FW-HTF-P: Building Upon New Learning Theories To Attract And Retain The Skilled Workforce Of The Future In The Construction Trades

Drexel University, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

The overarching goal of this Future of Work at the Human Technology Frontier (FW-HTF-P) project is to enable the creation of technology innovations to recruit and retain a large and diverse pool of workers, with the objective of forestalling an acute labor shortage in the building trades. Specifically, this Project Development award will support a pilot study to identify the barriers associated with technology adoption and resistance to new technology within the construction building trades. The results will be applied to create interventions to overcome these barriers within community college and trade school training programs, to help prepare a large, technically skilled, and inclusive workforce -- including women and other groups traditionally underrepresented in construction occupations -- for careers that meet individual and industry needs. The researchers will conduct a pilot study focused upon the construction building trades to identify the barriers associated with technology adoption and the resistance within the trades. The work will build upon a foundational framework developed in 2021 to elucidate the underlying psychological factors that influence technology uptake in the British oil and gas industry. Through interviews, field observations and nationwide surveys, the researchers will seek to identify the psychological factors that influence technology adoption within the construction trades. The team combines education practice in the construction industry, an understanding of the methodologies associated with adult learning/workforce development, experience with the application of principles associated with the human technology interface, and practical application of systems thinking to complex societal challenges. The interdisciplinary approach seeks to identify transformational learning technologies at the human technology frontier that will revolutionize the educational methodologies used in construction reducing the labor shortage and encourage life-long pervasive learning in the trades. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.