During the last year, 10 pioneering UMass students took the road less traveled – pursuing the BCT (Building Construction Technology) Applied Learning Pathways, a new option for students to ‘study abroad’ at the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst in Newton, Massachusetts.
Students worked one-on-one with a faculty sponsor to create a customized, hands-on learning experience based on their interests in sustainability. These one-of-a kind pathways built the students’ confidence and portfolios (i.e. GIS mapping, augmented/virtual experiments, original research, multi-media videos, 3D models) as they collectively pursued more than 30 academic credits toward the completion of their degrees.
“As a master’s degree student at UMass, I wanted my learning to be meaningful and to have an impact,” said Abigail Moore, B.S. ’19, M.S, ’21. “The Independent Study project I designed with my professor focused on the idea of ‘Living Buildings;’ structures that generate more than they consume – and I was able to focus on understanding how these buildings can work with...
