Improving the visualization skills of construction management students

![CDATA[The ability to read technical drawings and to accurately translate scaled representations of buildings into full-sized artefacts is a core skill for the construction manager. It is primarily the designer’s role to document the building, but construction managers also need good visualization skills if they are to make useful contributions to a project team. The use of virtual models combined with guided practice through the documentation of a small residential building project has been used at a university in Sydney to help students develop familiarity with drawing conventions and standard scales. Such awareness can be the source of innovative building solutions that are grounded in a practical understanding of the relative constructability of building designs. The frequency of use of the visualization tools within an e-learning site was mapped in a first year, first semester subject with 267 students. There appears to be an optimum amount of time that most students need to commit if they are to acquire the necessary skills to be active participators in design development negotiations. It is evident that visual literacy is a distinct cognitive skill which requires construction educators to introduce active strategies if students are to successfully achieve this important graduate attribute.]]