2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Building Meta-AI Literacy in Construction Education: Evaluating the Impact of a Storytelling-Based Module on Students’ Metaknowledge

Presented at CONST 2 - Generative AI and ChatGPT: New Partners in Construction Learning

As emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technologies continue to transform construction processes and work environments, preparing future construction professionals with the competencies required to interact with AI critically, effectively, and ethically has become a pressing priority. Beyond acquiring fundamental and technical knowledge, students must develop metaknowledge of their own AI literacy, referred to as meta-AI literacy, which remains underexplored in construction education and literature. This study develops and presents AIStory, a storytelling-based learning module designed to foster both foundational AI knowledge and meta-AI literacy among construction students. The intervention was implemented with construction students, whose self-perceived AI literacy and objective AI knowledge were measured before and after participation. The discrepancy between the subjective and objective measures was used to quantify meta-AI literacy. Results indicate that the storytelling-based approach positively influences students’ metacognitive understanding of their AI competencies. These findings provide actionable insights on how AI literacy integration into construction education curricula can develop students’ metaknowledge of AI.

Authors

Dr. Jiun-Yao Cheng http://orcid.org/https://0000-0003-2109-8548 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo [biography]

Jiun-Yao Cheng received his Ph.D. from the M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management at the University of Florida. His research focuses on human-technology interaction in construction, exploring the dynamic intersections of educational innovation, construction safety, and emerging technologies. His most recent work centers on integrating artificial intelligence (AI) literacy into construction education, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Additionally, he has contributed to other NSF-funded projects on safe human-robot interaction in construction. Jiun-Yao is also a recipient of the NSF Internship Fellowship, during which he spent six months at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Robotics Center. His work has been published in leading journals, including the ASCE Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management (JCEM) and the ASCE Journal of Civil Engineering Education, as well as presented at conferences focused on construction education. Jiun-Yao earned a Master’s degree in Construction Engineering and Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from National Central University in Taiwan. He is a reviewer for leading journals in construction engineering and management, and a member of American Society of Engineering Education, American Society of Safety Professionals, and various ASCE committees, including the Visualization, Information Modeling, and Simulation (VIMS) Committee and Global Center for Excellence in Computing.
Dr. Masoud Gheisari http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5568-9923 University of Florida [biography]

Dr. Masoud Gheisari is the Director of Graduate Programs and Research and an Associate Professor in the M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management at the University of Florida.
Idris Jeelani University of Florida

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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