Modernising Maritime Training | Robin Wilkinson | #MootIEUK18 Glasgow

Summary

Robin Wilkinson delivers a compelling presentation on modernizing maritime training for the Royal Navy amidst connectivity challenges and geographical dispersal. He underscores the shift from traditional classroom learning to a Moodle-supported virtual campus, which facilitates flexible, just-in-time training crucial for operational readiness. The integration of simulation tools and gamification complements the training process, while the emphasis on mobile access empowers personnel onboard ships. Through a modernized defense learning portal, the Navy aims not only to enhance operational effectiveness but also to improve the quality of life for its service members.

Highlights

• Robin Wilkinson steps in to discuss modernizing maritime training with Moodle. 🎓
• Moodle's virtual campus helps mitigate connectivity issues in naval environments. 🌐
• Combining simulations and Moodle improves training delivery. 🔄
• Mobile access to Moodle enhances learning aboard ships. 📲
• The approach decreases costs and advances operational readiness. ⚓

Key Takeaways

• Modernizing training involves leveraging Moodle for effective naval training. 🚢
• The Royal Navy uses simulation and gamification for better learning outcomes. 🎮
• Connectivity is a challenge, but mobile access helps overcome it. 📱
• Flexible training aims to enhance quality of life and operational effectiveness. 🌍
• The Navy's approach reduces costs and improves training delivery. 💰

Overview

In a fascinating presentation at #MootIEUK18, Robin Wilkinson dives into the challenges and innovations in modernizing maritime training for the Royal Navy. As a key figure juggling roles across branches, he passionately articulates how Moodle aids in reshaping naval training environments. With the Royal Navy facing the challenge of limited connectivity and dispersed geographic locations, Robin outlines strategic shifts to a Moodle-supported learning platform on which they build greater flexibility and effectiveness.

Training the Royal Navy personnel isn't just about hitting the books—it's about engaging simulations and state-of-the-art gamification tools integrated into their Moodle system. This approach not only makes training more appealing but aligns with the high tempo of naval operations. By using advanced simulators and gamified elements, the Navy aims to deliver training that directly influences their operational capacity, like protecting national interests and executing disaster relief missions worldwide.

As mobile devices become ubiquitous, the Royal Navy has embraced Moodle Mobile, allowing sailors to continue their education remotely. This innovation is a game changer, offering time back to personnel for family before deploying, yet keeping up with required training. The defense learning portal effectively aligns professional and operational training, pushing the navy's training methodology forward to not only enhance service efficiency but also retain manpower and cultivate a highly skilled force.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Speaker Introduction The chapter introduces Robin Wilkinson, who is filling in for someone else at a presentation. Robin is noted for his ability to multitask and manage multiple roles, serving both as a Royal Air Force reservist and a senior category manager for the Royal Navy. The introduction acknowledges and appreciates Robin's versatility and readiness to step in when needed.
• 01:00 - 03:00: Maritime Training Challenges and Context The chapter discusses the theme of modernizing maritime training. The speaker, Rob Wilkinson, is introduced as the category manager for the Royal Navy and also involved with the Royal Air Force Reserve's eLearning initiatives. He manages an array of responsibilities across different roles throughout the year, which not only keeps him engaged but also entertained. The context seems to focus on the challenges and changes in maritime training practices.
• 03:00 - 05:00: Training Sites and Course Statistics The chapter titled 'Training Sites and Course Statistics' discusses the Navy's presence in the defence learning environment, highlighting the large and diverse user base of 600,000 individuals, which includes Air Cadets, Army Cadets, and individuals up to five-star level. The chapter emphasizes the focus on the naval environment within this context.
• 05:00 - 09:00: Use of Technology in Training This chapter discusses the challenges and implications of using technology in training within the maritime context. It highlights the difficulties faced due to limited connectivity, such as some ships having only one megabyte connectivity while at sea for prolonged periods. Furthermore, it describes the geographical dispersion of the Maritime Warfare School's elements, which are spread across various locations from Raley and Collingwood to as far north as Scotland, adding a layer of complexity to utilizing technology effectively in training.
• 09:00 - 16:00: Training Methodology and Future Plans The chapter discusses the distinctions and challenges between training and education, referencing similar training exercises occurring nationwide. It highlights HMS Collingwood as a central site, noting the extensive variety of elements present and the large number of personnel involved in training at the location, amounting to two thousand individuals.
• 16:00 - 21:00: Questions and Discussion The chapter 'Questions and Discussion' provides a detailed account of the training course delivery between 2016 and 2017. During this period, approximately 890 courses were planned, and a total of 2,500 courses were delivered, amounting to nearly 400,000 man training days. The chapter highlights the significant progress made in upgrading from Moodle version 1.9 to 3.1 over 18 months, showcasing the organization's extensive training capabilities and efforts to modernize their educational infrastructure.

