Page 8: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2019)

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INSIGHTS: TRAINING & EDUCATION

Murray Goldberg is CEO of Marine Learning Systems which provides software and services to optimize knowledge, skills and behavior in maritime operators. In his former life he was a computer science faculty member at the University of BC researching online learning and assessment delivery models and their effectiveness. This led to him develop WebCT, a learning management system that was used by 14 million students in 80 countries.

Training Tips for Ships

Tip #1. Immediate exam retakes should never be allowed. t is very common practice, espe- diate questions. First, why not allow im- that they have a similar level of knowl- cially in eLearning environments, mediate retakes? And second, what shall edge for those questions we did not ask. to allow trainees to immediately we do instead? This is completely sound logic only if

Iretake an exam they just failed. To answer these two questions, it is (and this is a really important “only if”)

Worse, sometimes training is set up to important to understand that for any trainees don’t have prior knowledge of allow the trainee to take the exam repeat- non-trivial training program, exams can what is going to be on the exam. If the edly until they pass. never be comprehensive assessments of trainee knows what will be covered on

Never do this. It will ensure that your what a trainee knows. Instead, we test the exam, they will only study enough to learners are not learning what you want only a subset of items to avoid an impos- learn the answers to those speci? c ques- them to learn. sibly long exam. If the trainee does well tions and ignore the rest. Without prior

For most people, this raises two imme- on those items, then it is likely the case knowledge of the exam questions, the

Lessons Learned: Merchant Marine & the Navy

By Matthew Bonvento he U.S. Navy has received a system. Kinkela, is fond of saying, “It is possible. As the IP moves away from the undocking. Hours are spent undocking lot of bad press for the lack easier to train a poor ship-handler wa- PP a lever arm develops. The length of the simulated vessel with the goal of of knowledge in to the Navi- ter jet theory as they have less habits to this lever arm combined with the direc- demonstrating the use of the maneuver-

T gation Rules and the ordinary break.” This may seem counterintuitive, tion and strength of the resultant vector ing lever applied through the stern wa- practice of good seamanship. The Navy but the way that waterjet vessels operate will cause the ship to start rotating as it terjets and forward azipod. can learn a lot from how we train Mer- is so drastically different from traditional is walking. Eventually the lever arm is at One of the fundamental lessons taught chant Mariners, and despite the recent seagoing vessels that our mindset must a length where walking is no longer pos- is that of constant communication bridge mishaps, we cannot overlook the fact change. For the curious ship-handler, ac- sible, from there the ship will twist at an team management, and awareness of that there is much that can be learned cording to Kinkela, “The key concept to increasing rate until maximum steering what your partner is occupied with. Wa- from how the U.S. Navy trains its of? - understand is the relationship between angle is reached. Matching the length ter jet vessels operate on a two person cers and crew. the Pivot Point (PP) and the intersection of the two vectors is key to maintaining navigation team, much like the airline

I had the opportunity to speak with of the ahead/astern vector angles, de- an even lateral walk. While keeping the industry. In both industries it is impera-

John Kinkela, experienced waterjet han- ? ned as the Intersection Point (IP). The vectors matched will cause an even walk tive that at least one person has eyes out dler and instructor.The USN has a fan- PP is said to be at the geographic cen- increasing the length of these vectors to- the window at all times. On a vessel trav- tastic program training its of? cers in the ter of the water plane for a ship at rest. gether will cause increased lateral speed. elling at speeds of up to 40 knots, dis- ? ner points of handling high speed ves- The IP is imagined as the spot where Varying the length of the ahead vector tances can close quickly and if no one sels with waterjet propulsion at the Naval extensions of the jet vectors cross, ir- will control motion in line with the ship. is looking out the window, so can colli-

Surface Warfare Of? cer School, Littoral respective of the vector direction. The An ahead vector longer than the astern sions. The rate of closure with an object

Combat Ship OOD class. On the surface, IP is also imagined to be where the re- will cause headway, conversely an ahead can be to the tune of approximately 2/3 that does not sound like much. But the sultant vector (sum of the ahead vector vector shorter than the astern will cause of a mile travelled per minute, leavimg reality is that any traditional ship handler and the astern vector) acts on the ship. sternway.” not much time for error. will rapidly humble themselves upon (In reality all of the force from the jets At the LCS training school, prospec- Travelling at these speeds, bridge the realization that everything they ever is imparted in to the hull at the transom tive LCS of? cers are taken on a six week teams are required to sit in seats and even learned about ship handling does not ap- where the jets are mounted.) When the training program which begins what harness themselves in. The navigation ply when utilizing a water jet propulsion IP is at or very near to the PP walking is with what many of us take for granted, systems on these vessels are mounted as 8 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • JUNE 2019

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