Mariners Learning System

Some discrepancies between the course and the books. The books do not follow the course perfectly but they have provided a way to easily review and reinforce information. Plus it give a secondary testing option with questions that aren't necessarily on the online course quiz.

The material is great, but it would be helpful to have better videos with actual instructors giving explanations of the rules along with memory aids. Search YouTube for coast guard captains class to see what I’m talking about. ***youtu***/VachiLVC8bw?si=uJ1eWBddi1p9dQaz

The course is very well organized, and the interface is easy to use. It's fairly priced against its competition. A 25-year Navy Surface Warfare Officer who commanded two ships, I found the material succinct and salient. It was an enjoyable review of my knowledge, and I learned a few things too! There are typographical(?) errors that detract from the overall experience, and a few times when the material was probably wrong due to a misspelling or oversight. I would teach the navigation differently. Instead of independent fixes and navigation information extraction, I recommend the creation of a scenario-style series of fixes along an established track to teach the skills. Overall, I enjoyed the course and found it very useful in the pursuit of my merchant marine credentials.

The course is very comprehensive. The format takes a little time to figure out.

I'm almost through the OUPV-Six pack before moving on to the Masters Upgrade. Overall, it's done the job. I especially appreciate being able to listen and/or watch a video for each webpage of the course. I have been frustrated sometiems with a feeling that the course creators assumed I had more prior experience with boats, the ocean, etc. than I actually have. Part of this feels like the product of the tradition of seamanship, which at times feels like 'the old guys club' or, alternately, a prestigious tradition I'm excited to be a part of and am literally being given access to but. . . maybe the only way to put it is sometimes is that the content needs to be dumbed down a bit more. I appreciate that's difficult because the curriculum and expectations of the Coast Guard itself may be a little outdated. Like I said, overall, it's getting the job done. If I can comprehend how to do chart-plotting without a live human explaining it, you've clearly done something right. Thank you.