Online Construction Site Visits: Comparing Systematic and Nonsystematic Learning Progression in Students’ Knowledge Development and Collaborative Problem-Solving

Abstract

Virtual site visits have become an essential innovation in construction education, offering safe, repeatable, and flexible alternatives to physical site visits, which are often limited by safety concerns, logistics, and access restrictions. Although immersive technologies and collaborative virtual platforms have expanded these opportunities, the instructional organization of learning content within such environments remains underexplored. This study addresses this gap by comparing the impacts of systematic and nonsystematic learning progressions on students’ knowledge development and collaborative problem-solving during online construction site visits. A virtual learning platform focusing on building mechanical systems was developed, incorporating four learning objectives progressing from declarative to procedural knowledge. Using a between-subject experimental design, undergraduate construction students experienced either a systematic or nonsystematic learning sequence. Results indicated that both learning progressions effectively supported students’ knowledge development within the online construction site visit environment; however, notable differences emerged in higher-order reasoning and collaborative practices. Students in the systematic learning progression condition demonstrated stronger performance on tasks requiring conceptual integration and procedural reasoning. They also exhibited more structured collaborative behaviors, such as referencing two-dimensional (2D) drawings while manipulating three-dimensional (3D) models and collaboratively verifying calculations. These behaviors suggest that systematic sequencing may reduce cognitive load and facilitate schema integration during complex tasks. In contrast, learners in the nonsystematic condition engaged more freely in exploratory navigation but showed less coordinated reasoning and weaker linkage across concepts. Overall, these findings highlight the critical role of instructional sequencing design in virtual construction education and provide insights for designing adaptive scaffolding frameworks in future online site visits.