School profile 

The Maritieme Academie Harlingen is one of the main suppliers of inland navigation training in the Netherlands. Offering a wide range of courses across different learning levels, the Maritieme Academie Harlingen has been a client of VSTEP for five years. You can read about the collaboration with MAH and NAUTIS Simulator here. 

We spoke with Mr. Pieter Zandhuis, who is overseeing the Simulator Instructor at The Maritieme Academie Harlingen.

What prompted the integration of Response Simulator along with NAUTIS Inland Simulator?

The Maritieme Academie Harlingen has already been a long standing customer of VSTEP, and so the door was already open for collaboration. MAH saw an opportunity to invest in state of the art equipment to improve training, as the connection between NAUTIS Simulator and Response Simulator was interesting for the staff members at The Maritieme Academie Harlingen. The workshops provided by the RS team on the Online Academy have actually given The Maritieme Academie Harlingen more opportunities to test Response Simulator and understand the different avenues of integration that will be possible in the near future

Education

“One of the features that stand out is the option that allows instructors to demonstrate real life situations in safe environments. The hands-on nature of the training is extremely interesting for students, and they are able to gain more from the trainings. Students love to learn by doing, failing and eventually succeeding.” Pieter Zandhuis, Simulator Instructor.

What trends in the industry drove you to consider Response Simulator?

The interest from the niche that Maritieme Academie Harlingen targets in NAUTIS prompted the school’s interest in Response Simulator. The benefit of having both simulators operate off of the same platform was a benefit for Maritieme Academie Harlingen. Modernizing was a major trend that the school was closely watching, as incorporating newer, more advanced methods can facilitate growth for the school.

How can Response Simulator be integrated?

The Maritieme Academie Harlingen  have found that Responses Simulator provides the ability to easily create custom content for students in visual materials. For instance, the software can be used to create little scenes, similar to a short movie, to create online teaching material. Furthermore, one staff member at Maritieme Academie Harlingen is using Response Simulator to conduct research for an academic study about augmented and virtual reality. The flexible nature of this unique virtual training platform thus allows Maritieme Academie Harlingen to effectively expand their trainings and research.

Highlighted Response Simulator features for future integration

Right now, Maritieme Academie Harlingen staff are exploring the ways that Response Simulator can be integrated into the daily activities. One of the features that stand out is the option that allows instructors to demonstrate real life situations in safe environments. The hands-on nature of the training is extremely interesting for students, and they are able to gain more from the trainings.

Furthermore, the personalized and tactile experiences stick to the minds of the young students very well. This is amplified when they get to physically perform the exercises, as the students are usually interested in visual products and there is plenty of potential for Response Simulator to seamlessly meet that need. Instructors at Maritieme Academie Harlingen find that their students prefer to learn by doing, failing and eventually becoming successful! The instructors have the capabilities to pause the simulation halfway through and provide direct feedback to students which can’t be replicated by using traditional training methods. Another major feature that will add value for Maritieme Academie Harlingen is that by using Response Simulator, the students can practice crowd management as it is difficult to simulate large crowds in a real life setting, so RS can provide assistance with that. 

Experience with VSTEP Simulation  

VSTEP and the Maritieme Academie Harlingen enjoy a special relationship with a long period of collaboration. We are happy to know that Mr. Zandhuis has had a positive experience with our support team, whom he described as being very passionate about their work, and are always ready to accommodate and are willing to find the best solution!

Thoughts and remarks for the future

The COVID crisis is definitely a challenge for schools, said Mr. Zandhuis. All around the world, educational facilities have been affected by the pandemic. At VSTEP, we strive to ensure that we are able to provide solutions during this time for our clients to be able to continue teaching safely.