The Tiller School of Navigation and Seamanship - Page 2 of 2 |
All change
Since then we have completely rewritten all our courses and they are all now stored and updated on computer. The style has changed with our goal being study modules that 'talk' to the student and build knowledge in a step by step manner. Students tell us that they like the study material and find it easy to work with.
Navigational 'good practice' is constantly evolving, partly because of the ever-increasing prevalence of electronics on most yachts. The RYA makes incremental syllabus changes annually and major revisions on a five-year cycle and so our courses require frequent modification.
This is a big factor in the decision to print and publish all our study material in-house. It means that we can despatch courses that are up to date whilst keeping stocks low and retaining control of the quality of our product. The process is proving to be both manageable and economic, even though our student enrolments look set to exceed 250 this year.
Our study material is primarily paper based and, at the moment, we see little demand for full computer based training - quite the reverse in fact. This may reflect the nature of our student set and certainly reflects the nature of the subject matter, which is diverse and sometimes quite complex.
There's a very valid place for CBT to augment the main study material and we have a number of projects in place to ensure that we continue to offer good up to date CD based material to those who want it.
Email is an increasingly popular way for students to send in their work and for us to mark it. The proportion using email is probably over 50% but a surprising number of people (of all generations) still send in hand written work.
Looking ahead
Our combination of location (South London) and quality training ashore and afloat is proving to be very popular. Our students want and, we hope, get a friendly, professional and personal service, together with good quality courses and tuition.
As petrol prices and time pressures continue to increase we believe that our business can keep on growing. One key focus area is to work out how, and if, we move the emphasis from paper to computer based courses. We are going to need help and advice to help us formulate and implement our future business strategy in this key development area.
The Tiller School of Navigation & Seamanship
30 Wilmot Way
Banstead
Surrey SM7 2PY
01737 211466
info@tiller.co.uk
www.tiller.co.uk
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