Sustainable BIM-Based Construction Engineering Education Curriculum for Practice-Oriented Training

: The latest IT technology integration movements, such as building information modeling (BIM), have engendered changes in the technology and participatory organizations in the construction industry, which have resulted in process innovations and productivity gains. BIM lays the foundation for using a variety of new information that is not applicable to traditional construction methods. Construction companies are applying such information to various analyses, simulations, and learning and education projects to stimulate innovation. In Korea, however, since BIM was introduced in 2008, it has been used in various ways across diverse ﬁelds, but its contribution remains minimal. This is due to the inadequate competence level of BIM managers, who emerge from a system incapable of adequately educating BIM managers. In other words, the curriculum has not been able to impart the BIM skills necessary to accommodate the requirements of the industry. Only the most basic BIM modeling course is o ﬀ ered, and even such a course is dependent on external instructors. This creates a gap with the existing construction engineering educational curriculum. This study proposes a BIM-based construction engineering educational curriculum that has not been attempted before to overcome these limitations and generate a BIM workforce to cater to the industry.

construction-related departments, it is not surprising that the students who take these courses are not able to grasp the BIM-related needs of the industry and implement BIM for real problems. Table 1 shows the BIM course examples of major institute of South Korea. Due to the limitations of having to teach many things within a short period of education, most curricula have a structure in which they cannot give deep and balanced lectures on BIM theory and practice. In order to properly address these problems, a completely novel educational curriculum should be designed and developed. This curriculum should integrate IT modelling software such as BIM with conventional construction-related subjects, and the students should also be selected in accordance with the new change. It would be ideal if companies could participate in the new curriculum so that the students could be transformed into a project-based, learning-type (PBL) workforce who would be able to perform the practical jobs required in the industry upon graduation [7,10,39].
This study aims to develop a BIM-based construction engineering curriculum for practice-oriented training, in which the various academic and industrial needs are accommodated, enabling students to become leaders of the new age of the construction industry. For the development of the curriculum, the systematic course development methodology is applied to present educational objectives, composition of educational topics, composition of educational contents, and evaluation criteria. Furthermore, the developed construction IT curriculum is instituted in a Korean university and the detailed analysis results are presented in this paper.

Methodology
Unlike previous research studies that have added subjects related to BIM to an existing construction engineering educational program, this study aims to develop the entire curriculum of a department from scratch, including goals and objectives of the education, learning topics, composition of learning subjects, and transformation of evaluation methods. Two major curriculum models can be used to develop a curriculum that meets these objectives: (1) the product model and (2) process model [40]. The product model is a model that emphasizes plans and intentions, and the process model is a model that focuses on the effects of activities and education [41]. The product model and process model have opposite characteristics in terms of educational purpose, intent, and tools, as follows: 1.
Product model: behavioral objectives model, interested in products of curriculum (e.g., Tyler and Bloom model) 2.
Process model: focus on teacher activities and roles, student activities, emphasis on means rather than ends (e.g., Stenhouse) Unlike the process model, which relies on an experiential approach, the Tyler model is a representative example of the product model that is widely used in the development of science and technology curricula [40]. Since the objective of proposing a curriculum in this study is to create a new construction engineering educational program incorporating IT (Information Technology), the Tyler model is applied in this study. The study follows the 3 steps of the Tyler model: (1) curriculum preparation, (2) curriculum development, and (3) curriculum improvement [42,43]. In addition, it is verified that the developed curriculum is pedagogically and technically appropriate by implementing the curriculum in a newly established university in Korea. Figure 1 illustrates the methodology showing the objectives and procedures of this study.

Preparation Stage of BIM Curriculum Development
Instead of adding a few BIM-related subjects to the existing curriculum of construction engineering departments in universities, a construction-IT convergence course for training BIM and

