How training and lecturing changes one's life
Ana Casaca, PhD, FICS
?????Author | ?? ?? World of Shipping Portugal | External Expert for the EU Commission ???? | Mentor | Former Deck Officer ????
The idea of teaching had never been there until 1992 when I started delivering my first classes on maritime safety to a group of youngsters (teenagers) attending a 3-year professional course for seafarers equivalent to the Portuguese secondary school. Until then, I believed there were far more interesting things to do. Still, I remember the day I entered this eight-student classroom to teach ‘Maritime Safety’ with unknown expectations of how things would turn out.
Having been a deck officer/officer of watch for five years on deep sea shipping tankers, dry bulk carriers, multi-purpose ships, and on general cargo coasters gave me a new life perspective and broadened my horizons. Now I was being given the responsibility of training future maritime professionals. With the limited resources available at the time, I concentrated my teaching on the topics that met the Module taught and the Course objectives. This approach would guarantee that those students finished their Course with the required knowledge to fulfil the tasks on board ships as ratings or proceed with their nautical studies to become ship (deck or marine engineers) officers.
Over the years that followed, I was given more subjects to lecture. By 1995/96, I was responsible for 22 weekly hours, in which I was teaching different nautical subjects to different classes spread along the 3-year professional Course (equivalent to Level 4 within the scope of the European Qualifications Framework). Some of these classes were theoretical; others involved practical work. Given the nature of the subjects and the students’ level (secondary school without research habits due to the type of education settled in Portugal of which I was part), there was not much scope for innovativeness. The full programme was intense in terms of content, and the schedule was very tight, so time management was critical. Altogether, they gave students three critical components: ‘knowledge’, ‘know-how’, and ‘how to be’. Given the nature of the subjects, my main concern was that the students understood what I was talking about. As a result, I tried to simplify their knowledge acquisition while being demanding simultaneously. I like my students to outstand and perform exceptionally well.
My teaching perspective changed completely after I finished MSc in International Logistics at the University of Plymouth, and the accomplishment of my PhD at the University of Wales – Cardiff, reinforced this change. With the knowledge gained and access to a range of information, I realised that teaching was more than delivering a basket of information to the students, more than facilitating their learning. Moreover, I concluded that facilitating students' learning process too much can be counterproductive since they may take for granted that certain subjects may be easier than they are in practice. For this reason, some years later, I stopped giving copies of my PowerPoint presentations because I realised how dependent students would become on them, thus limiting their knowledge acquisition. Instead, I created some classroom notes to guide them in their studies. Moreover, I started to include, for each topic lectured, a range of resources that they could read to enlarge their knowledge. This is something that I may consider innovative at the time since I do not recall having heard of other educators doing it.
In this process, I realised that a teacher is also a learner. Therefore, from 2003 onwards, I engaged in a continuous learning process to deliver certain topics. Being an External Expert for the European Commission in maritime transport also contributed to this continuous learning. Furthermore, I realised how important it was to transfer specific soft skills, such as critical thinking, time management, communication, stress management, adaptability, or creativity, to students for their problem-solving, which I learned from my time at sea due to the responsibilities of my profession.
Nowadays, with that experience behind me, I focus on two issues when I go into a physical or virtual classroom to deliver a topic. The first is the audience. I always want to know their age and background knowledge, which determines my approach to the topic. The second is the content structure. While targeting students’ knowledge acquisition, I also look for knowledge interconnection from relevant disciplines so that students acquire critical thinking about what is being taught.
While this often consumes a considerable amount of time in its preparation, it makes me comfortable. I want my students to view the content delivered as the tip of the iceberg that draws their attention to engage in a deeper learning process. Despite my willingness to teach them all I know, the time constraints limit my work, which is positive. Students will be aware of their participation in their learning process to the extent that their knowledge acquisition also rests on them, not on teachers only as in the past. Furthermore, I want them to learn how to work independently or in teams and use the vast range of tools available to respond promptly to the requested challenges and not be constrained for not knowing how to work with them. Finally, I want them to know that asking for help is a very positive attitude, though, in practice, I will be there to guide them during that time or even afterward.
Overall, I want my students to think out of the box, analyse problems from different perspectives, and acquire a learning mentality for the rest of their lives. By doing so, I know they will be open to gaining knowledge, learning from others, and standing out from the crowd. It is not about being perfect but professional. In order to achieve all this, students may be confronted with written Course works on particular subjects, or classroom discussions on a subject, group work presentations, case studies, and demonstrations. The idea of picking up a particular piece of news is a good point to develop some insights into the topic that will be covered on that day. Being creative contributes to a positive learning environment, and the greater engagement of students in classrooms helps create that positive learning environment. Ultimately, teachers and students benefit greatly from sharing their experiences and expertise.
While over the last years, my teaching | lecturing activities have been random, I always have the pleasure of doing them for the benefit of future generations. In a few words, I can only say that it became a passion.
My lecturing/training experience is split into two phases: The first from 1992 and 2001 and the second from 2002 to date. Overall, a total of 3378 hours of lecturing and training activities have been delivered to date since I started in 1992. Moreover, I gained numerous skills, namely Moodle, Budgeting, Course Design, E-Learning, Management, Pedagogic Skills, Lecturing and Tutoring, Organizational & Writing Skills, Editing and Proofreading, English, Data Analysis, IBM SPSS, and Microsoft Office.
