ABSTRACT
University education is no stranger to change, but the rapid development of today’s information technology (IT) is posing great challenges to academics who have to consider its appropriate integration into carefully designed curricula to meet the expectation of students and the requirements of industry. Since the advent of computer aided design (CAD) into academic programmes in the early 1990s, there has been ongoing debate and concern relating to IT implementation within students’ education and whilst there have been many advances over recent years, CAD for many still means electronic drafting. The majority of construction organisations throughout the world are still working with 2D CAD (CIRIA, 2005), and although there is growing evidence of 3D CAD, many companies use 3D primarily for presentation and marketing purposes. Nonetheless, leading researchers and executives, attempting to predict likely developments in the twenty-first century, forecast more widespread acceptance of 3D modelling and the ability to describe the look, sound and feel of an artificial world, down to the smallest detail (Gates, 1996). Built environment higher education has an important role to play in enabling this vision. The emergence of today’s easier-to-use 3D modelling software, rapidly advancing computer hardware combined with an increasingly computer literate student population is beginning to result in an increase in the adoption of 3D CAD for built environment applications. This increase is likely to continue alongside industry’s adoption of new tools and the emergence of a generation of students with the IT skills required by their profession. A more widespread acceptance of 3D modelling within organisations is seen as a significant milestone in advancing the adoption of nD modelling technology and furthering the vision for a single integrated project model shared by the key participants in the design and construction process.
