There is no doubt in my mind that eLearning is an important topic for the maritime industry. All of us involved in maritime education, whatever our views on eLearning, are going to have to come to terms with it. This is the first installment in a series of articles where I take a step back and talk more deeply about what eLearning is, and what its strengths and limitations are in the maritime training environment.

In this installment, part 2, I will cover what the research has to say about the strengths of eLearning, and then talk about the implications for eLearning implementation in the maritime industry. In subsequents parts, I will discuss the practical strengths, and then the limitations of eLearning.

This is the third installment of a series of articles intended to cover eLearning in the maritime industry - what it is, what are its strengths and what are its limitations. In this installment I will cover some of the practical strengths of eLearning for vessel operators including anywhere/anytime learning, training reports and metrics, trainee-centered learning, and objective trainee assessments.