What Do You Wish School Had Taught You?

by TODD STOLARSKI | Dec 12, 2015

We all agree. This industry needs more talent.

As talented as so many of us are, the demand for qualified professionals is already far exceeding supply in the built environment. So, how do we turn this situation around? How do we meet the mammoth needs of our planet’s crowded and chaotic future? Well, we are all going to have to be smart and get smarter...

“Fostering a smarter built environment”. It’s right there on our homepage. That process, of course, begins with education. It may include tapping into the many initiatives here like events in our SmartWorlds series, viewing our expanding video library, or from digging into our burgeoning research department. Before earning your advanced degree at BW University, first came your physical classroom. How they look today and how students learn now may just blow you away.

With technology rapidly changing how we work in the field, it has modified both the teaching methods and the look of our classrooms, as well. Engineering, construction, and architecture schools are considerably different in today’s world than they once were. We’ve evolved beyond the 20th century paper-based, letter-grade courses. Maker spaces and tablets have now replaced lecture halls and drafting tables.

However, with this change in the way tech has enabled us to educate our next generation, there has come a question in the field: Has all this classroom techno-training created young professionals more, or less ready to take on careers in this industry? Many veterans in the field say that classroom education alone fails to prepare students to take the next step to the real world.

So, we wanted to turn this discussion over to our experts: our readers. What do you wish your collegiate courses would've focused on? Does learning the history of your specialty really prepare you for the future? How can students now be made ready to take on real responsibilities on the job site? What did you have to learn the hard way which could have been learned much easier? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Fostering a smarter built environment. It may start with us, but it extends through you. With your help, we can start contributing even more tangible lessons to the next generation.

To contact the author, write to todd.stolarski@builtworlds.com, or follow him on Twitter @toddstolarski.