Preparation Stage of BIM Curriculum Development
Instead of adding a few BIM-related subjects to the existing curriculum of construction engineering departments in universities, a construction-IT convergence course for training BIM and construction IT talent is proposed. However, it must have a completely different curriculum for each semester. The new curriculum enables students to acquire a comprehensive understanding of construction engineering knowledge and theories, as well as a variety of BIM and construction IT methodologies. Accordingly, the curriculum should be developed through a systematic procedure to impart training of BIM principles, knowledge, and skills necessary for the construction industry. In the preparation stage, which is the first stage of curriculum development, the following aspects should be considered: Goals, advantages, and obstacles in BIM implementation for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry 2.
Purpose of BIM education for the construction industry 3.
Status, limitation, and problems of BIM education in existing construction programs 4.
Difference of importance of BIM skills and knowledge between original construction tasks and BIM-based new tasks, as well as importance of new BIM-based construction engineering curriculum 5.
The relationship between BIM and construction engineering tasks in companies 6.
Areas of BIM implementation in the construction industry and in companies, as well as BIM knowledge and skills required for new employees 7.
Other fields that converge with BIM, such as smart construction technologies 8.
Importance of knowledge and theories of BIM-based construction engineering and management 9.
Priority of BIM education in companies According to the current status of BIM education in Korea, public and private institutions as well as universities are biased towards imparting theory-based BIM education. Especially in the case of universities, the curriculum only contains one or two BIM classes [7]. This is due to a variety of reasons, namely the closed culture of existing university education, the limitations of BIM knowledge and application among construction engineering professors, and the difficulty of introducing external instructors who have combined capabilities of theory and knowledge. In particular, when a typical full-time faculty conducts BIM classes, lectures only cover related theories or general content, resulting in inadequate information necessary for practical application on site. On the contrary, if an external lecturer presides over the lecture, they will primarily focus on BIM modeling or data management. Hence, the lectures will give more focus only to practical BIM skills and software. This shows that both cases are extremely unbalanced [10].
According to the results of a survey conducted in major construction companies in Korea, the companies have higher levels of expectations from BIM engineers from universities [7,10]. Seven of the top eight companies have a BIM team. BIM applications, such as design (drawing) quality management, 3D visualization-based communication, scheduling and sequence planning, constructability reviews, and interference management, are carried out by all eight companies, and six companies or more carry out site logistics and construction system design. As for the knowledge and skills expected of university graduates, the companies require a basic conceptual understanding of the importance of BIM implementation in the construction engineering, areas of BIM implementation in the construction process, and BIM-based quantity take-off and cost estimation. As for software requirements, it is imperative that the graduate should be familiar with a BIM checker and simulation tool, such as Navisworks or Revit. The construction companies listed spatial trade coordination, communication, design quality management, constructability review, 4D simulation, and shop drawing Sustainability 2019, 11, 6120 6 of 16 as high priority applications of BIM and insisted that these aspects should be included in university education [10].
In summary, the current status of BIM shows that the existing BIM curriculum in university education does not meet the basic level of requirements. On a positive note, it is possible to develop a practical curriculum for cultivating human resources that meet the needs of the industry and academia. This curriculum should include: (1) general concepts and knowledge of BIM technology; (2) areas of implementation in the various construction processes (including visualization, communication, clash detection, and constructability review); (3) BIM-based construction engineering and management skills; (4) BIM project execution planning and BIM standards; (5) software compatibility; (6) expandability to other construction IT technologies.

Development Stage of BIM Curriculum Development: Overview
The curriculum development consists of five steps: (1) develop a basic framework that describes the curriculum's name, target, introduction, and characteristics; (2) set curriculum goals, objectives, and educational methods through various literature reviews on BIM implementation; (3) set learning topics and course schedules according to the goals and objectives using a systematic approach; (4) develop individual lectures and curricula for each learning topic and set lecture methods for each class; and (5) implement the developed curriculum and analysis of the implementation results. The curriculum framework involves setting the goals and objectives of the curriculum. In addition, the purpose of this study is to develop the entire curriculum by synchronizing optimal teaching methods with the duration for each learning topic.
The name of the BIM curriculum is "BIM converged construction engineering curriculum", and the target of this curriculum are the students in the department of professional BIM training. These students are guaranteed jobs upon admission to the department through a contract established with a construction company.
One of the characteristics of the curriculum is that there is an agreement with a construction company for hiring upon graduation. Additionally, it is an industry-academia collaborative curriculum jointly operated by the university and the company. Unlike the conventional construction engineering departments in South Korea, this is the first curriculum in which BIM and conventional construction engineering subjects are integrated to cultivate a BIM workforce. Both the knowledge and the skills necessary for BIM are taught in depth from the first year until graduation, and the PBL-type classes for various problems in connection with a company will be held to train the workforce. Furthermore, to develop a curriculum that can produce BIM professionals tailored to the construction industry, this should reflect the needs of the company in terms of individual lectures coupled with a variety of methods, such as PBL and industry-linked methods, and practice lectures, so that the new curriculum can be clearly differentiated from the existing BIM curricula.
Based on these characteristics, the basic framework of the curriculum is presented, as shown in Figure 2. Students participating in the curriculum achieve a balanced understanding of basic BIM and construction IT knowledge and skills, as well as construction engineering and construction management theory and knowledge. In addition, emphasis has been put on the joint activities proposed by the companies to enhance the labor skillset in the construction industry. Through the balanced distribution of these 3 types of classes, theoretical knowledge and practical task capabilities can both be developed and enhanced. In order to facilitate early hiring of students, the structure of the curriculum is designed so that full-time education can be conducted for the 1st year students, and hiring and part-time education can be conducted for the 2nd and 3rd year students. management theory and knowledge. In addition, emphasis has been put on the joint activities proposed by the companies to enhance the labor skillset in the construction industry. Through the balanced distribution of these 3 types of classes, theoretical knowledge and practical task capabilities can both be developed and enhanced. In order to facilitate early hiring of students, the structure of the curriculum is designed so that full-time education can be conducted for the 1st year students, and hiring and part-time education can be conducted for the 2nd and 3rd year students.

