The existing architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry has a fragmented nature where each team member works in isolation away from a whole-systems thinking. It is a challenge to produce sustainable buildings with systems optimization and multi-disciplinary collaboration among different disciplines. It is therefore crucial to help AEC students, learn how to exchange information and work in teams for effective design and construction of sustainable buildings.This study presents a graduate level course, taught at Michigan State University that utilizes a teamwork approach to teach sustainable built environment practices. The goal of the study is to improve the way teams work so that they can produce better sustainable built environment projects. The study tests the proposition that regular feedback to sensitize students towards teamwork characteristics can help student teams produce more comprehensive outputs for sustainable projects. To achieve this, two teams working on a semester long sustainable built environment project are being observed. One of the teams is receiving the feedback while the other one is working on its own pace. The results will be based on qualitative and social network analyses that reports on changes in teamwork mechanics and dynamics over time, and comparisons of study and control team's final performances with their projects.
Read
