Construction Students’ Awareness Of Cad Programs Of Polytechnics In Ghana

Abstract

Today, computers are being used by nearly everyone in the construction industry, be it fresh graduates or experienced construction professionals. It has become therefore imperative that at the higher education level, students would be introduced to computer application software relevant in their area of specialization. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of awareness and usage of CAD programs by students in Polytechnics offering Civil Engineering and Building Technology programs in Ghana. The study was a cross-sectional survey of 247 respondents using structured questionnaire. It found that 76.9% of the respondents knew at least one CAD software program, while shockingly 23.1% of the respondents did not know any of the CAD programs at all. In addition, it found AutoCAD as the dominant CAD program among the Polytechnic students in Ghana. Another worrying finding was that, 27.1% of the students do not use any of the CAD programs at all as against 72.9% who used at least one of them. The study concludes that though majority of the students knew and used CAD programs, much needs to be done to ensure application of the CAD software by all students.