Distance education for seafarer students: Survey of seafaring community

Many academic courses offer distance study as an option. However, there are very limited such offerings for seafarer students. This paper presents the results of an investigation of the possibility of offering distance courses for seafaring students (cadets) who undertake their practical training at sea. The data were collected using an online survey of sixty participants representing cadets, junior and senior officers and ship masters mainly from Australia, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Some respondents were highly appreciative of having an opportunity to study at sea while some others were concerned about availability of technologies and the availability of time for additional study. The study found that 69% of the respondents would like the opportunity to engage in distance education while at sea and consider it is helpful for their future learning. Nearly 80% of the respondents indicated that the available time for additional study for cadets over their normal working hours is between one and three hours. They also indicated (about 80% of respondents) that the perception of the employers for cadets to undertake distance study is supportive. Further the survey found that senior officers were highly supportive (24.4%) or supportive (48.9%) of cadets undertaking distance study while at sea. Respondents from the offshore industry indicated that they do not have enough time to do such study at sea