Abstract
Despite the promises of simulations to contribute to learning in safe-critical domains, research suggests that simulators are poorly implemented in maritime education and training systems. From the current state of research, it is far from evident how instruction in simulator-based should be designed and how skills trained in bridge simulators should be assessed and connected to professional practice. On this background, this article aims to investigate the role of instructions and assessments for developing students’ professional competencies in simulation-based learning environments. The research draws on ethnographic fieldwork and detailed analyses of video-recorded data to examine how maritime instructors make use of simulator technologies in a navigation course. Our results reveal an instructional practice in which the need to account for general principles of good seamanship and anti-collision regulations is at the core of basic navigation training. The meanings of good seamanship and the rules of the sea are hard to teach in abstraction because their application relies on an infinite number of contingencies that have to be accounted for in every specific case. Based on this premise, we stress the importance of instructional support throughout training (from briefing thorough scenario to debriefing) in order for the instructor to bridge theory and practice in ways that develop students’ competencies. Our results highlight, in detail, how simulator technologies enable displaying and assessing such competencies by supporting instructors to continuously monitor, assess, and provide feedback to the students during training sessions. Moreover, our results show how simulator-based training is related to the work conditions on board a seagoing vessel through the instructor’s systematic accomplishments. Finally, our results highlight the close relationship between technical and non-technical skills in navigation, and how these are intertwined in training for everyday maritime operations.
Highlights
Today, the use of simulators is mandatory for certain parts of the curriculum for maritime education and training (MET) and is regulated by international conventions, that is, by the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW)
The instructions followed in the simulator environment consistently connect the simulated events to the conditions of work practice that are often encountered during on-board training, and to theoretical and abstract principles (Sellberg 2018; Sellberg and Lundin 2017a, b)
Simulator-based instructors in maritime education might encounter challenges similar to those encountered in other domains, our results reveal crucial differences
Summary
The use of simulators is mandatory for certain parts of the curriculum for maritime education and training (MET) and is regulated by international conventions, that is, by the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW). The use of simulators for training and assessing technical proficiency and non-technical skills is well established and regulated by international standards in MET, we found few empirical studies on simulator-based maritime training and assessment (Sellberg 2017a). As stated in the introduction, a recent literature review of the use of simulators in bridge operation training showed that, the use of simulators is both well established and well regulated in maritime education, few empirical studies have addressed the pedagogical aspects of simulator-based training in this domain (Sellberg 2017a). The instructor gives the student bridge team a specific navigational task and runs the simulation while supervising the students’ activities. The role of the instructor is described as one that oversees, facilitates, and moderates, gradually decreasing his support in line with the students’ developing skills
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