The remote course was delivered perfectly. Fugro Academy’s continuous support and flexibility are keeping our teams agile during these unprecedented times of restricted travel and social distancing.
In some respects, Fugro Academy was well prepared for remote training, as a significant investment in our approach to learning and development over the years has been towards e-learning, with a well-established use of online learning technology and LinkedIn Learning.
That said, some technical training requires the involvement of a live instructor to support the development of practical skills and assessment. As we began to transfer key courses to a virtual instructor format, trials were scheduled for mid-April, including a pilot 5-day data-processing course. However, 2 weeks before the virtual pilot, an urgent requirement arose for training on subsea positioning and inverted long baseline (iLBL) rig moves to support a client project. The team therefore accelerated planning and successfully presented the course remotely at the end of March.
The “remote trainer” method involves the instructor working from their home or local Fugro office (as permitted by current in-country regulations) during the office hours of the course attendees, who are typically grouped from the same office or region. Courses are based on the classroom content but are modified to better suit virtual learning. Attendees use a dual monitor PC where one screen shows the instructor and the other screen displays the course software. This allows for virtual face-to-face interaction and instruction, as well as a “hands-on” experience of using the software.
As of 15 May 2020, 10 courses have been successfully delivered using this method, with more scheduled for Q2 2020. They can be up to 5 days long and cover a range of subjects, including subsea positioning, data collection, data processing and data interpretation.
Almost 80 staff have been trained remotely so far during the Covid-19 restrictions.