AOW Navigation OOA

[DevonDiver]

Yes, this is true. After that incident, I learned to check my gauges often and let my instructor know when I was close to "low on air".

Personally, I think this is one of the best training outcomes from novice/newly-certified divers taking the AOW course.

When I teach AOW (rare, nowadays) my key focus is upon the retention of situational awareness and maintenance of core (OW) skills whilst other task-loading elements are added to the diver's workload.

Situational awareness includes: Gas, time, depth, NDL, buddy/team, navigation and hazards/environmental factors.

Core (OW) Skills include: Buoyancy, trim, propulsion, buddy system, communication etc

I often describe skill-acquisition in terms of computer memory. New skills are saved in RAM. They are displaced when new information/task-loading is added. The diver should not add new skills/task-loading until existing skills are transferred to ROM - where they can function without performance degradation regardless of other demands/distractions.

As an advanced diving instructor, I often see students struggle with task-loading. This typically indicates (and is symptomatic through..) a break-down of prerequisite competencies when new demands are added. Too many divers rush through training without ingraining existing skills.

Weak core competencies are often overlooked/ignored by recreational level instructors. Many/most course performance standards focus solely on the new skills being taught - and don't assess the relative performance of prerequisite skill-sets. This creates a situation where developing divers can do dozens of courses, but never really progress in terms of core diving ability. Quite often, these skill deficits are not diagnosed until the diver undertakes a truly 'advanced' level training course (technical/solo/overhead environment etc) or, at least, trains with an instructor who dives/teaches at a truly advanced level.

 

[Redshift]

When previously taught skills (such as situational awareness... gas monitoring) degrade when new skills or demands are added (increasing task loading), it indicates that the previously learned skills have not been reliably embedded by the diver as instinctive, automatic processes.

Not only that, but I wonder also if the class environment doesn't change the sudents' attitude. It appears that sometimes when in a class they have someone in charge, who tells them when to go up / down, where to go, what to do, asks for air, etc and they stop paying attention to these things because they are told what do do. Then, if they are not told to do something like checking the air, they won't do it, even though they probably do when diving on their own. It's the diver's responsibility to know how much air he's got and to convey that information to the instructor / guide / buddy.

 

[DevonDiver]

Not only that, but I wonder also if the class environment doesn't change the sudents' attitude. It appears that sometimes when in a class they have someone in charge, who tells them when to go up / down, where to go, what to do, asks for air, etc and they stop paying attention to these things because they are told what do do. Then, if they are not told to do something like checking the air, they won't do it, even though they probably do when diving on their own. It's the diver's responsibility to know how much air he's got and to convey that information to the instructor / guide / buddy.

It's easy for some instructors to create a 'culture of instructor reliance' in the manner they conduct courses. This, in turn, fosters a 'follow the shepherd', herd-mentality in divers.

Continued-education courses should stress and reinforce that divers plan and conduct their own dives, under supervision...and allowing for training objectives. Divers should continue to utilize the buddy system and all prerequisite skills they were taught previously. A good instructor will assess, critique and mentor them on those core (non-syllabus for the specialty course) factors.

Courses should provide new skills, but should also re-mediate and reinforce core and prior-learned diving skills at all times.

 

[EmJay]

Courses should provide new skills, but should also re-mediate and reinforce core and prior-learned diving skills at all times.

I completely agree with you and it touches one something I have noticed recently. There has been a lot of criticism on this board lately regarding newly certified OW students doing AOW. I see many users of this forum have stated that they did a substantial number of dives before doing AOW. I can understand arguments from both sides. I however would recommend students who are comfortable in the water to complete AOW quite close to their OW.

My reasoning is as follows:

• allows the instructor to fix any bad habits before they become too ingrained;
• the student will even more comfortable in the water and help the student grow an appreciation for their surroundings / other people / dive plan;
• my first deep dive was a bit eventful. It was freezing cold (due to a hectic thermocline) and was very dark at depth, I cut my finger (long story) and I got narced quite badly. I executed the dive fine, so I was passed. This allowed me to understand my limits and give me a greater appreciation for deep diving. Personally, I won't go deeper than 25m in warm clear water, even though I am certified to go to 30m. I was set on going to Malta in a year or so. Subsequent to my AOW, I decided that I was not ready and needed to get more experience before diving in Malta;
• greater potential for self rescue.

If a diver is not competent after completing OW, I agree, AOW will add not value and maybe create an even more risky diver. But my argument is that an OW student should not be qualified if they will not be able to successfully complete AOW. If the instructor makes the dangers of deep diving very clear, how is having an inexperienced diver gain more knowledge a bad thing?

 

[Steve_C]

There is another factor. It is ironic coming from some body who has given exams as part of my real job to several thousand students, but I often feel some stress when being evaluated on performing physical tasks. Doing skills is easy when practicing by myself or showing some body else. But if I am being evaluated at it, and the evaluater is "in my face", my usual A/A- job can deteriorate some times to a B/C+.

The "in the face" is not a comment on the instructor but on being in a low viz situation.

 

[mmerriman]

glad you're OK - "we were finning hard" - a common problem on the nav dive - students focus on speed for some reason which totally defeats the purpose of the exercise - The purpose is to gauge your distance with kicks normally. If you're not finning normally its a waste of time.

You mentioned you had to perform a CESA - where was your buddy?