The Academic Interoperability Coalition (AiC), an eleven year coalition of now over 70 university Architecture, Engineering and Construction Management (AEC) educators, plus additional subject matter experts, and industry partners is launching a Body of Knowledge (BOK) for Building Information Modeling (BIM) to help identify the common knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed for the successful implementation of BIM to reach its full potential.
Since the accreditation boards have not yet identified criteria for credentialing BIM, it was felt that the AiC could help mitigate the apparent divergence across programs. The AiC proposed that before BIM education could move forward, some common values should be established through a BOK that both curriculum developers and corporate trainers could use as a focus and as a foundational step.
The BOK is not intended to direct curriculum but to be a common resource on which AEC education curriculum can be built. In this way, a level of commonality can begin to emerge so that BIM education across multiple-disciplines is coordinated and not independent.
The principal investigators on the project are Dr. Wei Wu – California State University, Fresno, Dr. Glenda Mayo – UNC Charlotte, Dr. Tamera McCuen – University of Oklahoma, and Dr. Raymond Issa – University of Florida. Dr. Issa said, “This is perhaps the most significant step forward in BIM education to date and will significantly help to coordinate BIM education, testing, certification and credentialing”.
The results of the AiC’s effort is now being made available to the public at large for use by AEC universities, continuing education programs, students, and potential employers. A comprehensive report, narrated presentation and background material is now available at: https://www.bcn.ufl.edu/cacim/AIC/
Work is not done and background material for each knowledge, skill and ability is being further defined to identify the delta between how education is currently accomplished in each of the areas identified and how education is accomplished using building information modeling.
