your conclusion is consistent with the introduction paragraph. Include a take home message, a clear statement that informs your reader about what all of this means and why it is important.

Supplementary Section: Reference list (APA 7) and Appendices (including your reading journal)

Appendices: Including your 3 reading journal entries

FORMATTING AND LAYOUT REQUIREMENTS FOR ASESSMENT 2 (PARTS A AND B)

Format Part B: Analytical Report according to the guidelines as set out in the report structure. Refer here for a Template Example.

Word counts for assessments do not typically include title pages, bibliographies or reference lists. In-line citations in the body of the document are included.

Word Count for Part A is 3 Reading Journals at 300 words each (900 words in total) and Part B is 1500 words +/- 10%. Word counts for assessments do not include title pages, bibliographies or reference lists. In-line citations in the body of the document are included.

Typed, one and a half line spacing, with wide margins approx. 3 cms. It is preferable to use either Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman.

Apply appropriate section headings and subheadings and ensure consistent numbering of sections.

Keep paragraphs simple – one concept per paragraph.

Part A and B are to be submitted as one document.

Use the rubric in the Assessment 2 Resources to better understand how your work will be mark.