Key drivers for implementing collaborative learning in civil engineering education: a scoping review

Collaborative learning is widely promoted in engineering education, yet implementation in civil engineering education remains uneven across course contexts, institutional conditions, and delivery modes. This study synthesises the drivers that motivate, enable, and constrain implementation and integrates them into a coherent framework. A scoping review using Scopus retrieved 1,357 records published between 1978 and 2026; restricting to English-language journal articles and applying a two-stage screening process yielded 355 articles for data charting and thematic synthesis. Eight driver domains were identified authentic practice, culture/readiness, curriculum alignment, institutional support, instructor capability, environment/logistics, student readiness, and digital infrastructure. The literature most often motivates collaborative learning through authentic, industry-linked practice and alignment with professional outcomes, while recurring constraints concern assessment credibility, facilitation capability, student preparedness, and logistical feasibility. Technology-mediated collaboration is framed as both an enabler and a dependency, with access and usability shaping readiness and sustainability. To bridge the gap between reported benefits and actionable guidance for sustained adoption, the study proposes an integrative framework linking external pull, institutional enablers, course and curriculum alignment, delivery orchestration, and implementation outcomes through iterative feedback loops, and translates this logic into testable propositions for future empirical research and evidence-informed scaling in civil engineering education.