Canadian Maritime Bodies Embrace Kongsberg Digital

A growing number of maritime bodies in Canada, ranging from Canadian Marine Training Institutes to the Canadian Coast Guard, are using Kongsberg Digital (KDI)’s cloud-based simulation solutions as a vital part of their education and training programs.

The cloud simulation allows instructors to upload, manage and distribute exercises as well as download assessment files enabling them to issue personal feedback to individual students, who can train repeatably anytime and anywhere.

Transport Canada, which is responsible for the country’s transportation policies and programs, has now reviewed and approved several courses in Canadian schools and training centers which use KDI’s cloud-based simulators to conduct blended learning.

The widespread adoption of KDI’s simulation solutions throughout Canada is the latest achievement in a successful rollout of simulator training which has seen approximately 30,000 simulations being deployed since the first quarter of 2020, when the company made several of its simulators available as eLearning modules via its digital platform, K-Sim Connect.

While the British Columbia Institute of Technology has pioneered the use of KDI’s eLearning solution for Thermal Power Plant training, several Canadian Marine Training Institutes have been using the K-Sim Engine eLearning solution for engine room courses.

The Centre for Marine Training and Research (CMTR) conducted the very first blended Power Propulsion Simulation courses using in-cloud simulation. Thomas Aulinger, Director of the CMTR at Georgian College said: "Giving our students the opportunity to participate in a virtual classroom, while exercising on their individual K-Sim Engine simulators, actually created an improved learning environment beyond the traditional physical classroom session.”

Training simulators will be more relevant than ever as ports seek to bounce back from the pandemic. Find out more in  Port Terminal Automation Demands Higher Skills.

Meanwhile, Darrell Gouthro, CCGC Onsite Capital Project Manager at the Canadian Coast Guard College, endorses the use of eLearning solutions for radar training. “Hours of radar time can be built up much more quickly this way than by using full-size simulators or by undertaking live practice on board ship," he comments. “The extra training time the K-Sim eLearning solution allows students on the use of controls, while also enabling them to hone their ability to interpret radar images, identify targets and so on, will improve their confidence and skills at a rate which would not have been possible before now.”

Andreas Jagtøyen, EVP, Digital Ocean, Kongsberg Digital adds: "We’re continuing to build more content on the platform, with the recently-launched radar training solution and a forthcoming eLearning module for ECDIS training scheduled for launch in the second quarter of this year. We feel very confident that we are playing a vital part in helping the industry to smoothly achieve its digital transition."