An action research and scaffolding based approach for maritime design education: a contribution towards shaping ships for people

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the results of a research study conducted aiming to educate maritime design students with maritime Human Factors (HF) and Human-Centred Design (HCD) theoretical concepts and to motivate them to utilise that knowledge in the design process. The final year maritime design students at the Australian Maritime College were facilitated throughout a year of a planned HCD scaffolding program based on a pedagogical framework. Action Research was used as the methodological framework, which is considered appropriate for studying the effectiveness of a teaching intervention. The overall effect of the program was determined through records maintained in the researcher’s journal, response from a questionnaire, an interview, and from the results of a design project report review. The findings demonstrated that the contribution of such a program raised awareness and understanding of HCD and maritime HF among the students. Also, the findings of this paper highlighted the fact that the fresh mind of a maritime design undergraduate is the best state to integrate HF and HCD knowledge which provides enduring benefits for the industry and for shaping ships for people. Besides, possible improvements for future delivery of this program were also identified.

KEYWORDS:

• Human factors
• human-centred design
• naval architect/maritime designer
• maritime design education
• HCD champion
• scaffolding

Acknowledgements

The scaffolding program was approved by the Tasmania Human Ethics Research committee (HREC) under the approval numbers H0014771 and H0014412. The authors would like to acknowledge the extensive support given by the faculty members at AMC and the field experts who supported this research study. Special thanks should go to the crew members of the AMC research vessel MV Bluefin.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Dr Apsara Abeysiriwardhane is an academic professional and a qualified naval architect with over 13 years of diversified service experience in the maritime industry. She completed her PhD in 2017 at the University of Tasmania. Apsara is a pioneering researcher in the maritime education domain to develop a novel pedagogical framework for integrating Human Centred Design knowledge into maritime education. Presently she is holding a position as a lecturer in Maritime Engineering at the Australian Maritime College. Her research interest includes maritime education and training, maritime human factors, human-centred design, resilience engineering, and marine technology systems.

Prof. Margareta Lützhöft is a master mariner, trained at Kalmar Maritime Academy in Sweden, and sailed for 13 years in Swedish ships. After leaving the sea, she studied for a Bachelor’s degree in Cognitive science and a Master’s in Computer Science. In December 2004 she received a PhD in Human-Machine Interaction. Between 2006 and 2013 she worked as Associate Professor at Chalmers University of Technology, leading the research in the Maritime Human Factors research group at the Department of Shipping and Marine Technology, within the Lighthouse competence centre. Presently she is holding a position as Professor of Nautical studies at the Australian Maritime College. Her research interests include human-centred design, the effects of new technology and resilience engineering. She is a frequent guest lecturer on maritime human factors, risk and safety for medical, nuclear and similar industries.

Dr Samrat Ghosh is a lecturer in Maritime Training at the Australian Maritime College. His research focuses on investigating the impact of innovative training and assessment methods in seafarer education to improve students’ academic achievement. In this regard, he has also developed a conceptual framework to improve the validity and reliability of assessment.

Notes

1 Prof. Margareta Lützhöft, Research leader in HF, Chalmers University (2006–2013), Personal communication, July 9, 2014.

2 Dr Jonathan Earthy, Human Factors Coordinator, Lloyd’s Register Global Technology Centre, Southampton, Personal communication, February 10, 2016.