Dr. Heather Carnahan funded $615,000 to study distance learning and marine simulators

Dr. Heather Carnahan and a team of eight graduate students are studying the impact of marine training simulators on learning and safety in maritime industries

It’s part of Dr. Carnahan’s work as the Lockheed Martin Industrial Research Chair in Simulation and Learning – research in which Lockheed Martin Canada Inc. invested $615,000 until 2026.

The Marine Institute research team is assessing the effectiveness of simulators and virtual reality as learning tools and how to best use this software in distance-education programs for the marine transportation sector.

“We’ll be evaluating the effectiveness of simulators versus real training and hybrid training to better understand how we can most effectively use these virtual reality platforms,” said Dr. Carnahan, who leads MI’s Ocean Safety Research Unit.

The unit is a diverse group of researchers examining the human factors affecting safety and survival in collaboration with the marine industry.

Read all about it in the Gazette.