September 2023 – All BENEDICT Guidance Materials and Output reports are available for viewing and download.
Guidance Materials have been developed for using the BIM-enabled Learning Environment (BLE) including course manuals for each of the 3 pilot courses that were developed to demonstrate the BLE. These materials are all available in English, Estonian and Italian languages.
In addition, all the reports relating to the 6 Intellectual Outputs of the Benedict project have now been finalised and are also available for viewing and download. Links below.
Links to all guidance materials and reports can be found here
August 2023 – BENEDICT’s 6th newsletter has been issued
June 2023 – Short-term Joint Staff Training
The Benedict project team came to Tallinn for the final international event – a short-term joint staff training course which took place from June 19th-21st at the TalTech campus. In total, 18 delegates from the three partner universities, TTK University of Applied Sciences and REC industry representatives attended. Day 1 of the training focused on the pedagogical aspects of BIM-enabled learning. Day 2 had a technological focus with hands-on demonstrations of the BIM-enabled Learning Environment (BLE) and its associated systems, and Day 3 comprised workshops addressing the future of BIM-enabled learning and sustaining the Benedict project achievements beyond the funding period.
March 2023 – Multiplier Event 3
A third multiplier event was held at Complesso Di Santa Cristina in Bologna on March 30th, 2023 hosted by the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna. The event was aimed at presenting the Benedict project and its BIM-enabled Learning Environment to construction sector operators, professionals, companies, professors and researchers.
October 2022 – Multiplier Event
A multiplier event was held at Nordic Hotel Forum in Tallinn on October 17th where Benedict was introduced and the BIM-enabled Learning Environment (BLE) demonstrated to academic colleagues from the University of Central Lancashire, University of Colombo, University of Huddersfield, University of Ruhuna, University of Sri Jayawardhanapura and Vilnius Tech.
October 2022 – BENEDICT 360 Injected
As part of BENEDICT development of virtual reality functionality and educational / training resources for the BIM-enabled Learning Environment, a 360 injected fly-through of a BIM model was created that can be viewed and experienced on any device – check it out
(This is best viewed on a mobile device – phone or tablet – to take advantage of the gyroscope sensors that change the view as you move the device).
October 2022 – BENEDICT #ErasmusDays
A multi-project information exchange event to celebrate Erasmusdays 2022 was held on 15th October 2022 where 5 projects, all co-funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union were introduced by their coordinating partners. The featured projects were: SECRA [Strengthening University-Enterprise Collaboration for Resilient Communities in Asia], BRITAE [Building Resilience in Tropical Agro-Ecosystems], FOUNTAIN [Fostering sustainable University-industry Techno-entrepreneurial Collaborations and innovations in Asian Universities], MICROBE [Minimizing the influence of coronavirus in a built environment], BENEDICT [BIM-enabled Learning Environment for Digital Construction]. The video recording is publicly available below.
June 2022 – Presentation to the 18th CDIO International Conference
On behalf of the Benedict team, Dr Theophilus Olowa presented our latest joint paper entitled: Evaluation of Immersive Project-based Learning Experiences to the 18th CDIO International Conference hosted by Reykjavik University in Iceland.
June 2022 – Progress Meeting 4
The 5th Transnational Project Meeting (Progress Meeting 4) was held at Mektory on the TalTech campus in Tallinn, Estonia on the 3rd June 2022.
June 2022 – Demonstrating the BIM-enabled Learning Environment to Stakeholders
The project’s second Multiplier Event took place on the 2nd of June 2022 at the Mektory Innovation Hub on the TalTech campus in Tallinn. This was an opportunity for the project team to engage with stakeholders and to demonstrate the BENEDICT project developments to them. The event was attended by 29 delegates from government, industry, training organisations and educational institutions (whose representatives included programme directors, teaching staff and students). The Dean of the School of Engineering at TalTech, Fjodor Sergejev, gave a welcome address and Jaan Saar, Head of Digital Construction at the Estonian Ministry of Communications and Economic Affairs delivered a key-note pesentation on Digital Construction developments in Estonia. The BENEDICT project was then introduced and demonstrations of the BIM-enabled Learning Environment (BLE) were presented by the project team. This was followed by facilitated, round-table discussions amongst the delegates where the opportunities and challenges of BIM-enabled learning were deliberated from the perspectives of industry, technology, teaching and learning.
