Author Information
Yajie Liu, Southern Utah University, United StatesMinerva Bonilla, Texas A&M University, United States
Abstract
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape professional practices across industries, higher education must prepare students to engage critically, creatively, and responsibly with these technologies to ensure future workforce readiness. While AI tools are becoming increasingly prevalent in construction practice, there is limited pedagogical research on how generative AI can be purposefully integrated into construction education to benefit both instructors and students. This paper aims to explore how generative AI tools—such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and discipline-specific applications—can be integrated into construction education to enhance teaching effectiveness and improve student learning productivity and efficiency. The proposed instructional activity engages undergraduate construction students in both technical problem-solving and creative design tasks. Students first complete a task using only their own knowledge and course materials, then revisit the same task with three AI tools of their choice to generate alternative solutions, explanations, or design concepts. They conclude with a written reflection on how AI outputs influenced their reasoning, addressed misconceptions, improved efficiency, or provided new perspectives, and suggest additional ways AI could support construction-related learning. The activity’s novelty lies in its multi-tool AI integration, structured reflection process, and comparative evaluation of human- versus AI-generated work. Although empirical results are not yet available, the paper will present the activity framework, sample prompts, and planned qualitative analysis methods. The expected outcome is a practical, adaptable model for embedding AI into construction education that advances responsible AI adoption and prepares future professionals for an AI-enabled industry.
Paper Information
Conference: IICE2026Stream: Design
This paper is part of the IICE2026 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Liu Y., & Bonilla M. (2026) Integrating Generative AI Into Construction Education: A Structured Classroom Activity for Reasoning, Reflection, and Responsible Use ISSN: 2189-1036 – The IAFOR International Conference on Education – Hawaii 2026 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 65-75) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2189-1036.2026.7
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2189-1036.2026.7
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