Evaluation of eye-tracking as support in simulator training for maritime pilots

Report, 2023

The Swedish Maritime Administration provides maritime pilotage when vessels operate in Swedish pilotage-obliged water. Through the maritime pilot's knowledge of the waterways and experience of maneuvering different types of vessels, the pilot contributes to ensure that maritime and environmental safety as well as accessibility can be maintained. In addition to skills in ship maneuvering, navigation and seamanship, the ability to interact with various types of technology, cultures and crews is also required. Each ship is unique in terms of propulsion, steering, navigation, and communication equipment as well as maneuvering and information instruments. With increased levels of automation, the demands on maritime pilots to interpret, understand and handle technology are increasing. Today, the maritime pilot training is based on a long tradition of apprenticeship, where the pilot's competence can be seen as implicit (tacit) knowledge developed through years of experience at sea. But, since the maritime pilot profession is a practice in change, it puts higher demands on the pilot training. One step is to find out the experienced maritime pilots' valuable tacit knowledge and transfer this to the next generation. Another step is to include new technology in teaching activities, such as using eye-tracking in simulator training. The purpose of this multidisciplinary research project was to investigate what it means to be a professionally competent maritime pilot, and how current training practitioners are organized for pilot students to develop professional competence. Also, how the training can be further developed to achieve improved quality. The following research questions have been answered: (1) What are the strengths and weaknesses of today's simulator maritime pilot training? (2) What methods can be used to find tacit knowledge and visual expertise from experienced pilots useful in the pilot training? (3) What didactic methods and technical support can be used to transfer tacit knowledge and visual expertise efficiently and reliably from experienced pilots to pilot students? (4) What needs for technical and didactical competence development do instructors require when implementing new technology in the pilot training? The research questions were answered through four empirical studies: (1) Mapping strengths, weaknesses, and challenges in today's pilot training. Special focus was on exploring aspects of the pilot's tacit knowledge. (2) Studying how the pilot's visual expertise develops within and through social interaction during simulator-based activities in the pilot training. If and how is the simulator environment a realistic and relevant training context for pilots. (3) Exploration of eye movement patterns in experienced pilots and pilot students. (4) Evaluation of how instructors can interpret and use data from eye-tracking as a basis for training and assessment of pilot students. 3 The overall results from the research project have contributed to an increased understanding of how challenges and opportunities in today's maritime pilot training can be met with the help of new didactical and technical approaches in simulator training. The project has also generated recommendations and measures for how professional knowledge can be trained and assessed through participation in simulator environments. The specified results about using eye-tracking as a didactic tool, and facilitator of tacit knowledge transfer in simulator based maritime pilot training are: Eye-tracking • Eye-tracking is usable as a support during the simulator training in the Pilot Training Program (PTP) in terms of visualizing attention, scanning, gaze behavior, and as a mean to support simulator session briefings. • A systematic implementation of eye-tracking in terms of establishing pedagogical and didactical documentation is required to reach set training objectives. • Effective utilization of eye-tracking requires considerable resources in terms of time, equipment, infrastructure, staff, and training of staff by the PTP organization. • Physiological prerequisites among participants such as corrected vison and head posture requires mitigation. • Using eye-tracking to assess collaborative task performance lacks a specific methodology. • Links between visual attention, cognition, and learning are not clear and require more research. Tacit knowledge transfer • The reproduction of pilots’ tacit knowledge was not found during the simulator part of the PTP, except during the part dealing with Marine Resource Management (MRM) training. • It is ambiguous if the reproduction of specific pilot skills is based on tacit knowledge transfer or on development of know-how (using volume training) combined with pattern recognition over time (experiences from different vessels on the same waterway). • Pilot specific skills such as controlled navigation, ships handling, and hydrodynamics were initially regarded as plausible tacit knowledge nodes but were subsequently assessed as generic for any Master. • Using volume training, pilot specific skills were systematically trained to a higher standard. • Developing pilot specific skills are in terms of guided experiences during apprenticeship predominantly located at the Local Training Plan (LTP) part of the PTP. • Identified tacit knowledge transfer events may contain more of articulated rules, procedures, or operational descriptions than tacit knowledge.