SSI OW course requirements

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

mrramsey1969

Registered
Messages
11
Reaction score
1
Location
Ohio
# of dives
100 - 199
So I was certified with SSI way back in 97. Looking to get my son certified this year. I was looking at my LDS class schedule and the time required seems a lot shorter than it used to be. There was one three hour class room followed be three pool sessions at 3 hours each. Still seems short even with doing your book work online. Does that seem accurate?
 
I mostly teach weekend classes (2 consecutive Sat & Sun) besides the online work, we do four 2-1/2 classroom sessions & four 2 hr pool sessions with good success.

So you are doing about 18 hours of instruction, another Dive center which is PADI does theirs in 6 four hour classes over 3 weeks for a total of 24 hours of training. My local SSI shop id seemingly doing it in 12 hours??? Something seems to be off here or am I just missing something?
 
I'm not sure you will find an answer that you will be happy with. My open water class back in the 80's was 16 weeks long, 5 days a week (and that was a PADI Open Water Course), now days it just wouldn't fly. With Prescriptive Teaching being a norm for a lot of agencies now days, shorter and shorter classes are more common. Advancements in technology has played a crucial role in how people learn things. I believe that as an old school diver, it takes me a while to warm up to newer ways of doing things. But the reality of the matter is, the majority of newer divers, between age 10-40, online is the way to go. If you want to learn how to do something, you type it into the search bar on YouTube, and VOILA, you are an expert (Just like coming here to ScubaBoard and asking a question in a public forum). It took me a while to understand this, but once I realized that people in general are smarter than I give them credit for, then my teaching methods changed. As not only a dive instructor, but a Public Servant in my community, even the local community college where we do our con-ed training at, has went to all online training. If you are worried about your son not being able to learn this way, then ask his instructor for a more traditional classroom. That is the beauty of teaching scuba, instructors have the freedom to combine the online training with the face to face time, and make it as long as necessary, to make sure the student learns the material. Most instructors will accommodate you, if they don't, seek another instructor. I would first give your son some credit and just see how well he does with the online. If he doesn't feel comfortable, or you believe it needs to be more in depth than what he receives in training, then you are the parent, seek it else where. Lastly, for the pool work, I will admit that most agencies have dumb down their training, and a lot of old school divers like myself disagree with this. However, I also believe that we can learn way to much at the Open Water level if we are not careful. Thus, taking some skills out and putting them into other classes is not all that bad. Back when I learned, computers were very taboo, and considered unreliable, thus knowing how to calculate air consumption was much more important in the event of a computer failure. Though this still holds true today, computers are much more reliable than what they were, and even though the value of learning air consumption is still there, for most divers that only dive on vacation, in less than 40 feet of water, with time restrictions given to them by the charter, learning it in Open Water is not as valuable to some divers as it is to others. Once a diver makes the decision to continue their education by taking other specialties, then the value becomes even greater to them learning said calculations. Hope this somewhat answers your question. P.S., ask his instructor if you can sit in and audit his classroom, and then use that time to compare the way you learned, to the new age way of teaching, instead of what we tell you here on ScubaBoard. Happy Diving.
 
So you are doing about 18 hours of instruction, another Dive center which is PADI does theirs in 6 four hour classes over 3 weeks for a total of 24 hours of training. My local SSI shop id seemingly doing it in 12 hours??? Something seems to be off here or am I just missing something?

When the boys and I did ours (SSI) a month ago, we had four evenings @ 4-ish hours a piece (usually ran a bit long in the pool). This was split into roughly 6 hours of classroom time and ten hours of pool time. That was followed up by two open water days split into a snorkel session, a land based navigation session, four open water skills dives (including the underwater nav), then our own "solo" dive for number five. 16 hours at the shop and to 12-ish hours at the lake. The lake time wasn't all dive time. Some was instructional (nav) some was hydration and snack time. I would guess that we were in the 24-26 hour instruction range.

My wife (Same instructor, SSI) is taking a bit longer after needing some extra time to get comfortable in the pool. The instructor is having her back for a fifth pool session tomorrow followed up by the open water stuff. Assuming that she continues with her successes, she will end up with closer to 30 hours of instruction. I asked if I needed to pay for extra hours and the instructor didn't seem phased by a bit more pool time for her. Seems genuinely interested in creating a calm and capable diver.

