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1 INTRODUCTION
Today a lot of MET institutions use ship machinery
simulatorswidely,whileteaching thespecialsubjects.
They facilitate students’ studying the structure and
operating principle of the machinery. However,
proper studying of Automatic auxiliary machinery
control systems and Automatic diesel plants control
systemsmeetssomedifficulties.Ofcourse,
high‐end
and expensive full‐mission simulation is almost
unavailable to the MET institutions concerned, but
buildingtheautomaticauxiliarymachineryanddiesel
plantscontrolsystemspractical“defacto”simulation
isratherinterestingdirection.
2 TODAY’SPROBLEMSINVOCATIONAL
EDUCATIONSYSTEMFORMARINE
ENGINEERS
During recent years marine power engineering
had
reached stupendous achievements. Severe
competition between shipping companies for cargo
lines stipulates the fact, that requirements for
seafarers’ professional skills are becoming stricter
every next year. One of the main problems in
vocationaleducationsystemtodayisassociatedwith
the limited time for studying in educational
institutions, particularly in Maritime
Institutions of
high education. Having limited class time the
Institutionshavetopreparetheseafarerswhichhave
both necessary level of theoretical knowledge and
sufficientlevelofprofessionalskillstobeabletocarry
outthedutiesofwatchkeeperonboardavesselafter
their graduation. Today, level of marine vocational
education has some backlog from the level of
proficiency,whichisrequiredforcrewofficersbythe
most powerful shipping companies. In order to get
the proper qualification the students have to learn
sufficientlylargecontentofteachingmaterialontheir
own, after classes. No less important question is
“studying”onboard
thevesselonrealequipmentthat
is not safe neither for the ship nor for safety of sea
transportationinwhole.
Fromother side,today,therearetaskswhichare
on the agenda directly for marine educational
Special Subjects Teaching Methods in Marine
Engineers’ Vocational Education System
S.Skydanchuk
KyivStateMaritimeAcademyafterhetmanPetroKonashevich‐Sahaydachniy,Kiev,Ukraine
ABSTRACT:Worldmarineengineering sectorhasbeendevelopingratherswiftlysincerecently.Everyyearthe
majority of leading shipping companies raise the level of management & maintenance of their vessels.
Thereforetherequirementstoseafarersareincreasingconstantly.All
thesecircumstancesleadtothefactthat
every next year marine institutions, having limited time for teaching process, meet rising difficulties in
seafarer’spropertraining.Thatgoesparticularlyforthespecial(technical)subjects,whicharebeingtaughtto
futuremarineengineersandformtheleveloftheirproficiencybythetime
ofthegraduation.
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 7
Number 3
September 2013
DOI:10.12716/1001.07.03.03
338
Institutions faculties. None methodology with any
effective special subjects teaching models can make
students’ productive study without teachers’
acquiringoftheprogressivespecialsubjectsteaching
technologies,modernforms,methodsandtechniques,
usingbestworldpractices.Theoutstandingproblem
isnecessitytoraisetheleveloftheteacherʹsskills.It
is
a good practice if a special subjects’ teacher has a
possibilitytoupgradehisprofessionalskillsonboard
amodernship,takingposition ofanengineerdouble
orastrainee(ifthemarineeducationalInstitutionhas
suchapossibility).Thisgivesthepossibilitynotonly
torenewtheacademiccurriculum
forfutureseafarers
in accordance with world water transport
development,
butalsopropertakingintoaccountby
the teachers the questions of a ship equipment
technicalmaintenanceproceduresinordertoprovide
profession competence and professional activity of
thefuturewatertransportspecialists.Anotherspecific
problem is English language teaching. Teacher, who
has only philological education, can hardly teach
marineengineering
languageto thestudents. In this
caseitwouldbebetterifthespecialsubjects’teacher
couldusemarineengineeringEnglishterminologyin
classes. One more outstanding problem is forming
and developing the students’ personal qualities.
These qualities make direct impact on forming their
future proficiency. Unfortunately, today traditional
methodologies
for special subjects teaching of the
most marine educational Institutions don’t give
enough consideration to this component of the
vocationaleducationprocess.Inordertoimprovethis
problem condition, the educational process should
also perform the function of development. This
functionaddsineducationprocesssuchpositivetraits
as:selectivity,self
‐development,integrity.
