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Disclaimer: This is neither a troll nor a complaint. I wish to relate some experiences and see if others have had similar experiences. Please don't post to this thread unless you can do so constructively. I only wish to hear from people who have personal experience with DIR classes.
I'm thinking that DIR has a lot to offer someone like me ... who isn't really interested in pursuing technical diving so much as using it to improve overall diving skills. But I think the organization lacks a certain amount of, well, organization.
When I took my Fundamentals class last June, I thought it was a bit too rushed. We hurried through the basic drills, and skipped some things that were supposed to be included in the class (like the swim test, SMB deployment, and valve drills). We had a total of eight people in the class, which I thought was too many for one instructor ... given the scheduled curriculum. And Sunday's schedule was truncated because the instructor had a plane to catch, and he left us with a hurried debrief and a promise to come back sometime in the fall for those of us who wanted a re-eval. Nobody passed the class ... we all got provisional ratings.
So a few of us got together, practiced regularly, and have been ready for re-eval for several months now. The instructor never came back. All but one of us is still provisional. Finally, I got ahold of Fifth D and they suggested I contact another instructor for the re-eval. Frankly, the only reason I am pursuing it at this point is because I want to take the Rec Triox class, and passing Fundies is a prerequisite.
So now I'm finding that the re-eval will cost me $100 ... not a big deal, as I don't expect any instructor to work for free. But the big problem is that this is pretty much the "exclusive" instructor for our area now, and his requirement is that I take the re-eval on a week-day ... requiring me to take a day off of work.
That's a deal-breaker. Taking a day off work will cost me more than the price of the class.
It's got me wondering ... I keep reading all these glowing reports about how wonderful the DIR-F class is. Personally, I didn't think mine was all that well organized. We didn't follow the schedule, spent (IMO) too much time talking and not enough time in the water. And my evaluation depended as much on how well my buddies performed as on how well I did ... not very fair when you consider that I hadn't met either of my dive buddies before the class ... one of them was at the time a very new diver, and the other remains to this day a Fifth D "problem child" who hasn't yet figured out what a dive buddy is for.
As I said, the program has a lot to offer. Over time I've pretty much gone the gamut of thinking it was hype, to thinking it was something quite valuable ... and now to thinking there must be a better way.
Frankly, as an instructor, if I make a promise to my students regarding what a class will involve and cost ... I make sure to keep my promises. I can't think highly of a program that doesn't, regardless of the value offered by the curriculum.
From my experiences, I think GUE has some organizational issues to work out. I'd like to see some of that being discussed, because sometimes I think these glowing reports are setting unrealistic expectations for those who are considering the program. I'm not interested in airing "dirty laundry" ... but I do think a well-rounded discussion of an agency provides a better view of what to expect before someone decides to sign up for the class.
Or are my experiences more the exception than the rule? Frankly, I got a lot out of the class ... although it wasn't what I was led to expect. The one thing I didn't get, however, was the ability to continue in the GUE program ... not without it costing me a lot more than the initial investment of $300. And that is what will cause me to decide that additional GUE classes are not in my future.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
I'm thinking that DIR has a lot to offer someone like me ... who isn't really interested in pursuing technical diving so much as using it to improve overall diving skills. But I think the organization lacks a certain amount of, well, organization.
When I took my Fundamentals class last June, I thought it was a bit too rushed. We hurried through the basic drills, and skipped some things that were supposed to be included in the class (like the swim test, SMB deployment, and valve drills). We had a total of eight people in the class, which I thought was too many for one instructor ... given the scheduled curriculum. And Sunday's schedule was truncated because the instructor had a plane to catch, and he left us with a hurried debrief and a promise to come back sometime in the fall for those of us who wanted a re-eval. Nobody passed the class ... we all got provisional ratings.
So a few of us got together, practiced regularly, and have been ready for re-eval for several months now. The instructor never came back. All but one of us is still provisional. Finally, I got ahold of Fifth D and they suggested I contact another instructor for the re-eval. Frankly, the only reason I am pursuing it at this point is because I want to take the Rec Triox class, and passing Fundies is a prerequisite.
So now I'm finding that the re-eval will cost me $100 ... not a big deal, as I don't expect any instructor to work for free. But the big problem is that this is pretty much the "exclusive" instructor for our area now, and his requirement is that I take the re-eval on a week-day ... requiring me to take a day off of work.
That's a deal-breaker. Taking a day off work will cost me more than the price of the class.
It's got me wondering ... I keep reading all these glowing reports about how wonderful the DIR-F class is. Personally, I didn't think mine was all that well organized. We didn't follow the schedule, spent (IMO) too much time talking and not enough time in the water. And my evaluation depended as much on how well my buddies performed as on how well I did ... not very fair when you consider that I hadn't met either of my dive buddies before the class ... one of them was at the time a very new diver, and the other remains to this day a Fifth D "problem child" who hasn't yet figured out what a dive buddy is for.
As I said, the program has a lot to offer. Over time I've pretty much gone the gamut of thinking it was hype, to thinking it was something quite valuable ... and now to thinking there must be a better way.
Frankly, as an instructor, if I make a promise to my students regarding what a class will involve and cost ... I make sure to keep my promises. I can't think highly of a program that doesn't, regardless of the value offered by the curriculum.
From my experiences, I think GUE has some organizational issues to work out. I'd like to see some of that being discussed, because sometimes I think these glowing reports are setting unrealistic expectations for those who are considering the program. I'm not interested in airing "dirty laundry" ... but I do think a well-rounded discussion of an agency provides a better view of what to expect before someone decides to sign up for the class.
Or are my experiences more the exception than the rule? Frankly, I got a lot out of the class ... although it wasn't what I was led to expect. The one thing I didn't get, however, was the ability to continue in the GUE program ... not without it costing me a lot more than the initial investment of $300. And that is what will cause me to decide that additional GUE classes are not in my future.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)