Introduction of Building Information Modeling in industrial engineering education: students’ perception

Abstract

The building information modeling (BIM) methodology is becoming a mandatory requirement in the development of projects within the world context. Consequently, technical schools have been introducing BIM in their curricula. The present study aims to evaluate student perceptions concerning the advantages and difficulties of incorporating BIM into the formal teaching system as part of the degree in industrial engineering. Students’ understanding and satisfaction were analyzed while using BIM in the development of the practical component of a didactic industrial project. The evaluation was based on a Likert survey with five levels, and the results were interpreted using a factor analysis and ascending hierarchical classification. To identify possible relationships between student satisfaction with the BIM implementation and the factors obtained, a multiple regression analysis was performed. It was determined that students have a high perception of BIM utility and consider the use of the BIM tool that is intuitive and easy to learn, including during the autonomous learning process. The results show a direct correlation between the benefits of BIM implementation in industrial projects and the advantages of defining teamwork within collaborative projects. The incorporation of BIM as a mandatory subject in the industrial engineering curriculum appears to be successful, and the results are encouraging.