Verdict in for Marina Online Learning

IMM group graduation © Colin Bransgrove

In April the Marina Industries Association (MIA) announced a commitment to fast track online learning initiatives in-light of Covid-19. Since then MIA has conducted many online regional meetings and webinars and converted two face to face courses for online delivery. 35 participated in the online Club Marine Emergency Preparedness course and 17 participated in the online Intermediate Marina Management (IMM) course.

The IMM course is delivered across the globe. This was the first time it has been conducted online and it attracted participants from the UAE, China, Thailand and Australia. The course was delivered over four weeks whereas the face to face course is conducted over 4.5 days. Topics include Emergency and Environmental Management, Health and Safety, Marketing and Leadership.

MIA CEO Colin Bransgrove said "right from the get-go we were very aware of how best to compensate for the lack of physical interaction impacting on the development of long term relationships and networks that are traditionally a valuable legacy of these management courses. It was clear early in the course more interaction was required and optional small group discussion sessions were added to stimulate dialogue."

The review of the IMM course based on feedback from participants and lecturers indicates the course rated on par with the two previous face to face courses with regards to course content and presentations. Additionally, the 360o marina tour was considered very effective with many benefits over a physical tour. The one area below par was networking: 3.8 against an average of 4.8 for the previous two courses.

MIA Industry Education Officer Vijaya Selvaraj said much was learnt through the process of the first online management course. "The networking gap can be reduced with greater use of dialogue from lecturers; increasing their class interaction time and ensuring more facilitated small group discussions."

MIA is currently evaluating the opportunity to conduct another online IMM before year-end given the continuation of border closures. With 300 plus MIA members stretching from the UAE to New Zealand online learning will become a core deliverable to complement MIA's face to face learning post Covid-19.

More details on MIA's education and training can be found on www.marinas.net.au