Modernising Maritime Training | Robin Wilkinson | #MootIEUK18 Glasgow Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] presentation and thanks very much for this to Robin for standing in for someone who couldn't make it so we've got Robin Wilkinson who is one of these skilled people who can buy locate or wear more than one hats because he's actually a Royal Air Force reservists and also senior category manager for the Royal Navy and a few of the job titles
• 00:30 - 01:00 as well but I'll let him explain that and he's gonna do the final presentation and it's on modernizing maritime training okay ladies and gentlemen thank you very much that introduction I've Rob Wilkinson I am the category manager for the Royal Navy in my day job 220 days a year and I run role naval so Royal Air Force Reserve eLearning for 90 days a year till he's about 36 days a year for weekends which is quite entertaining a little bit of a put
• 01:00 - 01:30 together presentation short notice what we're here today to do is to talk about where we're bringing the Navy and let me give you the context we've got on the defence learning environment 600,000 users this ranges from Air Cadets Army Cadets all the way up to five-star and all the sort of individuals between that but the context is particularly the naval environment and the reason we look to that is because it's the most
• 01:30 - 02:00 difficult you've got big grey boxes which have limited connectivity and some ships run at one megabyte connectivity for about six months at sea so that provides quite a lot of challenges but bringing this forwards here particularly the one today is about the maritime warfare school geographically located at disparately you've got elements down at Raley you've got excellent you've got at Collingwood all the way up to suddenly Scotland so it can cause quite a few
• 02:00 - 02:30 challenges to keep these elements which are doing similar training to the same area but all over the country and it comes down to the challenge between what is training versus what is education the prime site we have is HMS Collingwood now it looks quite innocuous but if you look there there was a huge number of different elements on this one single site and look at the multipliers out from there what we have is we've got two thousand
• 02:30 - 03:00 eight hundred ninety courses that were planned between 2016 and 2017 you had total number of courses were delivered with two and a half thousand courses you look at the numbers they're a total of nearly four hundred thousand man training days that's quite a training organization to bring forwards and we've only gone from moodle 1.9 to 3.1 in the last 18 months so bringing the all the way forwards and all the instructors and the training is
• 03:00 - 03:30 quite a challenge but particularly important is warfare how do we fight these ships how to protect the nation's interests and you see some lovely punchy photos there of different ships doing different things and within that we have weapons engineering and we have Babcock is one of our primary contractors and we have those challenge that all those people do with contractors but they are putting forward to bring it forwards but we also bring in diverse physical training and international defence
• 03:30 - 04:00 training so not only do we have six hundred thousand users who are British we have Nigerians we have Japanese we have Chinese we have a huge variety which is you can imagine creates quite a lot of administrative challenges for us we use a lot of simulators and we use a lot of simulation here is a broken out model of the Queen Elizabeth and interestingly about half an hour ago I was dealing with a help desk or where the key learning software to allow
• 04:00 - 04:30 people to qualify to go on the system broke so our platform actually has a direct operational effect we didn't bring it back online we would have potentially not been able to send ships to sea so it really is quite a high tempo this use of simulations and big shiny things is what everyone thinks is really really nice but they forget that actually what underlies this all is Moodle for us it's our daily bread it's what keeps us there we show all the senior officers the shiny stuff but day
• 04:30 - 05:00 in and day out keeps going on for us I've got to put two presentations together so I'm gonna just move past that piece so the scope of what we've actually found when bringing this Moodle together we had a learning management system called the defense learning portal which is pretty much akin to a library but with the drunk librarian because it was all misfired and you didn't really finally think we're now with Moodle we've got a virtual campus which we exploit and a
• 05:00 - 05:30 lot of the elements you see on those screens there are actually things you all understand within Moodle and you all see how it comes together and this is one of the presentations we gave to our two-star last week but for us it's how do we evolve from that left-hand all the way to that fully-fledged right-hand simulation we've got some courses that are there really then we've got some courses that are just repository of information and bringing everything forwards from that left hand to the right hand is a monumental task which we are working on some more punchy
• 05:30 - 06:00 pictures for you go from the left to the right we're using a lot of simulation and we've just managed to put the unity player embedded through SCORM into Moodle allowing for us to exploit gamification live on Moodle mobile as well as we only turn Moodle mobile on yesterday so we we often joke that we're modernizing training I do think a lot of the times we're bringing training to where people currently are but if you think about the architecture and the infrastructure and the security
