Mark Houston, Operations Director of Nautilus, talks with Findcourses.co.uk about new technologies and how they can support skills development in the Oil & Gas industry and beyond.
As Operations Director of Nautilus, what are your main areas of focus? How would you like to see Nautilus’ training activities evolve over time?
The past 12 months have been a challenging period within our sector, with no immediate end in sight. This however, has undoubtedly forced us to look inwards and assess the effectiveness of our current process and how training is being delivered. The result of this ongoing reflection is creating an opportunity to really consider change and innovative new modes of training delivery which we wouldn’t necessarily undertake in different market conditions. This is an exciting time for Nautilus as we seek to lead our market by offering combinations of training methods that will result in enhanced learning experiences.
The desire for training hasn’t diminished; we just need to adapt to the market ensuring we continue to lead by offering the greatest value whilst demonstrating ROI to our learning community.
Technology is playing an increasingly important role in training across all industries. How is this trend impacting the oil & gas industry? Would you say that oil & gas training providers tend to be more or less innovative than their counterparts in other industries?
The oil & gas industry has a rich heritage in training and adopting innovative technologies to deliver the training to its prospective and current workforce. Indeed, I support the recent views of Tim Walsh (Lloyds Register), that the current low oil price represents an opportunity to develop new training technologies. With technology playing a continually increasing role in providing sustainable growth and market leadership, organisations may look to shift their focus to new technologies as they begin to understand the value in nurturing technical innovation.
There is always space for new ideas, new technologies and progressive trainers. I can’t speak for other industries, but hydrocarbon exploration demands ever more efficient and economical discharge of resources, and training in this sector is not exempt from such forces.
What are the main obstacles to training companies incorporating new technologies into their programmes?
An element of pragmatism is required when approaching new technologies. Speak to your customers and participants. Understand what their training needs are and try and address these by utilising your company’s expertise and skills to discover new ways of delivering your programmes. Often we can be misled by believing the 'if it’s not broken, don’t fix it' mantra, but I would always maintain that if you don’t develop your products or develop your market position by leading with innovation, there is a definitive risk of being outmanoeuvred.
A potential barrier is the scalability of such technology. Any given organisation needs to be confident that the technology can support the demands made on both now and in the future. Being able to predict future market needs will indeed require a lot of research and an element of risk mitigation, hence the reluctance in some cases to pursue the more ‘out there’ ideas, but this is where innovation is born.
What are the key benefits of using technology in professional development training?
Any technology that encourages greater user accessibility and creates ability for the trainer to reach those learners, who potentially would not have ordinarily benefited, should surely be investigated, although we should never underestimate the value of human interaction in relation to Professional Development.
Professional development training courses can offer a great opportunity to utilise new technologies as part of the delivery method. For instance, Nautilus has courses related to Managing Remote Technical Teams, whereby using technology to enable greater inclusivity within an organisation could help to ensure regional offices participate without the need to travel and all of the associated costs. But new technology can also break down some of the conventional requirements of classroom courses. Using technology to deliver learning via multiple platforms provides flexibility and removes the ‘time zone’ factor.
Of course, using multi-media platform delivery for example may provide the learner with the ability to revisit their content to help refresh or embed their learning whilst enabling the organisation to integrate the varying platforms into their own systems.
Technological developments in the training industry span a wide range of products and approaches, from e-learning to augmented reality and gamification. Which technologies do you think have the most potential to change the way individuals learn?
The type of technology that represents the most potential is largely dependent on the target audience. We provide many classroom and field based courses for subsurface G&G personnel within the oil & gas sector ranging from introductory and awareness level aimed at recent graduates to highly specialised courses aimed at highly skilled and experienced technical leads.
I don’t think we should underestimate how much the gaming industry has influenced learner expectations. As an example, panellists at Stanford University in 2013 discussed augmented reality and gamification technologies as allowing you to create "collective intelligence" and we as humans are wired to work in networks and not as individuals. The traditional classroom can in many ways stifle some of the attributes most crucial for human learning: persistence, risk taking, collaboration and problem solving.
The training tools used can vary across the learner spectrum. I don’t think it’s fair to say that it is the younger generation alone who act as drivers for new technologies. Absolutely there is the 'Google' generation who have grown up using smartphones and tablets and are very comfortable accessing materials through this format, but equally, there are many of us who appreciate any technology that simplifies access to content and have experienced the introduction of such technological advances as broadband, WIFI, 3G and 4G.
Geoscience students at universities now have the opportunity to interact with outcrop imagery or geological models without leaving the classroom environment. Using 3D technology, students can be immersed within the image to gain an appreciation of such metrics as scale.
Drone technology is now being utilised in the industry as a way of gathering HD imagery and scans of outcrops. Although not a direct replacement for Lidar technology, drones give geoscientists the opportunity to analyse outcrops that can’t be reached safely or would otherwise incur significant costs. The imagery that camera carrying drones can provide can be used to supplement conventional learning material.
Another area of great interest is true adaptive learning platforms which are content agnostic and provide learning pathways for individuals whilst tracking performance and embedded learning. This technology is probably underutilised in the oil & gas industry currently and may be where we will see significant growth.
Do you think there is a risk of the training industry pursuing innovation for its own sake, rather than focusing on technologies that really support learning? If so, how can providers make sure they invest in the right solutions?
It would seem an impossible concept for me to consider that any organisation would pursue initiatives that would not have a direct positive influence on its bottom line. That being said, you will only achieve this by demonstrating to your customer the value added over alternative products already available. I see far more positives to pursuing new technologies than negatives. We will always come across failure, but this is what innovation is all about. The important thing is to ensure that we listen to our customers and understand the learner experiences to mitigate the possibility of technology not delivering the intended result. We also need to find new ways of measuring performance and deliver more accessible content in a manner that engages the learner. I believe this approach helps to target the right investment opportunities and will lead to the right solution.
After all, we all learn in different ways and providing choice will help to support learning for the individual.
Looking forward, do you believe Nautilus can be a pioneer in the digitalisation and technological advancement of the training landscape in the oil & gas industry?
I believe there is clear evidence within the market place for new modes of training delivery of which digital products play a very large part. Nautilus has built a brand that is associated with high quality training based on high quality tutors and materials delivering industry relevant courses. It is my role within the organisation to ensure that we continue to meet the expectations of our clients. Seeking new ways of delivering our most valuable asset in terms of learning materials, our content, is going to be key to continued growth and success. However, with this interview, we are discussing new technologies that support skills development in the oil & gas industry and beyond, but there is still scope in our market certainly, to do things better with the technology already in place, and this should hold equal importance. We should also remember that there are many traditional methods, which if high quality, continue to support learning.
Without doubt, new technologies will play a large part in our future. Developing and introducing these technologies to the market in the current conditions is where the challenges lie. We will be brave and test the market, which will naturally dictate the direction we ultimately take.
To find out more about their training portfolio, visit the Nautilus company page or email Mark Houston directly.