Abstract
Navigation, Maritime and River Shipping, and Navigation, Hydrography and Naval Systems Bachelor studies from "Mircea cel Batran" Naval Academy are structured to cover the requirements of the STCW 2010 Convention related to Navigation at the Operational Level.
According to Model course 7.03, ,,Officer in charge of a navigational watch", the background knowledge of a student is to support planning and conducting of a passage, to use the radar and ARPA, AIS, ECDIS in order to maintain safety of the navigation watch, to respond to emergencies or distress signals at sea, to use IMO standard marine communication phrases, to transmit and receive information by visual signalling and to manoeuvre the ship.
Until 2010 students had to demonstrate the assimilation of such knowledge at the license exam, through the paper chart work. Since July 2011, "Mircea cel Batr?n" Naval Academy is using the top notch "Integrated simulator for driving of watercraft" in order to test the students background knowledge according to Model course 7.03.
Thus the paper chart work was replaced by the ,,Practical competences assessment at the integrated simulator for driving of watercraft". The assessment of the students is made not only by certified instructors but also automatically by the ,,Transas Evaluation and Assessment System" (TEAS) module. The license exam is divided in three parts: taking over the navigational watch, performing the navigation watch in normal traffic and navigation in special conditions.The evaluation covers all the navigation aspects and is splitted according to the simulator's capabilities.
This paper presents aspects on how to assess students in order to determine the degree of assimilation of the skills needed to execute their duties as deck officer of the watch. The ratio between the direct evaluation made by the instructors and the automatic evaluation made by the simulator's TEAS module based on the entered criteria as well the main advantages and drawbacks for these type of evaluation and their share will be presented, in order to make an objective final evaluation.
Thus the importance of modern navigation simulators in the evaluation of the practical competencies of graduated students will be pointed out in order to accomplish officer of the watch duties onboard vessels. |