• 06:00 - 06:30 ramifications we have I think we're doing a reasonable job so what we've got for the defence linear violent which is Moodle as you see there what it does now we bring together a lining professional training and we're bringing together a suite of learning and some of the key use cases I'm going to show you shortly we'll see how we're moving from education into the training arena and actually into the exploitation how we're delivering effect into operations so the
• 06:30 - 07:00 key elements for us we need to get people through the system reduce our costs increase the quality and get people on ships saving lives getting to the Mediterranean fishing people out of those refugees out of the sea getting people to just disaster relief zones that's the bottom line it's all about operational effect so our concept of exploitation the single mudan we have has got a naval service site to it where
• 07:00 - 07:30 we have gone for an intrinsic look and feel unlike some areas where you'll go into faculties we actually have gone for an intrinsic design where people come and go I'm a submariner this is where I go I'm warfare I'm general service it's trying to bring together people as a intrinsic driver unlike universities where people pay to go to university their incentive is I've spent the money we have to convince people that it's in their interest to
• 07:30 - 08:00 keep going it's a very different dynamic so we've gone for a simple robust logical intuitive we know that Moodle is commercially competes IT freeware even though we pay somebody to bespoke it for us we're focused on handheld devices how do we put this in somebody's pocket 99.9% people all have smart phones with them it's all about providing a time a
• 08:00 - 08:30 place and access to the course but we're moving beyond just courseware now we're moving into knowledge modeling we've literally just started putting together a Division Officers toolkit so somebody can have on their phone at a time and see offline something's happened I remember doing this in training I need to refresh and they can actually pull up just in time support material it's going to allow us to prioritize training and break the
• 08:30 - 09:00 dependency on fixed locations the mo D is financially constrained by the taxpayer as we should be and we're closing down Sultan so we're having to put more into less but when we look at the flipped classrooms and some of the excellent presentation we've seen there's nothing wrong with that you know as long as it's done fitting appropriately we are rethinking our framework of how we deliver training can we get people to arrive on-site turn up muster on a
• 09:00 - 09:30 Monday morning so right this week is self-study and if they go and play tennis every morning is that a problem no as long as they're delivering the output that means they're qualified to go and do the operations that they need to do we would you think the separated service totals what that means is nights out of bed bottom line is we need to keep people we need to retain people if we're saying you're going up for a
• 09:30 - 10:00 course that's a year goodbye or if we go actually you go for a course that's three months but you're going to get nine months worth of study leaving their very different attitude and as long as we get the deliverable output and it's the highest quality then we need to embrace these elements of change so our current training methodology you've all heard of the 1070 20 model we've all heard of that well where our virtual learning environment supports us at the
• 10:00 - 10:30 moment is around that seventy percent mark within the training proficiency it's where we've got people coming through the door and where we've got people leaving the door we're still working to exploit that pre course learning what we're looking to do is to shake that up a little bit thought and I have to give credit to left hadn't come out of Rob Driscoll for this because it's his slide pre course for 2% pre course and these obviously we can argue about the size and the location but knowledge learning skills training
• 10:30 - 11:00 on-the-job consolidation and then the application almost 20 30 a 40 30 2010 model how that stands for us independent study study leaf breaking the dependency on turnip sit in a classroom and watch PowerPoint nobody wants to do that nobody wants to do that at all residential courses just in time right place right kit right equipment efficient for the taxpayer and then work based application and operational
• 11:00 - 11:30 application people often think actually all we need to do is trade know sometimes we need to fight wars and we do need to put people in harm's way this is where our defense learning environment our current Moodle sits it covers that area but we're going to push it out to cover the whole gambit right from the left of art to right of art and one of the big things is we will fail on stuff but fail often fail frequently and fail forwards as I think Will Smith said as long as
• 11:30 - 12:00 we're doing it right and we show value for money for the taxpayers then it's the right thing to do so our fixed a defense learning environment application covers that arena afloat or offline covers the pre course learning just going down a rabbit hole two weeks before a ship goes out and see it's chaotic people have to do this course that cause this course they get on board shipping then they transit for maybe two weeks and they're bored
• 12:00 - 12:30 with Moodle Mobile which switched on yesterday we can go right have that holiday have that time in your family now you're on board ship now during this long haul as you're traveling to wherever you can do your coursework we haven't changed the requirement for the learning we've changed the location and we've given people back time with their families and that for me is one of the big big ones the other one we're looking forward to is official sensitive how do we take this and move this into the
