Training for a pavement management system: Experiences from New Zealand

Road & Transport Research, Mar 2003 by Pradhan, Nabin K, Wilson, Douglas J, Dunn, Roger C M

The program for the user conferences usually included:

* The vision of the RIMS Group in developing the system;

* The latest developments and refinements on the dTIMS project;

* Technical presentations on the experience gained by users in implementing the system for various road networks;

* Discussion on specific topics identified by users;

* The formation of the inaugural regional user group and a chairperson.

The regional user groups and committee were formed during the inaugural user conference and are now successfully conducting annual user conferences in their respective regions.

University courses

Comprehensive modules on road and pavement asset management systems were developed and are now part of the undergraduate Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) program at the University of Auckland. In 2001, a new postgraduate course in Road Management Systems was developed by lecturers from the University of Auckland and from Industry who had taken part both in the development of the NZ dTIMS system and in the industry-based training courses. This new graduate course is part of a new Masters of Engineering(3) program specialising in Transportation Engineering run jointly by the University of Auckland and the University of Canterbury. The new program is financially supported by the Transportation Industry in New Zealand to help up-skill people working in the transportation industry, and to provide some of the documented demand for more transportation professionals in the New Zealand and wider Australasian market.

The new Road Management Systems Masters course was run in 2001 on average for 4 hours per week over 8 weeks (traditional graduate 'extended mode' of teaching). Of the 17 participants who completed the course, approximately 40% were from industry and 60% were full-time graduate students. In 2002 the course was offered in 'block course mode' (2 '3 days) for 8 hours per day. The two block courses were separated by a period of 6 weeks for project work. This course was limited to a maximum of 24 students and had approximately 50% from industry and 50% full-time students.

Overall feedback on the courses in terms of the content and the lecturing has been extremely positive; however, feedback on the delivery method of training was varied and basically split into two opposing camps. The full-time students favoured the week-by-week 'extended mode' of teaching rather than the more intensive 'block course' mode. The students' reasons were valid as the block course mode caused timetabling problems for them in their 'week-by-week' courses and furthermore, and perhaps more significantly, it allowed a shorter period of time to assimilate and understand the lecture content than the more traditional mode of week-by-week university lectures. In contrast, the industry-based participants favoured the block course mode as:

* It was economic and efficient for participants to fly in from parts of the country outside the Auckland region;

* They were 'away from their desk' and therefore had time to put into the course; and