Mariner Skills’ Online Course Delivery

Mariner Skills’ Learning Management System (LMS)

• Candidate are enrolled into the online learning portal by the admin/support team
• A welcome email to the candidates provides all the necessary access credentials
• Numerous help videos and online help facilities guide the candidates through Course Navigation and other important aspects of their online learning
• Candidate dashboard provides easy access to the various features of the LMS
• Candidate are provided self-assessment opportunities to ensure instant feedback on their learning
• Candidate are provided practice assessments by their course online instructors as part of the course completion readiness
• The Student Learning Report and other available LMS reports provide granular and macro view of a candidates’ progress through the training course

Access to faculty

Mariner Skills’ students/candidates have access to the course instructor.  Candidate are able to get their questions answered by email and if necessary.  Additionally, course instructors are available to assist students through online video conferencing.

Course content in e-Books in the Learning Management System

The success of the online e-Learning system depends to a large extent on the quality of the course content in the e-Book of the course. The content must be exactly in line with the syllabus of the course as prescribed. The content must address each topic exactly and must not be too exhaustive nor too weak in content. The tendency to flood the e-Book with irrelevant content must be strictly curbed. The content should be user friendly, with videos and pictures to explain the topics vividly.

Quiz incorporated within the e-Book

As the student goes through the course, he/she will attempt the Quiz, which is available at the head of each main topic. The purpose of the Quiz is for the student to gauge his/her own performance, before taking the final assessment. The Quiz questions appear in random whenever he/she clicks the tab. Ten questions appear each time he/she clicks the tab, and every time different questions appear (depending on the number of questions in the bank, more in crucial topics, less in others).  

End-of-course online Assessment

With the concurrence of the requirements of the USCG, ABS and Class NK, the end of program assessments require a minimum passing score of 70%.  Students are allowed up to THREE (3) attempts to achieve this target.  The LMS is configured such that each of the attempts offer a unique set of questions, with little or no duplication across attempts.

Benefits of online and blended courses

One of the challenges of a maritime career is that the job takes professionals away from home for long periods of time. 6-months on and 4 months off is a typical engagement, especially in ocean-going vessels.  Add to this the need for training as part of professional growth.  Mariner Skills’ online courses allow the students to learn from any place, at any time, and at their own pace.

The USCG has approved a number of STCW courses as 100% online courses.  Some of the Basic Safety courses are approved under a Blended engagement with the student.  These changes to training modalities allow maritime professionals to maximize time at home and with the family.

Mariner Skills offers a wide range of online and blended courses.  These include STCW Training like Basic Polar Code Training, Tank Ship Dangerous Liquids – Basic and Advanced, Tank Ship Liquefied Gases – Basic and Advanced, etc.  Similarly, Mariner Skills offer a wide range of Navigation courses and Marine engineering courses like Able Seaman Course, Officer in-charge of navigation watch (OICNW) Course, Designated Duty Engineer (DDE) course, etc.

Training whilst sailing

In 2021 Mariner Skills launched its online training courses to ship personnel whilst they sail!  No need for Internet connections! Mariner Skills courses are now packaged in USB drives that allow the maritime professional to spend their “free time” during sailing towards career advancement. Almost all aspects of the online experience are offered through courses packaged in USB drives. The maritime professional only needs to take the final exam (the course completion exam) through Mariner Skills’ learning portal to satisfy the flag state or Class Society approval requirements.