Using game-based learning and simulations to enhance engineering and management education

Simulations allow students in an educational environment to experience tasks and the results of their decisions, which they will be asked to perform upon graduation. In the construction industry, many employees are hired that do not have the training or coursework at the university level that provides them access to such simulations. Simulation and gaming is not new to higher education but in the past was done in a very narrow vein and because of the complexity and development time required to produce them. Most have not been robust enough to engage students. Managing engineering and construction involves being able to make decisions that involve balancing time, cost, quality, resources, and identifying and solving a variety of issues related to the selection of equipment, labor, and tools. The skills required of today´s construction engineering and management professionals are a combination of management skills and technical knowledge. This paper describes the development and implementation of Construction Industry Simulation (COINS) designed and developed at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) to prepare construction engineering and management students for the real world.