PADI Divemaster and Instructor Slates. A moan from Thailand!

[chrissnow]

I have been with PADI as a professional for nearly 9 years. I pay my fees every year have taught over 600 certifications.

I am starting to think just whom and what makes the money for PADI.

I have a box in my house that is absolutely full of expensive redundant training slates.

When I started there were 16 skills on the PADI Open water Slates. I then bought slates with 18 then 20 and finally 24!!!
Never mind all the Divemaster, Rescue and IDC slates that are also in the box.

We get a free digital update every year for the PADI Instructor Manual.
Small potatoes - what about a slate replacement system?!

The problem is further exacerbated if you live in a country where the Dive wholesalers have paid import duty on such training materials.
New stuff is not rolled out until the old stuff is sold to the unsuspecting/unknowing.

Slates cost a fortune and if Instructors start to make their own then PADI only have themselves to blame!!

 

[supergaijin]

I think you answered yourself: Make your own.

 

[DevonDiver]

I make my own - I use wetnotes for my lesson plans. There's no way I'd be paying for new slates each time PADI made a change.

I get your point though - I thinks it's very poor ethics that instructors have to constantly pay, again-and-again, to keep current with their materials. The worst example I can think of was the tech instructor manual. PADI change the course and we all had to buy a completely new manual. It should have been updated/electronic - PADI could do that through their website. It's just a license for them to print money IMHO.

 

[chrissnow]

Completely agree but be careful with Copyright and Trademark infringements.

 

[supergaijin]

If you want to sell them... yeah be careful with that. But nothing is stopping you from making your own slates to use as personal training aids.

 

[g1138]

Is Project Aware aware of this? I find the irony of the amount of plastic waste this creates.

Buy a large blank slate and sharpie/permanent pen your lesson plans on there. When you want to update them, use a magic eraser or some bleach toilet scrub to renew it.

 

[Thalassamania]

Laser print (or copy machine) onto plastic transparency material is a great way to. Put it on a clipboard and use a china marker to write.

 

[Hawkwood]

I've only been teaching for a couple of years (DM two prior to that). I've just been changing my original slates using a Brother label maker to either add, revise, or delete the info on the slates. The labels stay quite nicely on the slates. Also use it to add some of my own "cheats".

Bill

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Makers of products for sale always make changes and innovations to get us to by the new model- cars, computers, lately cell phones are the biggest offender. PADI is no worse or better than these others. I "add and correct slates" with mark ups until they get cluttered and then buy new ones. Cost of doing business, fully deductible.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Steve50]

Deleting anything from the agency slates can be a really bad idea, if they ever end up as evidence...