Effective learning for the maritime industry requires more than a course

Completing an e-learning course does not necessarily mean that effective learning has taken place.

A quiz can show whether someone can recall or recognise information. A feedback form can tell us whether they found the course useful or enjoyable. Completion records can provide evidence that required training has been undertaken. Each measure has value, but none demonstrates on its own that the learning can be applied in practice.

How should effectiveness be measured?

The answer depends on what the learning is intended to achieve.

For some compliance activities, verified completion and a required assessment may provide the necessary evidence. Where the aim is to develop knowledge and understanding, suitable questions, decisions and activities can show whether the intended learning outcomes have been achieved.

The standard needs to be higher when learning is intended to influence workplace performance.

Research describes the application of learning in the workplace as transfer. This means using knowledge or competence in a situation beyond the one in which it was first learnt and continuing to apply it over time.

A recent review of workplace e-learning found that transfer is most commonly measured through self-reporting, although this can be affected by bias. More reliable evidence may combine learner reflection with supervisor feedback, workplace observations and objective measures where appropriate.

This leads to three connected areas for Onboard Maritime.

1. Create Effective Learning for the Maritime Industry

   
   

Effective learning begins with a clear purpose. What should someone understand, decide or do differently after completing it?

Creating learning is not simply converting a manual or presentation into a series of online screens. It involves understanding the audience, operational setting and required outcome. Technical information must then be organised into clear explanations, relevant examples, realistic decisions, activities and feedback.

Learning should help people make sense of the subject and understand how it relates to their work.

2. Deliver Learning Anywhere

Learning must be available where people need it. In maritime operations, that may be at college, at home, in an office or on board a vessel with restricted connectivity.

Delivery therefore includes more than access to a learning management system. It can involve online and offline options, enrolment, learner support, reporting, content updates and connections between formal learning and workplace activity.

The method of delivery should reflect how people actually learn and work, rather than expecting them to adapt to a single platform or classroom model.

3. Manage and Demonstrate Competence

Course completion is useful evidence, but it is not automatically evidence of competence for maritime employees.

Competence may require knowledge assessment, practical application, reflective work, workplace evidence, supervisor verification and an overall professional judgement.

These forms of evidence need to be connected to the organisation’s roles, requirements, continuing professional development and competence framework.

One connected approach

These three areas can be used separately, but they are strongest when connected.

Onboard Maritime helps organisations create effective learning for the maritime industry, deliver it wherever it is needed, and manage the evidence required to demonstrate development and competence. The result is not simply another course. It is a clearer route from technical knowledge to maritime workplace capability.

Sources informing this article

• Clancey, W.J. (1995), A Tutorial on Situated Learning.

• Jonassen, D.H. (2002), Learning as Activity.

• O’Neill, A. (2025), Transfer of Workplace E-learning: A Systematic Literature Review.