ABSTRACT
Our current digital economy transforms various industries, among others the built environment. Digital technologies have seen a slow uptake in the built environment, and in the last decades, building information modelling (BIM) has monopolized the interest of industry leaders and higher education institutions (HEIs). BIM is a hybrid, multi-disciplinary, and continuously evolving concept. This chapter aims to provide an alternative view of BIM and the evolution of the concept towards digital engineering in HEIs, taking a holistic view of the BIM ecosystem. HEIs are called to develop a new generation of leaders that will lead digerati (digital literates) in leveraging the digital economy for the built environment. Although the existing BIM-related pedagogy focuses on multi-disciplinary offerings, technical skills, and project-based learning approaches, this chapter will discuss the need for a new pedagogy. The leaders of digerati need to demonstrate both communication and leadership competences as well as versatile digital skills. These qualities can be achieved by recognizing that the BIM ecosystem (including data and information management) requires contextual sensitivities to thrive. In particular, ideas from engineering management, inductive teaching pedagogies, and cross-institutional collaboration show a promising path forward for leveraging the opportunities of the digital economy and an inclusive outlook for the built environment.
