Distance Learning / Corri Course

[Chiefy]

So then you lot of youngesters (well ok junior officer types )

This here degree what you are all doing.........

I have seen lots of comments about "senoir officers" "ship staff having" no clue about the ammount of work involved or "not understanding". So tell us. You must remember "most" of us did a HND or similar and had lots of work to do while at sea too, but this seems to be more work or possibley more in depth than we did.

You see you all get to go to a lecture or 3 that tells you how to deal with the course work and the likes, we ermmmm dont, we rely upon yourselves to tell us what is going on, and belive it or not we arent mind readers (though we may give that impression occasionally!). So While I understand your frustration it will be down to yourselves to re-educate us as to what it is you need to be doing. While you will still of course have to do the chipping/ panting/ greasing etc as covered elsewhere However we can work around some of this

Right so there you go, make a wicked or whatever it is you youngster do, and make it simples

[size4riggerboots]

Re: Distance Learning / Corri Course

Ok, well for the deck at least, let me break it doooown for you...

We don't do a portfolio, we do Work Based Learning.

This means... we don't have to write set reports on things before getting them signed off in our TRBs. We do hovever need to produce a nav and ops workbook, showing notes, calculations etc on whatever it is we've been doing. The TRB and workbooks will be sent off to the MCA whe it comes to applying for our NOE.

In additon to this we have to do our WBL, WBL is for college and doesn't get sent off to the MCA. The WBL has to cover certain 'learning outcomes' set by college, which we will have done the theory on in the previous phase. Last sea phase I had to do WBL on Met, cargo and construction, and nav. (Two of which I really rather needed to be on the bridge for!) Warsash seems to give their cadets set things to write about (lucky buggers). Fleetwood says, rather wonderfully vaugely... "make up your own project". This means we spend a lot of time pulling our hair out. However, what it basicly breaks down to is, what ever interesting things happen on your ship, do a project on it! i.e. process of loading a cargo from start to finish, if the ship meets/avoids a hurricane take copies of all forecasts/weather routing advice/met obs etc and talk about what the ship did and why.

Basicly the point of the WBL is for you to prove that you learned stuff in college and can now apply it in the real world. My project contained the phrase "We learnt how to.... in college, on the ship they do it like this....." a heck of a lot!!

Geddit?

[Chiefy]

Re: Distance Learning / Corri Course

got it

For those engineers who ever have to miss fortune to sail with me there will be more projects than they can shake a stick at. Inc
Cam Shaft exchanges (several)
Fuel Pump replacement (several more)
generator engine replacement (just to one.....so far)
Misc Blackouts (chief's should NOT be alowed to press buttons EVER!!!)
And assorted random broken stuff

[Malim Sahib]

Re: Distance Learning / Corri Course

Like Chiefy and most other officers I've no real idea how Foundation Degree works, mainly because nobody has ever attempted to tell us or at least issue some guidance as to what's required. Since NVQ first appeared in about 96 (I think it was) there has literally been changes to the system almost every year, so often every batch of cadets had different requirements. I hasn't helped either that the colleges all seem to have the courses set up differently to each other with regards to when they covered certain subjects - the Warsash setup specifically has baffled many.
From what you described it looks like the work based learning projects replace the required reports that were completed onboard in support of portfolio signatures for the HND etc. The only difference being that with HND not only did you had to send off your Portfolio and Sight Book, you also had to send all your reports off to the MCA for their perusal. It wasn't uncommon to find those nice men at the MCA leafing through your A4 binders full of reports with a critical eye whilst grilling you for orals, looking for areas where your reports (and in turn knowledge) looked average or poor.
Regardless of what system you're working with, be it HND, FD or something else I would implore all cadets to try and tell those onboard what it is they expressly need to get done and then we can fit everything else around it, as more often than not those of us onboard will have no practical experience of the current system.

[Malim Sahib]

Re: Distance Learning / Corri Course

got it

For those engineers who ever have to miss fortune to sail with me there will be more projects than they can shake a stick at. Inc
Cam Shaft exchanges (several)
Fuel Pump replacement (several more)
generator engine replacement (just to one.....so far)
Misc Blackouts (chief's should NOT be alowed to press buttons EVER!!!)
And assorted random broken stuff

We even managed a full M/E changeover last trip due to the Port M/E throwing it's toys out the pram in the literal sense one night, with bits of crankcase and piston distributed liberally all over the engine room.
The stonecrusher in question being our port side MaK 7M43, with the new engine (fresh from the builders in Rostock) being handily painted in works red - the existing starboard engine being light green. Some wag did of course ask if this was to aid the engineers in knowing which engine was which.
Still, the changeover process at Blohm & Voss made for some impressive photos!
Apparently there's a rather famous dodgy pub/club area nearby that some of the lads went to, but I wouldn't know anything about that...

