What Emerging Technologies Work Best to Teach Across the World?: Using Online Technologies to Deliver Management Courses to Cruise Ship Personnel at Sea

As the cruise industry continues to grow at a rapid pace, additional qualifications for its management personnel are becoming increasingly important. Many new ships are built each year, leaving a void in experienced personnel. The goal of this study was to implement and evaluate delivery of formal coursework to English-speaking, multicultural cruise ship personnel onboard by using emerging technologies that are available today. College-level management courses using Web 2.0 technologies were designed, delivered and evaluated. Two courses were offered each was split into two groups using different technologies. Both groups had intense, positive distant interactions with faculty and had comparable outcomes. The finding was that the cruise industry may well have developed a distinct culture is an important one that may well lead to a better understanding of acculturation. Three weeks proved an ideal length of time for students to complete the 1.5-credit courses. Dividing 4.5-credit courses into 1.5-modules proved successful. Out of the original 249 applicants, 162 students participated from 36 different countries located on 64 different ships around the world.