‘I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand’ – Chinese Proverb
When learning goes in line with practice, the results can be remarkable. Experimenting with trial and error and strengthening the potential gaps between theory and hands-on training methods, creates a sense of empowerment for the learner. Let us explore the philosophy of hands-on training and its positive effect on both the learner and in result the company as a whole.
Learning by doing
An educational method in which the process of learning takes place while carrying out physical activities is named “kinaesthetic learning”. Typically, training requires three learning styles; the visual, the auditory and reading-writing. The fourth one is known as kinaesthetic. If you are a firm believer of the principle “hands-on equals minds-on”, then you know that learning by doing does the actual work. According to a relevant Forbes article, hands-on training becomes essential when certification alone does not prove the skills and putting theory into practice enables an effective response to real-world situations.
The difference with this educational philosophy, lies in scenarios such as the following: instead of listening to someone explain how to navigate the ship, how would it feel actually to do it while studying the theory? How would the route planning experience be transformed if you were actually planning it as if you are on board and you came “face-to-face” with real alerts?
Simply putting it, in all these scenarios, you engage in hands-on practice to master a new skill.
Grab on the benefits
Hands-on training provides the only choice of really tackling the mind on the action. This is a tangible learning method providing crucial benefits for both the learner and the company:
- Increasing engagement improves critical thinking skills. While learning and applying what you learned, you engage in the subject more, and in result, you need to make decisions. This triggers the mind, increases productivity and information is effectively absorbed and retained.
- Connecting theory with practice can complete the cycle of applying the information into doing.
- Creating a comfortable learning environment provides the ideal scenario to feel safe to make mistakes and retain the information more effectively.
- Empowering you means empowering the company as a whole. When applying the information learned to the next step and putting it to practice, this makes you feel empowered with knowledge and success, thus more eager to learn and produce for your line of business.
Hands-on maritime specific training
In the maritime industry, learning by doing is a crucial subject. If you belong in this line of business, you know first-hand that this is a challenging business we work at and unplanned situations may take place at any time while onboard. How different would it be then, to actually get real hands-on training while learning and gain productive results while you work?
SafeLearn offers a wide range of ECDIS Type-Specific Courses, which besides carrying the full manufacturer approvals, offer a full simulation of the actual equipment. What we mean exactly is that with the actual equipment simulations, the seafarer gets a practical understanding of the actual equipment he will use later onboard with interactive courses. Learning in real-life scenarios of what may actually happen while on board, is one unique way of experiencing hands-on training: effective and with immediate results.
The platform, which offers maritime specific online courses, features the FreePlay mode for these ECDIS courses, which allows for the use of the original software for the training. The trainee can apply the knowledge acquired in the GuideMe mode directly on the manufacturer’s original software and following; the TestMe is where evaluation takes place. For more effective results, the FreePlay mode is accessible as well during the TestMe mode, since practical work might be required, and this is what we mean by real hands-on training.
Explore your educational opportunities with SafeLearn
SafeLearn offers 21 different ECDIS Type-Specific Training Courses in its portfolio, in collaboration with thirteen (13) of the leading ECDIS manufacturers in the industry. Those strong partners are JRC, Raytheon Anschutz, Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine, Wartsila, Tokyo Keiki, Transas, Seven Cs, Simrad, Martek, Kelvin Hughes, ChartWorld, Consilium and Imtech.
