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The overall content is extremely good. This approach to education is exactly what should be taught in the classroom. It is 100% relevant to the exact experiences students will face when entering the workforce.

Getting students to understand the basic fundamentals of heavy civil construction will greatly increase their ability to quickly on-board with a company post grad.

I personally train quite a few new project engineer/estimators and co-ops each year at Kokosing. Each of them are usually in a CM/Civil track or have recently graduated with the relevant degree. Through the content in this interactive textbook, they will at least get an understanding or familiarization with the varying scopes of work a heavy civil contractor would perform, and the associated productions and costs involved with that item.

I especially liked that actual plan sheets were referenced. Outside of my co-ops, we never learned how to read a set of plans in the classroom. Reading plans is something i do every single day at my job. Understanding how to read typical sections, navigate sub-summary tables, and read what is communicated on a plan and profile sheet is vital to being successful. If a new co-op student or new hire – recent graduate was able to competently read a set of plans without me teaching them, they would immediately be a top performer.

One thing i recommend is including quantity takeoffs as an work activity. This is a frequent task for co-ops and new hires. It is a vital task when bidding work or preparing to perform an item. Most heavy civil contractors use Bluebeam and excel to do this.

Another thought would be to give a current ODOT specification and ask certain questions from the spec. As a heavy civil contractor, I am constantly referring to the specs and standard drawings. Teaching students to be familiar with these is extremely important. DOT specifications aren’t always the easiest to read and understand intent – it would be good to for them to review an entire spec, and then have to answer an assortment of questions.

I’ve been thoroughly impressed with the content and structure of this interactive webbook. The information is well-organized, thoughtfully presented, and very informative. The interactive tools and calculators really elevate the experience, as they make complex concepts more accessible and help reinforce learning in a practical way.

This is exactly the kind of resource I would have appreciated when I was in school. But even now, after many years in the construction industry, I would still find it useful. It’s a great reference, especially when I want to revisit foundational concepts or explore new ones in a hands-on, engaging format. Whether you’re a student or a working professional, this webbook is an outstanding tool for learning and staying sharp

I thought it was a great general overview honestly, and more so of not at the 50,000 FT level like most everything I’ve ever seen and learned from in school. Dove into the key earthwork topics deeper and with more focus which is what a student SHOULD have in front of them. I wish I would have had this textbook long ago when I was in school instead of the ones we had. Even now, you can still learn something from it or could always go back for a refresh as a young professional. Great topics across the board in the textbook. I did appreciate the specs and actual plan images as references within each topic that is a nice touch that in my opinion makes this textbook superior and prepares students for the real world and is easy to follow section by section.

I do feel a superior textbook such as this lays a solid groundwork for someone to get their feet wet in the topics and exposed to more “real world” scenarios among the textbooks I used in school and have a “leg up” upon someone without this textbook.

All in all it was a honor to review the text for you, I think you guys hit a home run with this idea and format to present to students to further themselves. Its hard to be picky when it is all so great and really dove into most all of the general earthwork topics unlike anything I had seen before. I can imagine the other sections are just as detailed and teaching focused as the earthwork section I reviewed; and I think there’s much more you guys could build off of the same platform for even further learning in the future.
Thank you George and Scott

I reviewed the Earthwork Webbook.
Overall, I believe the information provided in the Webbook certainly would benefit a college student studying to have a career in Construction Project Management. Providing an insight to what future job tasks a young employee will be asked to perform would create a smoother transition from university to a post graduate position. Often times, you hear the phrase “you don’t know what you don’t know”, and my perception is that these Webbook’s will assist in eliminating the things you don’t know at an earlier stage.
– As the Webbook’s are solely online, I would recommend more links to videos illustrating the type of work described in each Content Module.

This content is very thorough and covers the full extent of items we deal with in the industry. Great tools to calculate cycle times and productions, work planning, and cost estimating. The only items I suggest covering are adding a topic about survey control and yield control. I think this is the most comprehensive book I’ve seen about our industry. This will help a great deal of future heavy highway professionals!

The concept of an always up to date document and interactive format is great! This is something I wish I had while in school and a resource I would use as a professional now (for myself, mentees, and newer employees).

The webbook section on Earthwork provides an excellent and detailed presentation of items of work needed to comprehensively plan and estimate heavy civil construction projects. Incorporation of exercises, such as activity sequencing, provide the student an opportunity to perform immediate and individual checks on learning. The authors have collated a variety of real-world scenarios for consideration, including open-ended and often ethically important discussion topics that students will face entering professional practice. Finally, the webbook includes integrated tools, such as trend analysis or labor-hour calculators, where students can directly input and observe varying effects on the project.