International Journal of Construction Education and Research

Construction research is typically either industry-focused, or education-focused. The mass of published scholarship tends to concentrate on industry-based studies, as do the limited number of construction-specific research methodology guidelines and resources available for reference today. Notwithstanding this, construction education-focused research publications have grown substantially since the early 2000’s. Without an established library of clearly defined and validated research methodologies to support the studies of construction education, many researchers have sought to adapt methodologies more appropriate for industry-focused research.

The International Journal of Construction Education and Research (IJCER) has been the leading publisher of education-focused scholarship in the construction domain since its inception 20 years ago. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the IJCER is seeking to publish a special issue with a focus on construction education research methods. The aim of this special issue is to provide a concentrated resource that construction academics can leverage when planning and executing education-focused research endeavors.

For this special issue, the editors intend to accept up to 10 articles that detail various quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research methodologies specific to construction education research topics, which historically have fallen into one of the five categories shown in the table below.

Categories	Category Description
Teaching	Ways to teach a construction-related topics better, or in a new way.
Students	Student perceptions, retention, attraction to the construction, cooperative education; diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Faculty	Retention, attraction, assessment of faculty, promotion and tenure; diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Administration	Assessment, accreditation, program betterment, curricula changes or improvement, industry advisory councils, new programs, program rankings.
Industry education and training	Workforce development, practitioner upskilling, continuing education; diversity, equity, and inclusion.

 

The editors are requesting proposals for articles to be considered for peer review. Each article should both (i) present a construction education related study pertinent to present day issues and (ii) describe specific research methodology/methodologies germane to construction education-focused research used in that study. The authors will need to focus heavily on details related to what research methods were employed (from idea inception through data collection and analysis), and how those methods were chosen and validated in conducting their construction education-focused research. Additionally, authors should describe how the research method may differ in an education context, as compared to use for industry research.

Some potential topic areas which may be addressed include (but are not limited to):

• How to best leverage artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies as teaching and learning tools.
• Use of experiential learning in courses where it has not historically been utilized.
• Cross-discipline educational collaboration.
• Industry engagement with students, faculty, and/or administrators.
• How tacit knowledge from construction practitioners and/or academics close to retirement can be captured and utilized in the classroom.
• International teaching collaborations and study/education abroad programs.
• Applied learning theories in construction education.
• Other pedagogical approaches in construction education.

The proposal, article development, and publication process will follow the schedule below.

• Extended abstract submission deadline (see information below) – May 10th, 2024
• Notification of abstract acceptance and invitation for full papers– May 17th, 2024 (1 week after submission)
• Full article submission deadline – July 5th, 2024 (7 weeks after acceptance)
• Articles returned for revision– August 2nd, 2024 (4 weeks after submission)
• Revised article submission deadline – August 23rd, 2024 (3 weeks after comments)
• Authors notified of paper acceptance – September 3rd, 2024 (1.5 weeks after resubmission)
• Special issue online publication– October, 2024

Extended Abstracts should be submitted to the specialty issue guest editor, Dr. Wes Collins, via e-mail ([email protected]) and should include:

1. Proposed article title.
2. List of authors and affiliations.
3. The construction education related topic which will be discussed in the article.
4. Research methodology being described.
5. Category (teaching, students, faculty, administration, or industry education and training).
6. Summary of the study (500-1000 words).

Note that acceptance of extended abstracts does not guarantee publication in the special issue. The papers not chosen for inclusion in the special issue may still be published in the IJCER in a future issue.