Study Guide

Hello and Welcome

Many thanks for joining the CIOB’s course on the importance of a commitment to diversity and inclusion in the Built Environment sector.

On this course, you’ll learn what the benefits are to embedding diversity and inclusion in the construction industry, current challenges facing the industry, what works and how to make necessary change happen. You’ll hear from people in the industry about how to change constructions culture to address under-representation.

The materials, including articles, videos and blogs are organised into 3 sections spread over a three-week period. At the end of each section we provide a quiz to help reflect on your learning of the topic and identify areas for improvement. There is a comment area below each section for you to add your thoughts and I encourage you to engage in discussion.

Purposely, this course contains reading and videos to provide a first-hand experience, although, it is so much more than that. It is designed to be a social learning platform where collective experiences will drive deeper understanding, providing valuable insight into inclusion and diversity in construction, from experts and via thoughtful articles.

Week 1 – ‘’What are the benefits of a commitment to diversity and inclusion in construction?’’

In the first week of the course we define diversity & inclusion and outlines what, how and why diversity and inclusion are fundamental in supporting positive business growth throughout the BE sector with global perspectives, highlighting the significant benefits to the commitment of diversity and inclusion can have on business operations.

Week 2 – ‘’Understanding the current challenges facing the built environment’’

Transitioning to the second week the focus shifts to clearly identify areas of exclusion and under-respresentation in the industry. Analysis of the barriers to the promotion of diversity in the BE, which have led to disadvantage, and a shortage of skilled labour. It is enhanced with case studies as representation of the real-life implications.

Week 3 – ‘’ What works? How do we make necessary change happen?’’

Moving into the final week, we look at the importance of leadership and how actions can be made to promote effective change throughout an employer’s journey. Outlining steps to be made which directly drive diversity and inclusion and referencing company’s where a change in behaviour has resulted in positive business growth.

Hopefully, you will find the platform straightforward to navigate but if you have any queries, please refer to the FutureLearn FAQ’s or the section on how it works.

To complete the course, simply mark each step complete as you work your way through each week. Read the articles, do the activities, watch the videos and post your questions and answers in discussion steps. Each week new learning steps are available, and you can work your way through them at any time. You don’t need to be online at a particular time. Plus, tell your colleagues and friends to join the course by sharing the link.

Within the course there are online discussion areas where you can post and read messages from other users. You’re encouraged to actively use these areas in a polite and constructive way. Due to the possible sensitivity of the topic, where you are asked to reflect on your own experiences, please refrain from naming people and organisations. If you see something inappropriate, you can anonymously flag comments to the attention of moderators.

Did you also know you can ‘follow’ other learners that you find interesting so you can find their comments more easily? Just click on the right hand side of their comments in the course discussions. By following people you can become engaged in a number of discussions throughout the course. If you haven’t already, please take the pre-course survey as this helps us to keep improving the course.

To start, click the ‘Mark as complete’ button below to mark this page as complete (this will help you keep track of your progress through the course) and then click on the arrow on the right to take you to the next step. At the end of each step there is a discussion space, please feel free to post any questions you have about that step here, and remember you can also help your fellow learners out with answers here too.

If you have any questions please post them in the comments section.