Deploying an LMS in your Marine Organization
While there is no substitute for on-site or on-board face-to-face training and assessment, some traditional approaches employed in the marine industry are less than optimal in terms of consistency, comprehensiveness, rigor, tracking, oversight and cost. Coincidentally, these same areas are the greatest strengths of Learning Management Systems (LMS). Therefore, the best outcomes in terms of training and cost can be achieved through the combination of traditional marine training practices with a modern LMS. Although there are many deployment options, the most common are one or a combination of the following:
Before Existing Training
MarineLMS can be used to pre-train learners to help ensure that a minimum and consistent level of knowledge is achieved by all learners before a more expensive training phase begins. For example, employing a self-study and examination phase prior to on-site familiarization ensures that all learners begin with a common grounding of important concepts. This technique is cost effective and has been used with great success in the marine industry.
During Existing Training
MarineLMS can be used to support existing training practices by supplementing them with rigorous and consistent learning materials and written examinations. This approach improves performance and helps ensure that training is objective and standardized regardless of the natural variations from trainer to trainer.
After Existing Training
MarineLMS provides an inexpensive and objective way to assess trainees in addition to existing practices. Written assessments in MarineLMS are automated, objective and provide a means to measure learning progress organization-wide. In addition, MarineLMS offers a perfect opportunity for inexpensive professional development, maintenance of competency, and re-certification after the passage of time.
To Replace Some Aspects of Existing Training
MarineLMS can be used to replace certain existing learning and assessment practices to reduce costs and improve outcomes. While there is no replacement for on-site, instructor-led familiarization and assessment, it is an expensive practice. Most organizations find that some topics currently taught on-board or on-site can be more effectively, more objectively, more consistently and less expensively taught and assessed through an LMS.
Regardless of which approach is employed, an LMS has the potential to reduce costs, increase standardization through the use of consistent learning materials and automatically graded assessments, and offer an opportunity for oversight, management and continuous improvement which is not otherwise possible. All this leads to a provably better trained workforce, employing consistent knowledge and practices.
