Using Online Technologies to Deliver Management Courses to Cruise Ship Personnel at Sea

As the cruise industry continues to grow at a rapid pace, additional qualifications for its management personnel are becoming increasingly important. Many new ships are built each year, leaving a void in experienced personnel. Additionally, some leave the ships in order to improve professional qualifications on shore. Whereas many of the companies are training personnel onboard using on-the-job training, the concepts addressed in college-level management programs remain lacking. The goal was to implement and evaluate delivery of formal coursework to English-speaking, multicultural cruise ship personnel onboard by using emerging technologies that are available today. College-level management courses using Web 2.0 technologies were designed, delivered and evaluated. Two courses were offered each was split into two groups using different technologies. Group 1 used non-emerging technologies via a web page with additional material to support the textbook. This group also used discussion forums, online quizzes and tests and online grade book. Group 2 used the same features as the first and Web 2.0 technologies including Wikis, blogs, vodcasts, YouTube.com video clips, and synchronous Instant Messaging. Both groups had intense, positive distant interactions with faculty and had comparable outcomes. The least effective technology was the wiki and the most, the Discussion Forum. The finding was that the cruise industry may well have developed a distinct culture is an important one that may well lead to a better understanding of acculturation. Three weeks proved an ideal length of time for students to complete the 1.5-credit courses. Dividing 4.5-credit courses into 1.5-modules proved successful. Out of the original 249 applicants, 162 students participated from 36 different countries located on 64 different ships around the world