DA4040 - Digital Built Environment

Most of your learning on this degree apprenticeship module will be in your workplace. You will gain a theoretical understanding of the topics through live (online or face-to-face) university sessions and online resources such as recorded lectures, videocasts, podcasts, electronic books, journal articles and websites. Your involvement in quantity surveying tasks will enable you to put the theory into context, thereby cementing your understanding. You will agree with your Workplace Mentor a Module Learning Plan (MLP) designed to achieve the Module Learning Outcomes via a series of directed workplace learning activities, such as shadowing a colleague, visiting a site or producing a poster.

Seminars will be used to introduce and discuss the theoretical issues based around digital technologies within the built environment and workshops will provide opportunities to practice and assess the usability of these various digital tools within specific subject areas. Learning packs will be provided for each of the diverse skill sets you will need to employ in this module. These packs will be in a variety of formats and may include tutorials, links to tutorials, directed tasks etc. You will experiment during these hand-on sessions, using the latest industry standard software. In addition to the development of your team working skills in the workplace, you will also develop team working skills in this module through collaborative group working.

Modules on your programme will typically span 11 weeks, with scheduled or directed activities each week, and one piece of summative assessment submitted in week 12 or 13. This may also be supplemented with up to one day of face-to-face interaction, if appropriate, at Northumbria University or a regional hub. In total the module will include around 11 hours of live ‘Seminars’ (synchronous classroom and online delivery via Blackboard Collaborate), 7 hours of recorded ‘Lectures’ (asynchronous online delivery via Blackboard or Blackboard Collaborate), 2 hours of ‘Tutorials’ (1-to-1 support from Workplace Mentor and Workplace Coach), and 40 hours of workplace learning activities. The remaining hours in the Notional Student Workload for the module are attributed to independent learning, with the estimated ratio of tutor-guided to student independent learning at 1:1, as appropriate for a Level 4 module. This is indicative and will vary between modules.

Your module tutor(s) will deliver an online module induction session and lead live sessions that enable you to interact with your tutor and peers. They will provide and direct you to essential and recommended online resources available via the University’s eLearning Portal and University Library. Outside of live sessions, they will provide advice and respond to questions via the eLearning Portal.

Your Workplace Mentor will support you in developing your Module Learning Plan. You will be provided with a guidance document that outlines the principles of workplace learning and provides examples of a large and diverse range of potential workplace learning activities. You may also discuss your Module Learning Plan with your Workplace Coach.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:
MLO1: You will develop an understanding of architectural drawings and how to read and produce them.

MLO2: You will gain awareness of digital technologies in within the built environment sector.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
MLO3: You will gain efficiencies in information management tools and techniques for the built environment sector.

MLO4: You will be able to produce subject specific documentations (written or visual) to convey information.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
MLO5: You will establish an understanding of digital communication ethics and practices.

You will be formatively assessed by the completion of the workplace learning activities identified in your Module Learning Plan. This will include progress reviews where you will be expected to demonstrate your developing skills and knowledge related to the topics of study. During these reviews, you will receive verbal feedback for you to further develop your digital portfolio. You will also receive informal, often verbal, formative feedback from your Workplace Mentor, and sometimes from other colleagues and your Workplace Coach.

Your summative assessment will provide you with the opportunity to translate your workplace learning into a coherent output that demonstrates that you have achieved the module learning outcomes.

This will be in the form of a digital portfolio (2000 words of equivalent) encompassing your progress reviews and evidence of your skills and knowledge in relation to digital communication and technologies.

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This module is an integral part of your Degree Apprenticeship programme, designed in collaboration with employers to meet the requirements of the Chartered Surveyor and Construction Surveyor Apprenticeship Standards and provide a solid skills base for career progression and professional qualification.

In this module, you will be introduced to the fundamental principles of digital tools that can be utilized within built environment sector. This introduction will enable you to develop an understanding of the ways in which different modes of collecting and using digital data within subject specific areas and will help you to make appropriate strategic decisions about digital tools in different situations.

You will gain theoretical understanding through university sessions and online resources but as a Degree Apprentice, you will do most of your learning in the context of your quantity surveying role via a series of workplace learning activities agreed with your Workplace Mentor.