457
1 INTRODUCTION
The e‐learning and distance education technologies
(DET) application in international educational
institutionstakesoneofthemostimportantplacesin
the education process management. In Russia the
definition of “distance education” (next – DE) was
legallydeterminedin1995:“Distanceeducationisthe
complex of educational services, giving to general
popula
tion in country and abroad, using special
informational and educational environment on any
distance from educational institutions”. For the past
20 years, DE has changed dramatically: teaching
methods have changed, the diversity of systems
intendedtouseDEhasgrownandthepopularityof
usingthisteachingmethodhasincreasedtoo.Thisis,
part
ially, due to the fact that using Internet as the
educationprocessmediaisnecessaryforaquickdata
search,professors’andstudents’communicationand
theirresourcesoutreachingaswell.
2 THEE‐LEARNINGANDDISTANCE
EDUCATIONTECHNOLOGIESWORLD
EXPERIENCE
According to various researches, international
educational Inst
itutions, (including those that are
specialized in Maritime Education and Training
(MET)processoftrainingseafarersandarereported
tobeofficialmembersoftheInternationalAssociation
ofMaritimeUniversities(IAMU),hasbeenusingthe
e‐learning and DET for a long period of time: 7‐10
yearson theav
erageormorethan 15years insome
cases.
The e‐learning and distance education
technologiesareusedatdifferentlevelsofeducation;
generallytheyareappliedforadvancedprofessional
training.High and higher education programs
apply the e‐learning and distance education
technologies as an addition to the traditional
education.Itisnecessarytopointouttha
tthereisa
National list of professions, issued by the Russian
Federation Ministryof Education andScience Order
№ 22, dated January 20th 2014, which electronic
Compliance with Legal Aspects of the Applying of
e-Learning in the Training of Seafarers
S.S.Sokolov,N.M.Kovalnogova,A.V.Mitrofanova,V.A.Stepanov&A.P.Gorobtsov
A
dmiralMakarovStateUniversityofMaritimeandInlandShipping,Saint‐Petersburg,Russia
ABSTRACT:The articleexamines applicabilityof theworld experienceofe‐learning anddistanceeducation
technologiesstructuretoSTCWrecommendationsandnationallegalrequirementsoftheRussianFederation.
TherearecomprehensivecomparativeanalysisofadistancelearningsystemandSTCWrecommendations.
There aresome resultsof the distance education system LMS “FARWATER”test period for the benefits of
seafarersvoca
tional educationand the AdmiralMakarov State Universityof Maritime andInland Shipping
(AdmiralMakarovSUMIS)wheretheLMS“FARWATER”wasdesigned.
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 11
Number 3
September 2017
DOI:10.12716/1001.11.03.10
458
education and training (ET)programs restrict to
accept if solely provided by e‐learning and distance
education technologies. Actually, this fact prevents
from the e‐learning and distance education
technologies to be applied to ET programs on
designatedprofessions.[1].
Tocarryoutthee‐learninganddistanceeducation
technologies
education process, it is essential to use
program‐technical, technological and
telecommunicationaids.
TheRussianandInternationalmarketsofdistance
educational services and maritime and inland
shipping educational markets provide various
simulators, web‐applied training, allowing to carry
outworkshopsbyusingmodelsofvariousvesselson
virtualareaat
riverandatsea.
Web‐simulator for maritime education is the
distance accessible software package, which allows
importing any maritime objects, devices, systems or
equipmentwithspecifiedlevelofreality.Accesstoa
web‐simulatorforauserisbasedonatrivialbrowser
and connection to the Internet. Web‐simulators
rely
on networking and cloud technologies, which allow
eliminatingthelowtechnicalrequirementsbarrierto
theuserequipment.Complexequipmentdesignedfor
trainingofmaritimeandinlandshippingpersonnelto
be developed on the basis of personal computer
technologies. It allows increasing simplicity of
simulators educational process, being too expensive
atthesametime.
Originalaidstoe‐learninganddistanceeducation
technologies are considered to be Learning
Management System (LMS) or Learning Content
ManagementSystem(LCMS).Suchanadvancedtype
ofsystemsletnotonlythecoursegeneralinformation
beavailable,butprovideascopeofotherpossibilities
forsoftware
developers:
providing set of necessary tools for the
development of curriculum (the creation of
lectures,workshopsasineducationalmaterial)
monitoringthetrainingactivity(testsandtasks)
reportingonlearningeffectiveness(statistics)
providing communication between students and
teacher(questionnaire,forumsandchats)
manage students activity
(registration and
controllingaccess)
participants distribution intogroupsfor common
coursesreporting
integration of an additional elements into
educational process (training videos, animation,
glossary,linkstosourcesandetc.)
providingprotectiondevicesneedfornetwork.
There are individual tools to carry out webinars
and virtual classes that can
be used for extended
functionalityof a system togo alongwith LMS and
LCMS. The most widely used technology is LMS –
suchasMoodle,Blackboard,etc.,whicharebasedon.
Sometimes educational institutions use several
programplatformstomanagedtheeducationprocess
onabaseofMoodle,Blackboard,
Sakai,Canvas,edX,
Coursera and others, including own platforms, for
example.
Thediagramonfigure1showsthatMoodleLMS
(learning management system Modular Object‐
Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is widely
usedby30%oftheobservededucationalinstitutions.
Looking from the geographic point, this platform is
mostlyinstalledinEastern
Europeand muchlessin
Asia, Africa and Americas. Approximately 30% of
educational institutions design their own education
and training application and distribute it free of
charge in Internet‐shops for iOS or Android
operationalsystems.
