Abstract
Simulator-based training in maritime education is an illustrative and paradigmatic example of how the introduction of high-end technologies creates new challenges for instructors: using simulators in educational settings for teaching skills that must be transferred to a professional work practice. This study draws on ethnographic fieldwork and video recordings of learning activities in a maritime navigation course to investigate the instructional challenges and opportunities for connecting general learning lessons to practical situations in different phases of simulator-based training. In particular, taking on a situated action approach, the research questions concern how the participants are orienting towards general instructions from the prospective briefing phase in the subsequent scenario and debriefing phases of training, considering how the social and material resources in the simulator environment organize the learning activities. The results show that connecting the general to the specifics of navigational situations is a continuous instructional achievement that is maintained throughout all stages of training, from briefing, through scenario, to debriefing. Hence, the results are stressing the importance for both in-scenario instructions and post-simulation debriefing in order to facilitate learning towards a profession. Moreover, the results emphasize how technologies in the simulator environment offer opportunities for instructors to continuously monitor, correct and assess the students’ activities towards the learning outcomes.
Highlights
This article provides an analysis of the different phases in simulator-based training to investigate how the maritime instructor is connecting general learning lessons to specific situations during learning activities that take place in a simulator environment
In the following examples from the scenario phase, the participants are orienting towards the general instructions in the briefing phase: the straightforward direction to follow collision regulations (COLREG) (Episode 1) and the question of which observational method to favour in different situations “Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA) vs TRAIL vs visual conduct” (Episode 2)
This study examines how the participants in simulator-based training are orienting towards the general instructions from the briefing phase in the subsequent scenario and debriefing phases of training, considering how the material resources in the simulator environment organize the learning activities
Summary
This article provides an analysis of the different phases in simulator-based training to investigate how the maritime instructor is connecting general learning lessons to specific situations during learning activities that take place in a simulator environment. The analytical framework used draws mainly on situated action (Suchman 2007) to investigate how the instructors’ connecting general learning lessons to specific situations are put on display in the different phases of simulator-based training It is through analysis of how the members themselves coordinate their actions to accommodate to their asymmetrical understanding towards the educational setting’s protocols and purposes the inner function of a practice can be found according to Suchman (2007). Taking on a situated action approach, the research questions concern how the participants are orienting towards general instructions from the prospective briefing phase in the subsequent scenario and debriefing phases of training, considering how the social and material resources in the simulator environment organize the learning activities. The result of the analysis is concluded and discussed in the final section of the article (Sect. 5)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
