Beginning May 2012, The Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI) will enter into partnership with Consolidated Digital Publishing Inc. (CDP) to provide e-learning resources for companies and employees in the maritime industry.
SCI’s online course offerings build on more than a century of the Institute’s legacy of continuing maritime education, adding effective, proven tactics in online learning to help maritime industry employees prevent injuries and accidents at work.
SCI’s new e-learning opportunities give access to training that helps employees meet industry requirements with clear, traceable certification and increase quality, safety, health and environmental awareness. The web-based courses make issues of distance and scheduling, which render some traditional classroom scenarios impractical, a thing of the past. The online courses supplement SCI’s more conventional offerings in Paducah, KY and Houston, TX, offering training 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
SCI’s e-learning partner, CDP, has spent a quarter of a century in non-traditional learning schemes developing stand-alone and web-based training products. Troy Hackworth, President of CDP, develops peer-reviewed course modules, directly consulting with field educators to ensure the accuracy and relevance of information and training. “We look at actual things that go into the job,” says Hackworth, “so students come away with knowledge that makes a difference in the way they work.”
Stephen Polk, Director of SCI’s Center for Maritime Education, says that CDP and SCI share a similar vision. “At SCI, we put a lot of resources behind providing first-rate training for mariners. We believe that working with CDP maintains that same high standard and helps us equip more people with essential safety training.”
SCI and CDP’s partnership offers courses to companies of all sizes, including those without their own dedicated IT or education departments. SCI’s web-based classes extend opportunities once afforded only to the largest and most resourced companies. Polk believes this extends SCI’s mission to mariners. “These are sophisticated resources,” he says, “but we can provide them and keep them affordable. We think that’s important.” SCI’s online course catalog goes live in early May.