[size4riggerboots]

Re: Distance Learning / Corri Course

From what you described it looks like the work based learning projects replace the required reports that were completed onboard in support of portfolio signatures for the HND etc. The only difference being that with HND not only did you had to send off your Portfolio and Sight Book, you also had to send all your reports off to the MCA for their perusal. It wasn't uncommon to find those nice men at the MCA leafing through your A4 binders full of reports with a critical eye whilst grilling you for orals, looking for areas where your reports (and in turn knowledge) looked average or poor.

Not quite right Malim, as I said the WBL is for college only, the stuff that should be used as supporting evidence for getting signatures is the Workbook stuff. However, what you can do (and this is quite adviseable) is duplicate stuff you've written up for one and put it in the other.

I ended up writing up reports on EVERYTHING for my workbook, (because the officers on the QM refused to sign off anything, even as progressing, let alone competent, without a report) and it is now a huge lever-arch folder that my fellow cadets hate me for, plus a book of hand written notes on my daily bridge activities in my last month. A lot of those reports also went into my WBL supporting evidence folder, along with chunks photocopied from the nav workbook, but the actual WBL progects were done on powerpoint, with lots of "We learnt... in college, this is what they do on ship" thrown in. You really have to S.P.E.L.L. it out for them in your college work.

Before people panic, do remember I'm a total swot and produced such big folders that even my tutors gulped and sighed when I handed them to them. Sometimes less is more!!!

[Chiefy]

Re: Distance Learning / Corri Course

We even managed a full M/E changeover last trip due to the Port M/E throwing it's toys out the pram in the literal sense one night, with bits of crankcase and piston distributed liberally all over the engine room.
The stonecrusher in question being our port side MaK 7M43, with the new engine (fresh from the builders in Rostock) being handily painted in works red - the existing starboard engine being light green. Some wag did of course ask if this was to aid the engineers in knowing which engine was which.
Still, the changeover process at Blohm & Voss made for some impressive photos!
Apparently there's a rather famous dodgy pub/club area nearby that some of the lads went to, but I wouldn't know anything about that...

Photos you say..... linkage?!

[Malim Sahib]

Re: Distance Learning / Corri Course

Thanks for that size4.
Does the new FD TRB have a sign off for 'competence', or is it 'proficient'? I'm think it was the latter for HND.
Regarding having binders full of evidence it can be very useful, albeit a real pain the proverbial to assimilate.
I've always hated writing reports, both at school, as a cadet and now - computers on ships are inherently evil!
As you rightly intimate, if you can present those at college or the MCA with a huge raft of work that's well in excess of the minimum requirements then you will make your life easier with regards assessments and questioning - it will look impressive, so well done for doing it.
When you go up for Orals there's a very good chance you'll be asked about procedures and equipment on your last ship and so I'd advise everyone to horde as much information as possible about said ship. That way, when the MCA surveyor asks you about your last appointment and you can display what looks like an in-depth knowledge of the ship then he's likely to swiftly move on to the next subject.
Additionally, if all your work is on your laptop then it can also be useful for consultation in later professional life.
I say that because there's certain jobs you do as a cadet which you'll only ever do again once you climb the greasy pole and get to Mate - e.g. overhauling lifeboat brakes, pulling apart cargo stripping pumps, hanging off anchors etc.
With WBL you mentioned powerpoint, does that mean you have to go up and do a presentation as opposed to a written report?

[Malim Sahib]

Re: Distance Learning / Corri Course

Photos you say..... linkage?!

I'll have a look!

[Steve]

Re: Distance Learning / Corri Course

Before people panic, do remember I'm a total swot and produced such big folders that even my tutors gulped and sighed when I handed them to them. Sometimes less is more!!!

The instruction from the SVQ assessor at GCNS during my time there was that reports should normally be 2 or 3 pages long and not more than 4. He really wasn't interested if you had written way too much. During my first trip as a cadet I encountered a fellow cadet who thought 4 pages was an absolute minimum and liked to churn out 16 page works of waffle that frequently failed to even answer the question posed, but looked great if you subscribe to the "bull**** baffles brains" view.

YMMV between colleges. At GCNS you turned your SVQ portfolio over to the assessor during your final phase and after a wee while they handed you back an SVQ completion certificate. I understand that at Warsash and South Shields the NVQ assessment included a lot of oral questioning in addition to the written reports.

When I sat MCA orals the examiner barely looked at my SVQ portfolio or nav workbook, basically just verified that I had them. My workbook was rather lacking in content, I was quite lucky to get away with it.