In order to solve main problems of the marine
vocational education, methods, which are used by
teachersforspecialsubjectsshouldprovide:
1 Vocationaleducationacademiccurriculumistobe
renewed constantly according to scientific and
technologicaladvanceinshippingindustry.
2 Optimum relationship between the vocational
education
scopeandpracticaltrainingscope,given
tothestudentswhenstudying.
3 Possibilitytoholdlaboratorylessonsinclassusing
equipmentthatisclosetotherealequipmentofa
ship.
4 Possibilityto hold practicallessons in specialized
auditoriums, which are equipped with both
computerandpractical“defacto”simulators.
5 Presentvocationaleducationlevelmustbecloseto
the current requirements of the seafarers’
employmentmarketasmuchaspossible.
6 High professionalism and exactingness from the
sideoftheteacherswhenteachingandexamining
thestudents.
Maintenance of any kind ship is purposeful
activity of all crew members,
which use all their
professional potential onboard aship. This potential
obligesall crewofficerstohavefourveryimportant
aspects:
1 The ability to make a correct decision in
emergencysituationonboardaship.
2 The ability to think logically to solve difficult
technicaltroubles(onboardaship),whichare
not
reviewedinshipmanuals.
3 Theabilitytocarryoutdutieslivingandworking
in multinational crew, keeping up friendly
atmosphereonboard.
4 Theabilitytoliveandworkinanenclosedspace,
which is a ship, during 1‐8 months, according to
an employment contract terms, overcoming
psychological
load.
To be successful in future career future seafarers
should acquire all of these habits. Therefore, these
aspects should be taken in consideration by marine
Institutions’officesoftheheadofstudiestodevelop
proper marine vocational education programs for
both future marine engineers and navigators. These
pointsalsomakemarine
vocationaleducationsystem
alittlebitdifferentfromvocationaleducationsystems
ofcoastalspecialties.
3 FUTUREMARINEENGINEERS’PROFESSIONAL
EDUCATIONASPECTS
The quality of future marine engineers’ education
dependsonmanyfactors.Buttheteachingformsand
methods play one of the leading roles here. Before
implementation of any new
or modified special
subjectsteachingmethodsintheclasses,obviously,it
is necessary to examine them. Therefore, it is very
important to choose the correct method of scientific
investigation. Modeling, as a scientific investigation
method, is widely used in MET institutions to
investigatevocationaleducationprocess.
Analysis of the Russian, Ukrainian
and some
worldscientificliteratureconfirmsthatitisstillrather
actualquestiontodaytosearchneweffectivemarine
engineers’ vocational education process methods for
teaching special subjects. This wouldensure
fulfillment of such tasks in the vocational education
systemas:
1 High level vocational education standards under
the conditions
when the education content is
getting more difficult every next year with the
worldsocial&economicchanges.
2 Arrangement of the students’ self‐studying
process after classes, by means of providing the
necessary materials and creating favorable
conditionstointerestthem.
3 Havingineducationalprocesssuchcomponentas
students’
character building, which will form
every student’s readiness for future professional
activity onboard a vessel or a water transport
company.
4 Working out difficult vocational technical
problems by students in classes, that requires
knowledge and practical skills integration with
subjects, which are closely related to special
subjects: “Ship construction theory”,
“Automatic
control theory”, “Ship’s electrical equipment”,
“Thermodynamics”, “Heat‐transfer” and “Ship’s
powerplants”.
5 Arrangement of the students’ educational‐
cognitiveworkincommoninformationspace,that
would provide using of the modern information
technologies.
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So,realizationoftheabovementionedtaskscanbe
achieved by implementation of the new teaching
methods,whicharebasedonnew,modernvocational
educationmodels.
4 CONCEPTOFPRACTICAL“DEFACTO”
SIMULATIONFORFUTUREMARINE
ENGINEERSTRAINING
In Kiev water transport academy a special subject
teaching model has been
developed. It includes
combination of the practical “de facto” simulators,
computer simulators, special subjects’ syllabuses,
marine engineering educational movies and special
subjects’knowledgetestsystem. Emphasis is put on
usingthepractical“defacto”simulatorsofAutomatic
auxiliary machinery control systems and Automatic
dieselplantcontrolsystems.Practicalsimulatorscan
have special elements and devices, ensuring
technological process while the power plant is
working. This could be used safely in classes. The
followingpractical“defacto”simulatorsarealready
developedandimplementedineducationalprocessof
Kievwatertransportacademy:
“Automatic auxiliary boiler burner AF‐65 S”
operatorsimulator”.