Figure1. The e‐learning and distance education
technologies application in observed educational
institutions
Educational institutions issue training materials
and include it in e‐libraries as well as in universal
applicationssuchasiTunesU(iTunesUappearstobe
themostprominentonlinecatalogueoffree‐of‐charge
books all over the world). To store and distribute
lecture, conference and practical training video‐
materials,
METInstitutionshavegotusedtomaking
up their own channels at video‐hosting, such as
YouTube, Wikimedia Commons, Vimeo.com, Flickr,
toletvariousmaterialsbeavailableforfree.
3 E‐LEARNINGANDDISTANCEEDUCATION
TECHNOLOGIESLEGALBACKGROUND
ThecorelegaldocumentinRussiafore‐learningand
DET appliance
by Educational institutions including
METisconsideredtobetheStateLaw№273–SLon
“EducationinRussianFederation”,issuedDecember
29th2012[2].
This billis intendedto be a conciseset of public
relationsappearingtoexistwithineducationprocess,
when people use their right to get education,
providingtheStateguaranteesofrightsandfreedoms
tothecitizensinthefieldofeducationand.Moreover
the document determines the legal status of all
education process participants and it establishes the
economic,legalandorganizationalbasisofeducation
andtrainingintheRussianFederation.
In addition to the State Law№273 the Federal
State Education Standards are applied. There are
some other legal documents issued by the
Russian
Federation Ministry of Transport and Ministry of
EducationandScienceintendedtomanageeducation
and training process. For example, Ministry of
EducationandScienceOrderN2,datedJanuary9th,
2014,ʺOn assertion of the e‐learning and distance
education technologies order of application by
educational institutionsʺ [3]establishes
requirements
forDET.
459
The major document, providing international
standardsontraining,certificationandwatchkeeping
for seafarers is the International Convention on
Standards of Training, Certification and
Watchkeepingforseafarers1978asamended(STCW
78)[4].
Training of maritime specialists should meet the
requirements of the Convention STCW 78. In this
case, the
seafarer who successfully completes the
training according to the STCW 78 will be able to
work not only on board ships sailing under the
Russian flag, but practically anywhere in the world
merchantfleet. TheSTCW 78admitsthe application
of e‐learning and distance education technologies
within the education process
of seafarers, according
totrainingandevaluationstandards.
Figure2.CorrespondencetoSTCW78Code,PartB
4 THEEXAMPLEOFTHELMS“FARWATER”
COMPLIANCETOTRAININGAND
COMPETENCYEVALUATIONSTANDARDSOF
THESTCW78CONVENTION
TherehasbeenappliedLMS“FARWATER”tocarry
out educational and training programs in Admiral
Makarov SUMIS with application of distance
educational technology. The system is based on
Moodleplatform,whichis
consideredtobeasystem
designedto manageeducation process.The fulltitle
of the system is Modular Object‐Oriented Dynamic
LearningEnvironment.
Figure 2presents correspondence ofour distance
learning system LMS “FARWATER” capacity to
STCW78Code,PartBguidance.
5 PRELIMINARYRESULTSOFLMS
“FARVATER”OPERATION
Since
June 20, 2016 Training Center of Additional
Professional Education for Skippers (next – TC) of
Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and
Inland Shipping has begun to hold permanent
distance learning courses on three educational
program: “Revalidation of Captain Certificate of
Compliance (CoC)” (next – CD), “Revalidation of
ChiefOfficerCoC”
(next–COCD)and“Revalidation
of OOW CoC” (next – OOW).All three courses use
aforementioned LMS “FARVATER”. Over the last 4
months of testing period that way of learning has
shownincreasingpopularityduetotimeandmoney
saving.Table1showsquantitativeindicatorsofusing
distancelearningcourses
duringtheperiodfromJune
toSeptember,2016.
Table1.Statisticsofusingdistancelearningcourses
_______________________________________________
Period/CourseCD OOWCOCD
_______________________________________________
June4‐‐
July1787
August‐‐‐
September22410
_______________________________________________
Program implementation of TC at Admiral
Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland
Shippingbyusingdistancelearningsystemisactually
attheinitialstageofdevelopment.Itisimportantto
pointoutthatcapabilityoftheLMSdesignedisfully
complianttoSTCW78Convention.
6 THECONCLUSION
In this way, nowadays e‐learning and DET quickly
implemented into traditional educational system.
Learning on different educational programs can be
realizedindistanceformandstillmeetsrequirements
oftheRussianlegislation.
Furthermorecombinationofadditionalinvestment
opportunities of learning process, aligned to
traditional educational methods and practices, can
increase
theimportance of student’sself‐educational
460
activity.Consequentlyitwillincreaseourgraduate’s
employeevalueonmaritimelabourmarket,givinga
unique possibility independently develop new
competencies.
REFERENCES
[1]Minobrnauki RF Order of 20.01.2014 N 22 (update of
10.12.2014)ʺOn adoption of Nomenclature of
professions and specialties of high professional
educationwhichcannotbeprovidedsolelyinaformof
electronic education and/or distance educational
technology” (Ministry of Law Registry, 21.02.2014 N
31377)
[2]Federal Law of 29.12.2012 N
273‐ФЗ (update of
13.07.2015)ʺOn education in the Russian Federation”.
Consultant.ru: online reference system URL:
http://base.consultant.ru/cons/cgi/online.cgi?req=doc;bas
e=LAW;n=182943
[3]MinobrnaukiRF Order of 09.01.2014 N 2ʺOnadoption
of Regulation of distance learning for educational
organizationsbaseduponelectroniceducation,distance
learning educational technology during education
process”(MinistryofLawRegistry,04.04.2014
N31823)
[4]STCW Convention 1978 and the STCW Code as
amended. [Text]. –SPb: ZAO «CNIIMF», [2010]. – 806,
[1]p.;ISBN978‐5‐8072‐0109‐6.
