Dual-E Program

The Workforce VDC Dual-E Program is a six-month project-based program educating high school and college students on virtual design and construction concepts. Students learn how to apply technological innovation within the construction industry through the integration of building information modeling, building performance evaluation, artificial intelligence, and construction management principles. 

The program is structured around a design project allowing students to apply VDC concepts within small teams. Over the course of several months, students define and achieve project-based goals across three phases: problem definition, concept development, and project development. Students apply a suite of VDC tools on large, technically complex real-world projects each with unique technological and construction management challenges. Students benefit from working with actual project documentation and design files. The project concludes with a formal presentation summarizing each team’s goals, VDC methodological approaches, results, and key insights and learnings. 

In addition to gaining knowledge about the construction industry, students learn project management, peer collaboration, problem solving, and critical thinking skills applicable to a broad range of professional careers. Students are challenged to understand the relationship between setting performance-based goals and using VDC software and experimental design to achieve these goals. Along the way students gain practical, hands-on project management experience within diverse, multi-disciplinary, and highly collaborative teams. By program’s end, students learn how goal-oriented design approaches, analytical thinking, and communication skills contribute to successful projects within their educational and career journeys.