Marine Learning Systems develops assessment app for Carnival

SkillGrader will standardise training and assessment of employees across the corporation's nine brands

Marine Learning Systems develops assessment app for Carnival
SkillGrader objectively assesses the performance of each crew member (Image: Marine Learning Systems)

By Rebecca Gibson |


Marine Learning Systems has developed an application to standardise maritime training and assessment process for employees across Carnival Corporation’s nine brands.

Named SkillGrader, the tablet-based application was designed to enable Carnival Corporation to move away from its old method of enrolling everyone into hundreds of courses and instead place crew members into targeted training programmes based on their assessment results.

“We wanted to align and standardise our approach,” said John Allen, director of Maritime Professional Development at Carnival Corporation. “No matter which ship you’re on, no matter which brand you’re on, the ships will all be equally as safe as each other. And they will be the safest ships you can sail on.”

SkillGrader automatically analyses data collected during crew assessments and uses a binary grading scheme to objectively grade each candidate’s performance. This eliminates any issues caused by human bias.

The app also provides trainers with a comprehensive report on individual and team performance, allowing them to compare the skills of employees across multiple departments, vessels and the whole of Carnival Corporation.

“Although technology has played a big role in improving and advancing the art of maritime training, skills assessment has remained largely the same,” said Murray Goldberg, CEO of Marine Learning Systems. “There is typically an expert assessor observing the skill, making notes and providing feedback. This leaves much to the discretion of the assessor. And while you can get great outcomes from this way of assessing, you can also get very poor outcomes. You need consistency, objectivity and standardisation in the process. SkillGrader helps provide the reliability that has been missing from skills assessment and gives operators new insight into crew competency.”

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