At the very least, people should be encouraged to take a boating course online, if just to learn the basic rules-of-the-road. It's always a challenge to get people to sit in-doors in a classroom while it's nice and sunny outside. Maybe the online option can encourage more people to learn? A North Carolina specific course is available here: http://www.boaterexam.com/usa/northcarolina/ You can take the course for free. You can pay to get a NASBLA certification if you want, but that is optional. If it's just to increase your knowledge, then just do the course and don't bother with paying for the card at the end.