Development Stage of BIM Curriculum Development: Setting the Learning Goals
Learning goals should make students industry-ready and employable. Setting learning goals is an important step in the systematic curriculum development process because goals provide milestones for the students, as well as invariably represent the knowledge, skills, and behavioral standards set by the curriculum [44]. The first step in setting learning goals was to study and review existing BIM-related courses, which the author analyzed in a previous study [7]. When setting the

Development Stage of BIM Curriculum Development: Setting the Learning Goals
Learning goals should make students industry-ready and employable. Setting learning goals is an important step in the systematic curriculum development process because goals provide milestones for the students, as well as invariably represent the knowledge, skills, and behavioral standards set by the curriculum [44]. The first step in setting learning goals was to study and review existing BIM-related courses, which the author analyzed in a previous study [7]. When setting the learning goals for the "BIM converged construction engineering curriculum," the knowledge the students will acquire should be scalable for implementation in an actual project. Therefore, the curriculum considers the industry status, significance, and expectations of a new BIM course. Based on pedagogical factors of Bloom's taxonomy, such as cognitive (mental skills, knowledge-based), affective (growth in areas of feeling or attitude, emotion-based), and psychomotor (manual or physical skills, action-based), the curriculum was categorized according to learning goals and objectives [45]. We developed the curriculum's learning goals and objectives through a thorough literature review and by conducting analysis on the purpose of conventional BIM courses (Table 2). Table 2. Learning goals and objectives for BIM-based construction engineering curriculum.

Learning Goals
No.

Learning Objectives Type
Understand the BIM knowledge (concept and theories)

Development Stage of BIM Curriculum Development: Choosing Learning Topics
Learning topics should be in line with individual goals defined in the earlier stages and should be based on the learner's activities. In addition, the learning topics should be established based on the knowledge and skills that will be acquired through the curriculum, taking into account the values and behavioral codes set by the construction industry [44]. The curriculum of the newly established BIM specialist training department consists of five learning topics and 19 subtopics, as shown in Table 3. In addition, these learning topics and subtopics are set according to the learning goals and objectives highlighted earlier ( Table 2). The main point in this process is to consider all the learning topics and reorder them so that the students can learn them sequentially and effortlessly for a period of three years. Thus, by incorporating all these considerations, we set up a learning schedule.

Development Stage of BIM Curriculum Development: Organizing Learning Topics
Based on the learning topics and schedule, the subjects of the BIM curriculum were organized. This study considered the issues in the subjects under this framework.

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The curriculum should be aimed at cultivating the capabilities necessary for employability in a construction company, which can be quantitatively evaluated by the company. Upon completion of the curriculum, the students should be equipped to such a level that they can immediately work on actual tasks within a company.

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The newly-established department has a three-year course. After one year of full-time study, two years of contract employment and part-time study are mandatory so that the subjects reflect the student's capabilities.

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It should reflect the current trends in Korea's construction industry and the BIM response strategies of construction companies.

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Learning topics and contents should be directly related to goals and objectives, and subjects should be organized to reflect theories and practices.