Training | Lecturing Experience from 2002 to date
During this period, I had the opportunity to lecture mainly on ancillary topics to the shipping industry, namely distribution channels and logistics and supply chain management, which broadened my knowledge scope. In addition, I prepared some short courses in maritime-related subjects, including the Online Course Certificate on Marketing and Strategy for Shipping for Lloyds Maritime Academy. The first edition occurred in 2021: the second one was in March 2022. Recently, I lectured online ‘Supply Chain Management’ for the Metropolitan College, SA, in Greece.
The hours lectured from 2002 to date amount to 906 hours.
2022 - 2023: Metropolitan College, Greece. Guest Lecturer on 'Supply Chain Management'.
2020 - 2022: Lloyds Maritime Academy, United Kingdom. Course Designer, Director, and Instructor on ‘Marketing and Strategy in Shipping’.
2020: Administra??o Porto de Sines / SinesTecnoPolo, Portugal. Course Designer, Coordinator, and Lecturer on ‘Short Sea Shipping’.
2019: Fernave, Portugal. Guest Lecturer on 'Port Tariffs'.
2015 - 2016: Escola Europea de Short Sea Shipping, Barcelona, Spain. Visiting Lecturer on 'Transport Costs' and 'Case Study Resolution'.
2015: Study Group of Logistics, Business and Port Engineering (GELNEP - Grupo de Estudos em Logística, Negócios e Engenharia Portuária), Federal University of Maranh?o, Brazil. Course Designer, Coordinator, and Lecturer on ‘Short Sea Shipping’.
2012: University of Genova, Genova, Italy. Guest Lecturer on 'Shortsea Shipping and the EU Transport Policy' and 'Innovative Ship’s Concepts for SSS'.
2009 - 2011: Shipping and Transport College - Netherlands Maritime University, The Netherlands. Guest Lecturer on 'Policies on Intermodal Transport and Short Sea Shipping and the Impact on the Private Sector from a European Perspective' and 'Research Methodologies'.
2008: HEBLEC, Angola. Course Designer, Coordinator, and Lecturer on ‘Maritime Transport Management’.
2008 - 2009: Associa??o dos Transitários de Portugal, Portugal. Course Designer, Coordinator, and Trainer on ‘Dangerous Goods by Sea’.
2007 - 2009: FORINO - Escola de Novas Tecnologias, Lisbon, Portugal. Lecturer on ‘Logistics’.
2007 - 2008: Instituto Superior de Línguas e Administra??o, Portugal. Lecturer on 'Logistics and Marketing Channels'.
2005 - 2007: Instituto Superior de Gest?o, Lisbon, Portugal. Lecturer on 'Distribution Management', 'Macro-logistics Infrastructure Management', and 'Logistics'.
2005: Consultoria e Forma??o em Logística, Transportes e Comunica??es, SA (LOGISTEL), Portugal. Course Designer, Coordinator and Lecturer on 'Shipping, Ports and Intermodality'.
2003: MacAndrews - Navega??o e Transitos, Lda, Portugal. Course Designer, Coordinator and Trainer on ‘Dangerous Goods by Sea’.
2003: Afonso O’Neill, Setubal, Portugal. Course Designer, Coordinator, and Lecturer on ‘Shipping Economics: The Tanker Market’.
Training | Lecturing Experience from 1992 to 2001
Between 1992 and 2001, Ana Casca delivered training on different nautical subjects at a secondary level and lectured on shipping and ports for market practitioners. The different subjects and the corresponding hours can be seen below. The institutions offering those courses determined most of the subjects’ contents. Her function was to deliver them in a way that met the courses’ objectives in which these subjects were integrated.
The hours lectured during this period amount to 2472 hours.
2000: Martanque, Portugal. Course Designer, Coordinator, and Lecturer on ‘Shipping Practice: Charter Parties’.
2000: Lusofrete, Portugal. Course Designer, Coordinator and Lecturer on ‘Shipping Practice: Charter Parties’.
2000: FRESTI - Sociedade de Forma??o e Gest?o de Navios, Portugal. Course Designer, Coordinator and Lecturer on ‘Logistics and Transport’.
1997 - 2001: Instituto Superior de Transportes e Comunica??es (formerly, the Instituto Superior de Transportes - ISTP), Portugal. Guest Lecturer on ‘Intermodalism’, ‘Port Management’, and ‘Shipping Practice’.
1997 - 1998: Escola de Pescas e Marinha de Comércio, Portugal. Teacher on ‘Naval Architecture’ ‘Hygiene | Organisation and Safety’ and ‘Nautical English’.
1992 - 2001: Instituto de Tecnologias Náuticas, Portugal. Teacher on ‘Maritime Technologies | Deck Manoeuvring and Maintenance | Naval Technologies | Seamanship’, ‘Working in Technical and Organisational Context’, ‘Shipmanagement’, ‘Navigation’, ‘Hygiene, Maritime Safety and Prevention | Organisation and Safety’ and ‘Stability and Stowage’.
International Lawyer and Arbitrator
1 年Congrats Ana, the starting point is that you can present your experience as crew on board. Shipping is wide, the scope of what can be learnt and perspectives is challenging and fulfilling. All the best in your continuing journey.