• 12:30 - 13:00 operational space how do we use the data and go beyond it being a virtual learning environment you'll see through some of the discussions will have shortly how we're actually bringing this into manage collective training and operational deployments so looking at the maritime warfare school this is the through life of a warfare officer left to right and you can see how they go you can see the planned interventions and you can see all the different trigger points there I do apologize I did
• 13:00 - 13:30 smashes together quite quickly so the Royal Navy we're driving defense exploitation of the defense learning environment the Royal Navy is the leading service at the moment and we're moving in from the collective and joint training space it's got some real opportunities of how we can actually bring together not only in the UK space but potentially NATO and beyond changing the context the afloat area up until moodle Mobile up until the offline bandwidth of one megabyte to a ship you are not going
• 13:30 - 14:00 to put a SCORM package through there how do we actually move this forward well Moodle Mobile has been a real game-changer for this and holistic training and the culture shift the technology is not the issue the issue that is is how we bring people culturally to go you know what let's take that chance because we're one of the more risk-averse organizations as we should be given the nature of the job but it's bringing that culture along and things like Moodle moves are exceptionally what we need and I keep
• 14:00 - 14:30 campaigning that we need more Armed Forces personnel here key projects to make you aware of through life proficiency proficiency management of warfare we're exploiting we haven't got anything other than core Moodle and a couple of additional platforms we've got a a wraparound which called Defense gateway which ties as to where we are but we are limited to a maximum of 10 additional plugins and that's it so
• 14:30 - 15:00 therefore we have to make sure and be innovative in the way we bring things forward so we're using competency frameworks and examining how we bring that to manage through proficiencies from somebody's first walking through initial training all the way to when they leave and how we use that operational data to inform the brackets is how much time will be saved we don't know at the moment we've got a trial it we've got to see you know fail often and
• 15:00 - 15:30 keep trying rules of the road at the moment or up until last week we used to send out an email with a paper-based exam the ships would print it off sit down fill it out mark it and then go yeah okay we'll all monthly qualified for that we've now put that online we you see examining confidence based marking and that's proving very interesting because some of our navigators are very sure of themselves shall we say and they're getting a few nasty surprises we don't know how much
• 15:30 - 16:00 time that's going to safe but we are looking into that exercise marking using the rubrics we've got one exercise where all officers go up onto Dartmouth for three days and the wet wind wait that wind and rain we're looking at live marking to the Moodle on the hill we tablets and we estimate we'll save a hundred man days through just doing live marking that's all one exercise in one establishment we're using rubrics as well to do instructor
• 16:00 - 16:30 assessment we're examining that and projecting the savings savings the wrong phrase the reduction in time potentially is sixteen point four man years for one year by just changing to marking instructor assessments online and those are just a small plethora of some of the things we're trying to do and push and I often say Moodle is great it can do anything Moodle is also dangerous because it can do anything it's about knowing what you need to do a way you
• 16:30 - 17:00 need to go often when I work with people in Moodle they go I want to do this this is this is we always have to say just dial it back do one thing at a time because people always always always overstretch themselves and for us it's about how we move from the generate community into the operate community and from my two-star last week his brief simply said to me proceed until apprehended and I'll stand next to you in the court so that is a very quickly cobbled together one from the Royal Navy even though I'm in light blue any
• 17:00 - 17:30 questions at a time do we have any questions no it's lunch yeah we will forgive you if it's lunch yeah we do have one up there hold on it's funny me I'm gonna have to run up there nobody's asleep that's a good thing
• 17:30 - 18:00 hi i'm derek from the RC GP little query about content sorry the the number of courses you've got online at the moments 2600 who writes your content okay so how do you how do you get office
• 18:00 - 18:30 for 6000 courses how do you get office for six thousand courses office who's offering them yeah okay I'm coming from a Content providing so I'm if I see if I see an online online learning environment that's that offers 6000 different Moodle courses I'm just asking myself do you have six thousand authors writing them
• 18:30 - 19:00 I trained them and empowering the organizations
• 19:00 - 19:30 so control and
• 19:30 - 20:00 thank you thank you and your this yep
• 20:00 - 20:30 are you providing devices for people to use it offline or they use in bringing their own smartphone on the ship for six months uptime
• 20:30 - 21:00 Oh
• 21:00 - 21:30 okay anymore or do we all want our lunch yep no all right thank you very much again thank you so lunch is at 1:00 and then
• 21:30 - 22:00 if you want to come here we start