Simulator-based training in maritime education is an illustrative and paradigmatic example of how the introduction of high-end technologies creates new challenges for instructors: using simulators in educational settings for teaching skills that must be transferred to a professional work practice. This study draws on ethnographic fieldwork and video recordings of learning activities in a maritime navigation course to investigate the instructional challenges and opportunities for connecting general learning lessons to practical situations in different phases of simulator-based training. In particular, taking on a situated action approach, the research questions concern how the participants are orienting towards general instructions from the prospective briefing phase in the subsequent scenario and debriefing phases of training, considering how the social and material resources in the simulator environment organize the learning activities. The results show that connecting the general to the specifics of navigational situations is a continuous instructional achievement that is maintained throughout all stages of training, from briefing, through scenario, to debriefing. Hence, the results are stressing the importance for both in-scenario instructions and post-simulation debriefing in order to facilitate learning towards a profession. Moreover, the results emphasize how technologies in the simulator environment offer opportunities for instructors to continuously monitor, correct and assess the students’ activities towards the learning outcomes.

This article presents a systematic review and qualitative synthesis of the use of simulators in maritime education and training (MET), with a focus on bridge operations during navigation training and assessment. The review found 34 articles published in a wide range of academic journals, displaying a global field of research consisting of three main disciplines: Maritime professionals (n = 15), Human factors (n = 13) and Education (n = 6). An important conclusion made after synthesising the results of the studies is that while the potential of using simulators in training and assessment are clear, little is known about which instructional practices would ensure valid and reliable results of simulator-based education. Since MET institutions train their students for one of the most safety-critical industries in the world, there is a need for empirical studies that explore the use of simulator-based training and assessment further to lay the foundation for an evidence-based educational practice.

Synthetic learning environments like virtual laboratories are increasingly used in pedagogical practice across the landscape of higher education, in both professional and non-professional study programs. Virtual laboratories are simulations of experiments or other hands-on activities that allow students to explore scientific concepts and principles in a virtual environment. These simulations can be used to supplement or replace traditional laboratory experiences on campus, providing students with a flexible and convenient way to learn and engage with the laboratory as a context for work. The conceptual and theoretical foundations of these simulations, however, are still poorly understood. This study provides a scoping review of the literature on how virtual laboratories are conceptualized in STEM higher education, and the ideas, principles and presuppositions that inform and sustain research on virtual laboratories in STEM. By searching through databases (n = 7) for peer-reviewed journal articles published in English between 2012 and 2023, focusing on the use of virtual laboratories in STEM higher education, a selection of articles (n = 23) was identified as relevant for the study aim and subjected to thematic analysis and narrative synthesis. The results add to our knowledge from previous systematic reviews of studies on virtual laboratories in STEM higher education, particularly by identifying common characteristics between various definitions of virtual laboratories. Moreover, the review identifies three theoretical traditions influencing work on virtual laboratories for STEM in higher education. While this highlights a field of research committed to evidence-informed pedagogy and instructional effectiveness, it also points to a lack of descriptive, qualitative research that systematically investigates everyday instructional practices with virtual laboratories in STEM-education in naturalistic contexts. Further studies on what happens in such settings would be valuable for informing future theorizing about virtual laboratories in STEM.

Despite the promises of simulations to contribute to learning in safe-critical domains, research suggests that simulators are poorly implemented in maritime education and training systems. From the current state of research, it is far from evident how instruction in simulator-based should be designed and how skills trained in bridge simulators should be assessed and connected to professional practice. On this background, this article aims to investigate the role of instructions and assessments for developing students’ professional competencies in simulation-based learning environments. The research draws on ethnographic fieldwork and detailed analyses of video-recorded data to examine how maritime instructors make use of simulator technologies in a navigation course. Our results reveal an instructional practice in which the need to account for general principles of good seamanship and anti-collision regulations is at the core of basic navigation training. The meanings of good seamanship and the rules of the sea are hard to teach in abstraction because their application relies on an infinite number of contingencies that have to be accounted for in every specific case. Based on this premise, we stress the importance of instructional support throughout training (from briefing thorough scenario to debriefing) in order for the instructor to bridge theory and practice in ways that develop students’ competencies. Our results highlight, in detail, how simulator technologies enable displaying and assessing such competencies by supporting instructors to continuously monitor, assess, and provide feedback to the students during training sessions. Moreover, our results show how simulator-based training is related to the work conditions on board a seagoing vessel through the instructor’s systematic accomplishments. Finally, our results highlight the close relationship between technical and non-technical skills in navigation, and how these are intertwined in training for everyday maritime operations.

In higher education programs that train students for professions with high standards of safety, such as aviation, shipping and healthcare, exercises in simulated environments provide opportunities for training in educational settings. This study explores the use of simulators in maritime education, taking an interest in how navigation training is achieved by using simulated environments. By conducting an interaction analysis of video data, the study examines how training students to coordinate with other vessels in traffic is topicalized in simulator exercises, focusing on discourses of temporality in instructions. The results show how instruction during simulations is a continuous interactional achievement built on the ability to assess the fit between the assessment criteria at work in the specifics of the situation and the ongoing tasks as they unfold. During simulations temporality becomes a matter for instruction, both when assessing how to develop the students’ understanding and as a topic in its own right. The results highlight tightly coupled relationships among tasks, instruction and technology. The implications for simulator-based training call for refocusing on training tasks rather than specific skills, and emphasize the importance of professional guidance in order to guide the students toward the discourses of maritime work practice in simulator-based training.

This study reviews literature of simulation-based training and assessment to trace conceptual developments in maritime education and training (MET). Our aim is to highlight and examine the historical trajectory of salient topics in MET with the goal of help developing the field forward. The investigation is based on articles published from 1961 to 2021 (n = 87) on simulation-based training and assessment in maritime academic journals. The first review of its kind in MET, the study combines quantitative topic modelling and qualitative content analyses of exemplary texts. Our study investigates: (a) how training and assessment in simulations are conceptualised in MET research and (b) how these conceptualisations have developed over the decades. Our review reveals an educational field dominated by human factors research and dedicated to upholding industry standards. Moreover, adopting quantitative text mining we identified four prominent topics in the literature. These revolve around management of resources, academic performance, simulator training and authentic assessment. A more in-depth qualitative content analysis of the model, tracing conceptual developments over time, suggests that the word ‘learning’ occurs for the first time in 1980. As a concept for scientific inquiry, learning does not gain prominence in the literature on simulation in MET before 2021. Our results suggest some future directions of research and offer a methodological framework for future reviews in maritime affairs that combines quantitative topic modelling with qualitative content analysis.