“Power plant automatic control system with
warning protection system & controlled
protection”simulator.
Developing of a “Main engine remote control
system”practical“defacto”simulatorisinprogress.
Today many marine educational Institutions and
marine advanced training program centers have
alreadybeenusing computer simulators, specifically
for marine engineers. Any
marine engineering
computer simulator’s main purpose is teaching the
structure and operational principle of main engine,
diesel generators, auxiliary boilers, auxiliary
mechanisms, refrigerating plants, etc. Marine
engineering automatic control systems “de facto”
simulatorsgivealsothepossibilitytothestudentsto
carry out means ofautomatics settings in class. It is
alsopossibletomakealarmconditionsandworkout
thetroubleshooting.Ship’spowerplantssimulatorsof
variouspurposesenablespeedinguptheeducational
process, improving the quality of future marine
engineers training lessons and showing the
connection between processes theory, which are
takingplaceandpractice.
So, implementation of the
new teaching
methodologies in the educational process enables to
reform tradition study into the productive study,
which enables either to solve all mention above
vocational education process tasks or considerably
improvetheircondition.
5 FUTUREMARINEENGINEERS’EFFECTIVE
STUDYINGASPECTS
While research, that took place in Kiev water
transport academy recently,
main constructs of the
special subjects’ productive study had been
determined,which take intoaccounttheeducational
tasks,abovementioned.Theconstructsare:
necessary‐motivational;
objective;
notional;
problematic‐cognitive;
productive‐practical;
Necessary‐motivational component gives
purposefulfeaturetotheeducationalprocess.Itforms
students’ cognitive
activity, as a productive study
factor. This component provides forming of the
students’ positive attitude to the subject of the
educational process, independent, conscious and
systematicalfulfillmentof theeducationaltasks.The
componentalsoensureswishingtoincreasepersonal
education level and students’ understanding the
socialsignificanceofthefutureprofessional
activity.
Objective component facilitates the students’
understanding of the entity and arrangement
methods of the educational‐cognitive activities. The
component detects and forms theory and practical
skills knowledge system, which should be acquired
bythestudents.Thiscomponentalsoprovidesability
of the students to sort out main elements, to
work
with scientific and technical literature, to work with
reference literature, to formulate personal thoughts
clearly and logically. The objective component
furthersboththestudents’particularsetofskillsand
futureprofessionalskilldevelopment.
Notionalcomponentisoneofthefundamentalin
thespecialsubjectsteachingstructure.Itisreflected
in
syllabuses, academic curriculums, textbooks,
manuals,didacticmaterials,visualtrainingaids,basic
summaries.Thecomponentisfocusedonthespecial
subjects’actualstockofknowledge.
Problematic‐cognitive component facilitates the
specialsubjects’knowledgeproductivelearning. The
component stipulates the students’ personal single‐
mindednesstomastertheknowledge.
Productive‐practical component is
pointed at
practical skills systematization in order to have
teaching content vocationally oriented. The
component provides the productive‐technical tasks
fulfillment, based on theoretical and practical
knowledgemasteredbythestudents.
Using such a combination as practical “de facto”
simulation, computer simulation, learning technical
aids,basicsummariesandtheknowledge
testsystem
givesthepossibilitytomaketheeducationalprocess
inmarineeducationalInstitutionsmoreintensive,and
ofhigherquality.
6 CONCLUSION
It is obvious today, that majority technical troubles
onboard a ship is caused by failure of automatic
auxiliary and main machinery control systems.
Familiarity and skill to maintain it
by marine
engineers is very important. A concept of practica l
“de facto” simulation can simplify studying and
understanding the algorithm and operational
principle of Automatic marine engineering control
systems.Thisprovidedevelopmentofsuchimportant
340
students’featuresinfuture,asabilitytomakequickly
a correct decision in emergency situation onboard a
shipandabilitytothinklogicallytosolveunordinary
technical troubles (onboard a ship), which are not
reviewed in ship manuals in order to make marine
navigationandseatransportationmoresafetoday.
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