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Subjects based on learning topics should be organized according to the three-year course procedure, making it easy for students to understand and develop their competence levels.
• Construct curriculum contents that reflect all the learning goals, objectives, and topics, which are established during the development stage (Sections 3.3-3.5). Since the final purpose of this research was to apply the proposed curriculum directly to the newly opened departments, several brainstorm meetings and discussions were held to organize the curriculum contents with school officials and industry experts. The curriculum table was completed in consideration of the subjects students must take in each semester, difficulty level of each grade, and appropriateness of the curriculum arrangement. The curriculum of major institutes such as Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) were also studied. Subject syllabuses of universities in Korea, education contents of private organizations, papers on BIM technology research and education, and cases of BIM implementation in construction companies were considered. By selecting subjects appropriate for the three-year course, the students participating in the curriculum could acquire in-depth knowledge of the BIM technology and gain substantial construction engineering and construction management understanding. In addition, to maximize achievement of the learning objectives for each subject, the subject operation method (in other words, the lecture method) was selected and presented [44]. Table 4 shows the semester-wise subject schedule created by the systematic course development procedure. The three years of the curriculum comprise a total of 36 subjects. Essentially, each year's education objectives are set differently. The first stage of the course focuses on acquiring basic construction engineering theories, BIM fundamentals, and skills for employment after completion. Since second-and third-year students are working in the field and participate in the curriculum in the form of part-time education, the curriculum for them is mainly administered on weekends and via on-line teaching. In addition, advanced theories and skills for BIM and construction management are studied in the form of project-based learning and joint company learning in order to deepen basic knowledge and skills learned through the first grade course and the practical capabilities acquired by working with the company.
-Quality and safety management -BIM API practice -BIM enhancement for free-form structure 2 -3D scanning and 3D printing In the first year curriculum, all learning is lecture-oriented. BIM software classes are held in either a practice-type or company-linked-type environment, with company experts presiding over lectures. In the second year subjects, all classes, except "quality and safety management", are conducted using both lectures and practice-type classes, and the subjects named "BIM enhancement for free-form structure" and "BIM prototyping project" are company-affiliated. The BIM implementation technology for the free-form structure is in the form of practice based on the latest technology. For the prototype project, students directly work on a project presented by the company's experts, which enhances their practical capabilities. The third year curriculum is largely composed of three types: in-depth courses on BIM software and ICT, BIM-based construction engineering and management strategies, and PBL classes, such as research and development jointly carried out by a company. The curriculum aims to help students become BIM professionals by achieving the goals and objectives set by the curriculum through the theory-oriented stages in the first year and the practical-oriented stages in the second year. To verify the achievement of the objectives, corporate experts participate in the assessment.

Improvement Stage of BIM Curriculum Development
The BIM-based construction engineering curriculum proposed in this study was developed by a systematic course development procedure. For verification, it is necessary to apply the curriculum to a newly opened department of a university [39,46]. In addition, since construction companies hire students after completion of the curriculum and engage them in practical tasks, it is necessary to have a validation process and feedback system from the officials who have expertise in BIM. For the curriculum verification process, we distributed preliminary interview sheets to a total of 10 people, consisting of 3 education experts, 2 experts from private educational institutions, and experts in construction engineering, construction management, and BIM. We collected their answers and then conducted a telephonic interview. The experience levels of the interviewees are summarized in Table 5. The evaluation forms were e-mailed to interviewees and the answers were collected. In addition, telephonic interviews were conducted for all 10 interviewees to obtain more comprehensive and detailed comments on the evaluation information received in writing. The main points for evaluation requested in the interview are as follows.

