Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Increases in automation onboard vessels are transforming the maritime and offshore industries, affecting how operations are performed and how training is delivered. These technological advancements are compounded by the global shortage of seafarers, resulting in vessels operating with more technology and smaller crews. With fewer crew onboard, the individual seafarer is assuming more responsibilities for day-to-day operations as well as for maintaining and operating life-saving appliances. This presents a problem in keeping seafarers properly trained to manage the changing complexities of their job while maintaining proficiency in their emergency duties. Understanding the shift in how seafarers' will be expected to work and maintain safety-critical skills in the automation era is critically important as it will influence maritime safety and subsequent training. For example, the accelerated advancement in computer supported collaborative and remote learning technologies in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic has highlighted the growing need to support seafarer competence retention and further exposed the lack of innovative training solutions onboard. Accordingly, conventional onshore training courses, simulation-based training tools, and on-the-job drills performed onboard vessels will need to change to meet the emerging requirements of the maritime domain. However, while simulation-based training is commonly used in maritime education, only a few studies have investigated the learning implications of simulation-based training in the maritime domain (Sellberg et al., 2018; Vlasblom et al., 2020). This research program applies learning frameworks and empirical methods to develop adaptive instructional systems technology intended to improve the delivery of simulation-based training. Adaptive instructional systems can increase the availability of safety-critical training to prepare seafarers for today's emergencies as well as the anticipated challenges stemming from the digital transformation of the maritime workplace.