[size4riggerboots]

Re: Distance Learning / Corri Course

Thanks for that size4.
Does the new FD TRB have a sign off for 'competence', or is it 'proficient'?

With WBL you mentioned powerpoint, does that mean you have to go up and do a presentation as opposed to a written report?

Happy to help

The FD TRB has two columns next to each task, "progressing" and then "proficient", I think... haven't got it with me, will check when I get back to da Wood.

Re the powerpoint, no, no presentation needed, The format of our work was entirely up to us, I chose powerpont because I could embed animations (of weather chart progressions) and videos (of heli-ops and rough weather) into them. I totally ignored the powerpoint rule of using massive text and no more than 7 points per page and wrote it more like an essay, with lots of pretty pictures! One powerpoint I saw from a previous year was just pictures and the cadet had done a voice over for the whole thing, which went down very well, I think she got 100% for it. (you get points for innovative presentation). I'll let you know what I got when it's marked!

[Malim Sahib]

Re: Distance Learning / Corri Course

The instruction from the SVQ assessor at GCNS during my time there was that reports should normally be 2 or 3 pages long and not more than 4. He really wasn't interested if you had written way too much. During my first trip as a cadet I encountered a fellow cadet who thought 4 pages was an absolute minimum and liked to churn out 16 page works of waffle that frequently failed to even answer the question posed, but looked great if you subscribe to the "bull**** baffles brains" view.
YMMV between colleges. At GCNS you turned your SVQ portfolio over to the assessor during your final phase and after a wee while they handed you back an SVQ completion certificate. I understand that at Warsash and South Shields the NVQ assessment included a lot of oral questioning in addition to the written reports.
When I sat MCA orals the examiner barely looked at my SVQ portfolio or nav workbook, basically just verified that I had them. My workbook was rather lacking in content, I was quite lucky to get away with it.

The only guidance I can recall about porfolio reports was that they were to be both accurate and comprehensive, but that was about it - vague ish advice in common with much of the NVQ system at the time.
I sailed on an LNG tanker as a cadet and so completed the additional units for those ships, the LNG section being in addition to the Oil Tanker units. This included a comprehensive report on how your ship would leave the builders yard, cool down tanks to -163 celsius, load her first cargo, discharge, warm up tanks and then go into drydock. Not only did it want the cargo sequence (precautions, plan, ballast, valves to open), it also required all the stability notes for key stages of the operation - my report for this ran into some 50 pages plus diagrams and stability and took me about 2 months to write. The ship was almost brand new at the time and the report was checked throughout the drafting process by the C/O with the result that what I eventually finished was the definitive way to achieve those objectives - the Old Man, C/O, Chief and Cargo Engineer all took copies for their personal digestion as we had a massively flawed shipboard ops manual.
Unfortunately not one individual even bothered to look at it whilst at college, even the Company haunchos only gave it a cursory glance. This did annoy me a 'tad' as I generally detest writing reports and had put quite a lot of time effort into this one, however I was pleased I'd done it all the same. I suppose the moral there is be selective as to where you channel your efforts.
At South Shields every time you came back from a sea phase (Shields HND had 4 phases at college) you were orally assessed over a period of weeks on both signed off Portfolio tasks and NVQ reports, this applied regardless of whether you'd completed the full portfolio page or not. You could also be asked to practically demonstrate (where possible of course) reports you'd written up.
I think the sightbook was where a lot of lads got caught out in that they didn't have enough examples of the various sights and observations therein (if any) to satisfy the assessors.
I'd say to cadets to make sure they pack as many sights (sun, planets, stars and pole star), amplitudes, azimuths, horizontal sextant angles, Noon figures, Mercator/GC sailings etc as possible into their book, and if you end up with more than one book all the better!

[Malim Sahib]

Re: Distance Learning / Corri Course

Re the powerpoint, no, no presentation needed, The format of our work was entirely up to us, I chose powerpont because I could embed animations (of weather chart progressions) and videos (of heli-ops and rough weather) into them. I totally ignored the powerpoint rule of using massive text and no more than 7 points per page and wrote it more like an essay, with lots of pretty pictures! One powerpoint I saw from a previous year was just pictures and the cadet had done a voice over for the whole thing, which went down very well, I think she got 100% for it. (you get points for innovative presentation). I'll let you know what I got when it's marked!

Now you mention it, using powerpoint with embedded features would make it look impressive and make the explanation somewhat easier, not to mention being nowhere near as 'dry' as pages of writing.
Even more so to people like me who don't know how to use powerpoint and have a love/mostly hate relationship with excel!