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Assessment of the overall framework of the proposed BIM-based construction engineering curriculum; • Learning goals and objectives; • Assessment of the relevance of learning topics and their association with learning goals and objectives; • Assessment of the subject, procedure, and lecture method of the curriculum organization table.
The comments received from the group of 10 experts are summarized in Table 6. Based on the comments and suggestions of these experts, the above four parts were evaluated and revised. In particular, the experts consisted of academic experts from universities and educational institutions, and industry experts from construction companies and BIM companies. Their comments suggested varied orientations depending on their respective affiliations. University professors suggested that along with practical education, construction engineering knowledge and theory should be included also. Instructors from BIM educational institutions, which are not universities, emphasized the participation of industry experts in the curriculum and adaptation to the practical work environment through use of different software. Among industry experts, BIM managers working for construction companies rated the students capabilities after completion of the curriculum as a critical issue, and for this purpose, the association with companies was an important feature of the curriculum. On the contrary, the CEOs of BIM companies responded that the curriculum should not only enhance BIM competence across broad areas but also enable students to set up their own companies in the future. Through the improvement stage, the BIM-based curriculum was revised, and supplementary points addressed in the interview and the revised curriculum were actually implemented in the newly opened "department of BIM converged construction engineering" in the university. Expert e -Since BIM professionals will be active in diversified ordering and contract environments, such as lean construction or pre-construction, training in these aspects is also required. -Adaptation training for actual working environments is needed for the students to understand how the project is executed and to be immediately put into real projects.
Expert f -A separate framework is needed for the development of student's competences by grade-based assessment of students per semester. - In particular, companies that would hire them should be able to participate in the curriculum, such as in the education, management, and assessment.
Expert g -As the construction industry trends are not only related to BIM, but also to ordering and contract methods and other smart construction and construction IT technologies, it is recommended that the latest technology education, such as IT, robotics, and deep learning, be combined in addition to the construction industry information. -To complement the relatively weak construction engineering knowledge and skills, operation of the curriculum in connection with construction engineering is needed.
Expert h -Since first year courses are full-time education, it will be more efficient to establish a separate plan for linking companies with students to give them a sense of BIM skills. - In particular, corporate mentoring will be helpful in cultivating working-level talents from an early stage.
Expert i -Although this curriculum takes the form of an agreement with a company, in the future, the curriculum should empower students to develop new types of services and even engender their own startups. -Unlike large corporates, in BIM companies, often the employees oversee the entire BIM project. Hence, strategic training for construction project management and BIM operation is required.
Expert j -Some subjects, such as BIM, API, and BIM-ICT, are thought to be related to the essential skills and qualities required for BIM professionals, and subjects similar to these should be added.

Implementation Stage of BIM Curriculum Development
After the improvement stage of the "BIM-based construction engineering education curriculum", which was developed using the systematic course development approach, the course was implemented in the educational curriculum of the "department of smart convergence engineering", which was recently established in Hanyang University, ERICA campus. There are four majors in this department, one of which is construction IT convergence.
The proposed BIM curriculum was applied to the educational curriculum of the department of construction IT convergence. This is a complete curriculum, reflecting most of the set learning goals and objectives, learning topics, and subjects. Through this, the department became the first in Korea to establish a separate department for the development of BIM professionals. It has established itself as a novel department in which major companies in the construction industry in Korea, including construction companies, BIM companies, construction designers, CM companies, and software vendors, participate in the overall process of the curriculum.

Summaries and Conclusions
The purpose of this study was to develop a BIM-based construction engineering curriculum. To achieve this, the learning goals and objectives of the education were established in order to cultivate accomplished BIM professionals that can immediately perform practical tasks from the point of hiring. The curriculum was developed using the system course development approach. Through the application of systematic course development, the learning goals and objectives of BIM courses were established and the learning topics were established based on these. In particular, a curriculum table was developed by arranging learning topics satisfying the requirements of departments, namely a three-year curriculum and employment with companies in the second year. To review and supplement the developed curriculum, we conducted interviews with construction engineering and BIM experts in industry and academia, and the revised learning goals and objectives, learning topics, and curriculum were implemented in a newly opened department at Hanyang University, ERICA campus. Using the logical development process, the maturity of the curriculum was verified, and upon actual implementation, the value of the curriculum was validated.
Above all, the advantages of this educational curriculum is that it reveals the problems in the existing curricula from a practical standpoint, such as theory-based lectures in traditional Korean universities or extreme practice-oriented learning in public and private educational institutions. The BIM demands of the construction industry could not be satisfied by these approaches. Simply inserting BIM into the existing construction engineering curriculum does not enable the development of the level of BIM personnel required by the construction industry. To overcome this, the systematic course development application was applied and the curriculum was improved through discussion and collaboration with various industry experts. In particular, it is a great advantage that industry experts can incorporate their needs into the curriculum by participating in various activities, such as curriculum operation, student education, evaluation, and collaboration.
Korea's BIM education remains at a very primitive level from the perspective of industry demands and technical requirements in comparison with foreign countries with advanced BIM implementation levels. The BIM-based construction engineering curriculum, newly developed for the enhancement of capabilities which can handle theory, practical tasks, and creativity for the resolution of actual problems, provides a logical approach that can be utilized for future BIM curriculum development, not only in Korea but also abroad. It can also be used to develop curricula in other areas based on pedagogical principles.
This study presents the results of implementation of a new type of BIM curriculum. Through future research, we would like to present strategies of operation, student selection, evaluation, and business linkage for the implemented curriculum. In particular, we aim to develop the curriculum further through quantitative evaluation of the quality of the curriculum proposed in this study and the value gained in terms of meeting company demands.