Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

ConE Learning Community Update, Fall 2005

Students work together in the learning community.
Clark Bowden and Brandy Nohava, students in the learning community

The first year of the Construction Engineering Cornerstone Learning Community was a great success. Last year, all the students who were not in the learning community the first semester chose to be in it the second semester.

This year we decided to make membership in the learning community automatic. All first-year ConE students join the learning community (ConE 120x) with Engr 101 first semester and ConE 110 second semester.

If students need English 104, they can select to be in a section where students read, write, and present on engineering topics, which makes it more interesting for students and helps them learn more about the industry. For instance, their observation paper required a two-week observation of an on-campus construction site.
 
In the learning community, students are divided into teams of five or six students. In teams, they get $250 to help them complete five project assignments during the first semester:

  • invite a faculty member to a meal, conduct an interview, and then report to the class what the team learned
  • host a social event for another learning community on campus
  • design a t-shirt (the winning design is this year’s learning community t-shirt)
  • arrange a job site tour in central Iowa
  • Make a team presentation about one of their other four assignments to the class.

Here is what two of our students are saying about the Cornerstone Learning Community this fall:

"One of the greatest aspects of the Cornerstone Learning Community is connecting with other construction engineering students. It’s nice to be grouped with other students who are in the same classes. It’s a great environment to make new friends who will be with you for the next four or five years and in the industry for a lifetime." (Clark Bowden)

"In the Cornerstone Learning Community, I really enjoyed the team projects. They vary from contacting a professional within the construction field for a job site tour to designing a t-shirt. I feel that all these tasks are developing our project management skills." (Brandy Nohava)