May 2022 – Presentation to the 11th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organisation
Members of the Benedict team presented project findings to the 11th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organisation which took place from 18-20 May 2022 in Copenhagen and Malmö hosted by Aalborg University.
April 2022 – BENEDICT Newsletter issued
March 2022 – Publication of BENEDICT-related journal article
An open access journal paper entitled: ” Defining a BIM-Enabled Learning Environment—An Adaptive Structuration Theory Perspective” co-authored by members of (all partners of) the BENEDICT project team has been published in the journal Buildings. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12030292
January 2022 – Progress Meeting 3
Finally, after nearly 18 months of BENEDICT project implementation, we were able to hold a face-to-face Transnational Project Meeting on the 17th and 18th of January at Tampere University’s Hervanta campus in Finland. It was a great opportunity to bring the project team together and discuss implementation details. Many thanks to the wonderful organisation and generosity of our hosts at Tampere University.
October 2021 – BENEDICT celebrates #ErasmusDays
On 16th October, we celebrated #ErasmusDays with the release of a video introducing the BENEDICT project. #Erasmusdays 2021 video
September 2021 – First BENEDICT-related journal publication
The first BENEDICT-related journal paper has been published by the International Journal of Construction Management in their special issue titled: “Teaching and Learning, Skills Development and Ethics in the Built Environment in Industry/Construction 4.0”.
The title of the paper is: “Building information modelling (BIM)-enabled construction education education: teaching project cash flow concepts. www.tandfonline.com/…/10…/15623599.2021.197930
September 2021 – Progress Meeting 2
The 3rd Transnational Project Meeting was held as an online event as a consequence of COVID-19 travel restrictions to discuss project progress and agree on the way ahead with the development of the BIM-enabled Learning Environment. We would wish to thank Sunil Suwal from Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences who shared his experiences with the BIM educational INBOOKMODE and other projects sharing a similar focus to BENEDICT with us.
June 2021 – Stakeholder workshop
February 2021 – Press Release
BENEDICT project: educating the new generation of BIM natives
The BIM-enabled Learning Environment for Digital Construction (BENEDICT) project is aimed at leveraging the emerging possibilities of BIM to enhance the education of REC professionals by developing an innovative, BIM-enabled Learning Environment which offers more realistic, immersive and integrated learning experiences.
Digitalization is driving changes in the Real Estate and Construction (REC) sector. As digitalization and tools like Building Information Modelling (BIM) are becoming more and more important, the education of REC sector professionals must adapt accordingly. Universities and businesses need new ways of learning and teaching and this is the main goal of the international BENEDICT project (BIM-enable Learning Environment for Digital Construction).
The BENEDICT project (2020-2023) is an Erasmus+ strategic partnership between the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture at Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), the Civil Engineering Unit of Tampere University (Finland) and the Department of Architecture at the University of Bologna (Italy). Additionally, a range of REC education stakeholders including teachers and learners, representatives of the REC industry and bodies responsible for BIM standards are also participating in the project.
The project will specify the requirements for a common, openly accessible and flexible BIM-enabled Learning Environment (BLE) and develop a prototype BLE for the construction sector wide needs in different European countries.
“The project will result in the development of the BLE as an open, online learning platform with initial learning resources and demonstration course materials. Key stakeholders will be trained to use it and a core group of users will be set-up with the requisite knowledge and collaborative network(s) to take BIM-enabled learning forward beyond the project funding period. In the long-term, the BLE is envisaged as a tool that can be deployed to enhance the education, training and continuous professional development of personnel throughout the value chain of the REC sector in the European Union and elsewhere”, project co-ordinator, Associate Professor Emlyn Witt from Tallinn University of Technology.
Universities and businesses around the world are working with the same questions. BENEDICT is a transnational project, which ensures that the BLE will be flexible and can be implemented in different countries. It will also accommodate different software preferences.
More information:
Emlyn Witt
emlyn.witt@taltech.ee
Kalle Kähkönen
kalle.kahkonen@tuni.fi
Marco Bragadin
marcoalvise.bragadin@unibo.it
press release by Jaakko Kinnunen, jaakko.kinnunen@tuni.fi
October 2020 – Kick-off Meeting
The BENEDICT project formally kicked-off with a virtual meeting on 13th October 2020 at which the Steering Committee and Associate Partners met to discuss the project and its work plan.
