Professional vision in simulated environments — Examining professional maritime pilots' performance of work tasks in a full-mission ship simulator

Abstract This paper reports on a qualitative study of professional maritime pilots who used a ship simulator to train for cruise ship navigation in high winds by the use of Azipod propellers. The instructional design of the exercise involves the participants experiencing work-like situations in the simulators and then reflecting on these situations in debriefings. Interaction analysis of the maritime pilots' training showed that simulator training has distinct advantages. However, the detailed analysis of the pilots' issues with the simulator's accuracy also demonstrated that a lack of photorealism and fidelity in the simulator's visual display may have affected the dynamics of the work tasks for which pilots are trained. The results of the analysis showed that the participants' professional perception of work environments — their professional vision — may come in conflict with an instructional strategy to isolate certain elements of the learning objective from the total experience. The article concludes by arguing that the organisation of simulator training must consider whether the degree of fidelity meets the requirements of the situated work tasks and learning objectives, while also attending to the specific nature of the professionals' expertise.

[1]  James G. Greeno,et al.  Learning in Activity , 2014 .

[2]  N. Dahlstrom,et al.  Fidelity and validity of simulator training , 2009 .

[3]  Jonas Linderoth,et al.  Datorspelandets Mening. Bortom idén om den interaktiva illusionen , 2004 .

[4]  Austin Henderson,et al.  Interaction Analysis: Foundations and Practice , 1995 .

[5]  Kim J. Vicente,et al.  The Human Factor - Revolutionizing the way people live with technology , 2004 .

[6]  E. Hutchins.  Cognition in the wild , 1995 .

[7]  D. Schoen,et al.  The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action , 1985 .

[8]  Kristian S Gould,et al.  Effects of navigation method on workload and performance in simulated high-speed ship navigation. , 2009, Applied ergonomics.

[9]  L. Suchman.  Centers of coordination : a case and some themes. , 1997 .

[10]  S. Ludvigsen,et al.  Computer-based 3D simulation: a study of communication practices in a trauma team performing patient examination and diagnostic work , 2012 .

[11]  Wolff-Michael Roth,et al.  What Good Is Polarizing Research Into Qualitative and Quantitative? , 2006 .

[12]  Tor Söderström,et al.  Collaborative learning with screen-based simulation in health care education: an empirical study of collaborative patterns and proficiency development , 2011, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[13]  J. Ross,et al.  Simulation and Psychomotor Skill Acquisition: A Review of the Literature , 2012 .

[14]  Eduardo Salas,et al.  Does Crew Resource Management Training Work? An Update, an Extension, and Some Critical Needs , 2006, Hum. Factors.

[15]  Hans Rystedt,et al.  Realism, authenticity, and learning in healthcare simulations: rules of relevance and irrelevance as interactive achievements , 2012 .

[16]  Christian Heath,et al.  Cognition and communication at work: Convergent activities: Line control and passenger information on the London Underground , 1996 .

[17]  P. Saariluoma,et al.  Learning basic surgical skills through simulator training , 2012 .

[18]  A. C. Baker,et al.  In Conversation: Transforming Experience into Learning , 1997 .

[19]  J. Petraglia.  The real world on a short leash: The (mis) application of constructivism to the design of educational technology , 1998 .

[20]  J. Beaubien,et al.  The use of simulation for training teamwork skills in health care: how low can you go? , 2004, Quality and Safety in Health Care.

[21]  Yasuharu Okuda,et al.  The utility of simulation in medical education: what is the evidence? , 2009, The Mount Sinai journal of medicine, New York.

[22]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation , 1991 .

[23]  Ricki Goldman,et al.  Conducting Video Research in the Learning Sciences: Guidance on Selection, Analysis, Technology, and Ethics , 2010 .

[24]  Hans Rystedt,et al.  The Interactive Construction of Learning Foci in Simulation-Based Learning Environments: A Case Study of an Anaesthesia Course , 2004, PsychNology J..

[25]  Jon Hindmarsh,et al.  Video in Qualitative Research: Analysing Social Interaction in Everyday Life , 2010 .

[26]  Ericka Johnson,et al.  Surgical Simulators and Simulated Surgeons: Reconstituting Medical Practice and Practitioners in Simulations , 2007, Social studies of science.

[27]  Kathryn Mearns,et al.  Safety in shipping: the human element. , 2006, Journal of safety research.

[28]  Eduardo Salas,et al.  The Science of Training and Development in Organizations , 2012, Psychological science in the public interest : a journal of the American Psychological Society.

[29]  Charles Goodwin,et al.  Seeing in Depth , 1995 .

[30]  D. Kolb.  Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development , 1983 .

[31]  Peter A. Hancock,et al.  Human Factors in Simulation and Training , 2008 .

[32]  G. Jefferson.  Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction , 2004 .

[33]  Stephen M. Alessi,et al.  Fidelity in the design of instructional simulations , 1988 .

[34]  E Salas,et al.  It is not how much you have but how you use it: toward a rational use of simulation to support aviation training. , 1998, The International journal of aviation psychology.

[35]  Yrjö Engeström,et al.  Between school and work: New perspectives on transfer and boundary-crossing , 2003 .

[36]  K. Wehrmann,et al.  Transfer of Training , 2002, Journal of health & social policy.

[37]  Edwin Hutchins,et al.  Distributed Cognition in an Airline Cockpit , 1996 .

[38]  Anne-Sophie Nyssen,et al.  From myopic coordination to resilience in socio-technical systems. A case study in a hospital , 2011 .

[39]  E. Hutchins,et al.  Constructing Meaning from Space, Gesture, and Speech , 1997 .