This paper presents the results of implementing innovative strategies using drones and 3D scanners in the specialization course Efficiency and Digitalization of Construction, aimed at undergraduate students of civil engineering and architecture. The course is offered as a specialization option among three alternatives in the penultimate semester of undergraduate programs in these fields: Sustainable Use of Water, Real Estate Intelligence, and Efficiency and Digitalization of Construction. It is delivered over an intensive 11 -week period, during which topics such as Structural Damage and Inspection Techniques, Structural Health Monitoring, Non-Destructive Testing, and Design for Durability are covered. In 2024, the course was attended by a group of 25 students from various campuses across the country. For the module on Structural Damage and Inspection Techniques, students engaged in traditional visual inspection activities of the campus stadium, identifying and qualitatively assessing damages using conventional management systems to evaluate damage severity. In contrast, a parallel activity was designed to implement advanced technologies, including 3D scanning with LiDAR and drones equipped with high-definition cameras, to identify and map damages. This technological approach enabled a quantitative and highly precise evaluation of damage severity through image analysis. When comparing these instructional strategies, incorporating technology and innovation into the cited module, students expressed, through end-of-course surveys, high motivation toward developing and researching technological solutions. They also recognized the importance of integrating high-precision technology into the evaluation and diagnosis of existing infrastructure. At the conclusion of the course activities, students and faculty prepared and submitted a technical report to campus administrators, detailing their findings and results. This report is expected to contribute to future maintenance and conservation projects, thus closing the cycle of specialization activities by observing the execution of physical interventions on the inspected stadium. Faculty members plan to continue these activities with the next cohort in the following academic year, allowing for the monitoring of damage progression and ensuring continuity in learning outcomes.

In this paper we present a challenge-based teaching model for a special diploma in the Civil Engineering program in our University. The duration of the specialization Diploma is a full semester, usually during the fall term for the seventh semester of the eight-semester program. The program serves as a minor for students of mainly Civil Engineering but Architecture students can also be enrolled. The competencies developed during the eighteen weeks that the term lasts are associated with Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), detection of damage in structures and testing of structures using non-destructive techniques. The diploma covers the theoretical aspects associated with SHM and non-destructive techniques and several sessions of experiments in different labs of the university or from industry-certified labs. A total of 46 students have taken part of this diploma in the years 2022 and 2023 and the results of these implementations are included in this paper. Towards the end of the eighteen week course, students are given a challenge to apply the knowledge on a real structure. For this purpose, two different bridges located in our campus were prepared for the instrumentation and experiments designed by the different teams of students. The implementation of this diploma includes the collaboration with the Mexican Institute of Transportation, and some of its experts taught several modules and led the experiments in their facilities. Results of a survey answered by students show that their perception is a very positive one and students did achieve the desired competencies included in the design of the course. We present this work that could be use as an example of Challenge Based courses, Specialization semesters or minors for Engineering Programs.

From March 2019 through September 2021, most universities in our country had to turn into an online model in all the courses and programs. When students started to attend the lectures in September 2021, the universities implemented a hybrid model, having simultaneously students on-line and face-to-face. The teachers and lecturers since then have faced the challenge to pay the same level of attention to on-line and face-to-face students. Both types of students are getting the same information, the same material, and the same activities so we are questioning the level of knowledge acquired and competencies developed in the different attending circumstances. After at least one academic period attending lectures “on-line” or “face-to-face”, students enrolled in the Civil Engineering program between 6ththrough 8thsemester, answered polls and surveys that provided the information about their perception on the level of attention received, knowledge acquired, and the competencies developed. The objective of this paper is to obtain the students’ perception of the effectiveness of the hybrid method for acquiring knowledge and basic concepts regarding the disciplinary competencies within the subject's topic, so we asked them for their perception in a qualitative manner to understand how they are interpreting and understanding the need of these hybrid models.

In this work we present the results of implementing a challenge-based model for the teaching of a course of Structural Analysis. The course was taught in two different campuses, in two different cities of Mexico. Given the different local conditions, one group was taught in a hybrid-model with face to face sessions on campus, whereas the other group was fully online during the five week period of this intensive course. The model includes work with an industry partner that evaluates the solutions proposed by teams of students to a given real case scenario, in this case, the analysis of a warehouse roof structure under gravity loads and wind loads. Results on the perception of students regarding the implementation of the challenge based model are included, as well as some important elements of the model. A total of 52 students took the course during the fall semester of 2021 and the results shown in this work include the answers to a set of questions that students were given at the end of the course. The participation of the strategic partner from industry enhanced the overall experience of students and professors.

During the academic periods of the year 2020, the academic curricula around the world have had to endure important changes in terms of the activities performed in class due to the new format of online classes. Civil Engineering curricula has not been the exception. A key factor of the Civil Engineering program is the capability of attending construction sites. With the contingency, the acquisitions of construction site visits permits have become more difficult to obtain due to the high health risk involving a large number of people in the same place. Lecturers also had to consider that some of the students have returned to their cities of origin as a consequence of the online classes. Therefore, constructions site visits were no longer an option. We are proposing a virtual lab for construction site visits that overcomes all the obstacles created by the contingency period and also present it as a viable alternative for the new normality that we are going to face in the early stages of the reincorporation to face-to-face classes. With this virtual lab, students will be able to have a completely interactive experience, with possibilities of live interaction and access that allows lecturers to maintain all the characteristics that will allow the students to achieve the expected level of competencies in their academic program with the help of technological tools. We studied the perception of 121 undergraduate students about these virtual site visits. After the visits, students were asked to fill an online survey that consisted in 18 questions in which they evaluated different aspects of the visit, from technical to academical elements. It was concluded that the virtual lab is a successful activity to enhance the students' competencies.