TYPICAL ENGINEER LEARNING STYLES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR THE VE WORKSHOP

摘要

The investigation phase of the value engineering job plan is vitally important to the VE process. In a brief period, the study team must quickly grasp not only the current design for the project, but also the needs which it is designed to meet, the conditions under which it will be constructed, and the commitments that have been made to the public, elected officials, and regulatory agencies. If the phase is effective, the team can generate insightful ideas. But, if it is not, the team's ideas may be naive and unimaginative. Pressed to show results for its efforts, the team may resort to common cost cutting measures that are of little value as they merely sacrifice performance to save money. With so much on the line, VE facilitators pay close attention to the design of the information phase, employing a number of techniques that include function analysis, the hallmark of the VE process. However, few have considered whether their techniques are optimal with respect to the learning styles of their team members. This paper will examine this topic in the context of the approximately 300 studies that are conducted each year by various agencies under the auspices of the FHWA VE program. In these workshops, the predominant team member is the engineer. Engineers do, in fact, show strong tendencies toward particular learning styles. This paper will examine how this knowledge can be used to make the investigation phase more effective not only for typical engineers, but also for a complete spectrum of learning styles.