Improving Water Knowledge Outcomes in Civil Engineering by Applying BIM

Due to the developments in the field of digital technologies in construction, e-learning has become an essential part of civil engineering courses. Recent advancements in this field such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) have led to a renewed interest in its application to several courses in civil engineering. BIM is a widely used digital technology in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. It can be used as a powerful learning tool to improve the outcomes of students in water courses. The study was implemented in a project-based learning (PBL) class under the framework of the new educational model Tec21 at Tecnologico de Monterrey University in Puebla campus, Mexico. At the end of the course a 5-question survey using Linkert scale was evaluated to investigate the usefulness of BIM digital technology across project groups. The results showed that BIM helped to better understanding project phases, and to visualizing the size of the elements in a digital real work environment.