304 Green Building Commissioning
Class Syllabus

$440 for members, $475 for non-members

Introduction
Learning Objectives
Class Organization and Grading
Grading Policies
The Textbook
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Introduction
Building commissioning is a process designed to verify that a building will meet the project design requirements. It is a quality assurance process for the delivery of buildings and building systems. This course will cover the various aspects and requirements of building commissioning through the pre-design phase, design, construction and post construction phases of a building construction project. We will study the make up of the Commissioning Team and the role of scheduling and coordination in the commissioning process. Some of the topics we will study includes verification and testing, documentation, training, systems and ongoing commissioning.

We will go over construction checklists, construction verification requirements and special contexts. The course will stress green building requirements in regards to commissioning with an emphasis on construction operations.
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Learning objectives:
By the end of this class you should:

• Understand the relationship between LEED 3.0 and Commissioning
• Learn about the Commissioning process from programming through post construction
• Learn about the Commissioning Team and the Commissioning Agent
• Be able to list the benefits of commissioning for the Owner, designer and contractor
• Understand different approaches to the commissioning process
• Be able to use a commissioning plan
• Understand the affect commissioning has on the project schedule and budget
• Have a good grasp on the economics of commissioning
• Understand the role of retro commissioning

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Class Organization and Grading
The following table lists the learning modules, the maximum value in points a student can receive within each module, and the time in which the modules must be finished.

It is important that the student keep up with the class and not fall behind.   Course modules will be made available to students on Sunday of each week.  Class work must be completed before the following Monday.  Students will not be able to work ahead of the class although reading assignments will be made available in advance.   Actual dates that modules will become available will be posted in advance on the course calendar.

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Grading Policies
Graded assignments will consist of one quiz for each module and participation in at least two class discussions.   Each quiz will count 10 points and class discussions will count 15 points per module.  You can see that I consider class discussions to be a very important part of this course.   For that reason,  the regular weekly discussions are even more important than the weekly quizzes.  Students should provide at least 4 on-topic contributions to the class discussions each week to gain the maximum points.

Grades will be posted on a weekly basis.  You will have full access to your grade sheet so you will be able to keep track of how you are doing at all times.

Your overall grade in the course will be determined by the total number of points you have accumulated on quizzes and assignments.   The grading scale is as follows:

• A 300 to 270 points
• B 240 to 269 points
• C 210 to 239 points
• D 180 to 209
• Anything less will be considered either failure (F) or an unauthorized withdrawal from the course.

You will be given more information about the grading and other course matters in the Orientation Module.

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The Textbook
You can find detailed textbook information at http://www.constructionclasses.com/textbooks.htm#304

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