EDIT: We did all have about six hours of online courses before we got into the classroom.
 
our shop runs OW class over 6 nights from 6pm to aprox 10pm. so aprox 24hrs total. we then sometimes need to schedule the final exam for another day. we then need to complete the 4 required OW dives. usually this is done over 2 days. 2 dives per day. can be aprox 6hrs per day.

how old is your son ?
i would personally think that cramming all pool training into three 3hr sessions is a lot to absorb that quickly if he is a younger student. i also have no idea how anyone could cover over all the academics in one 3hr classroom session unless the student was exceptional. even if they were an adult.
this is not a shot at the local shop but it certainly is not the way we are comfortable doing it. even with the basic info being provided via online learning, the instr still needs to ensure the student understands that info. it is no different then when we used the books in the past. just because the student reads the material and answers some review questions, in my opinion, in no way guarantees they actually can apply that knowledge in a real world situation.

we also still teach dive tables. not that i am trying to open that can of worms, but that can take one classroom session just to cover properly. sure i have seen instr teach tables in 10 minutes. but i know for a fact that not one student in that room could form a proper dive plan for a series of repetitive dives.

there are provisions that allow the shop to customize the course based on students needs. but the bottom line is......will you and your son be comfortable with the timeline ? or will you feel rushed and not be happy about it. you don't need to be the worlds greatest diver after completing the class but you should be comfortable in the water, confident in your skills and abilities, and able to plan and execute a safe dive plan.
 
our shop runs OW class over 6 nights from 6pm to aprox 10pm. so aprox 24hrs total. we then sometimes need to schedule the final exam for another day. we then need to complete the 4 required OW dives. usually this is done over 2 days. 2 dives per day. can be aprox 6hrs per day.

how old is your son ?
i would personally think that cramming all pool training into three 3hr sessions is a lot to absorb that quickly if he is a younger student. i also have no idea how anyone could cover over all the academics in one 3hr classroom session unless the student was exceptional. even if they were an adult.
this is not a shot at the local shop but it certainly is not the way we are comfortable doing it. even with the basic info being provided via online learning, the instr still needs to ensure the student understands that info. it is no different then when we used the books in the past. just because the student reads the material and answers some review questions, in my opinion, in no way guarantees they actually can apply that knowledge in a real world situation.

we also still teach dive tables. not that i am trying to open that can of worms, but that can take one classroom session just to cover properly. sure i have seen instr teach tables in 10 minutes. but i know for a fact that not one student in that room could form a proper dive plan for a series of repetitive dives.

there are provisions that allow the shop to customize the course based on students needs. but the bottom line is......will you and your son be comfortable with the timeline ? or will you feel rushed and not be happy about it. you don't need to be the worlds greatest diver after completing the class but you should be comfortable in the water, confident in your skills and abilities, and able to plan and execute a safe dive plan.

My son is 15 so I am not too worried that he wouldn't be able to absorb the content. I was really surprised I guess at the wide variance in instruction time. I also realize that there are may other variables such as the class size etc. I just want to make sure that the instructor is being thorough and taking the necessary time. I want to make sure he learns everything properly.
 
our shop runs OW class over 6 nights from 6pm to aprox 10pm. so aprox 24hrs total. .

What shop is that and in what are are you located? So if I ever hear of anyone seeking training in your vicinity, I can send them your way. Do you teach all skills midwater?
 
I'm not sure you will find an answer that you will be happy with. My open water class back in the 80's was 16 weeks long, 5 days a week (and that was a PADI Open Water Course), now days it just wouldn't fly. With Prescriptive Teaching being a norm for a lot of agencies now days, shorter and shorter classes are more common. Advancements in technology has played a crucial role in how people learn things. I believe that as an old school diver, it takes me a while to warm up to newer ways of doing things. But the reality of the matter is, the majority of newer divers, between age 10-40, online is the way to go. If you want to learn how to do something, you type it into the search bar on YouTube, and VOILA, you are an expert (Just like coming here to ScubaBoard and asking a question in a public forum). It took me a while to understand this, but once I realized that people in general are smarter than I give them credit for, then my teaching methods changed. As not only a dive instructor, but a Public Servant in my community, even the local community college where we do our con-ed training at, has went to all online training. If you are worried about your son not being able to learn this way, then ask his instructor for a more traditional classroom. That is the beauty of teaching scuba, instructors have the freedom to combine the online training with the face to face time, and make it as long as necessary, to make sure the student learns the material. Most instructors will accommodate you, if they don't, seek another instructor. I would first give your son some credit and just see how well he does with the online. If he doesn't feel comfortable, or you believe it needs to be more in depth than what he receives in training, then you are the parent, seek it else where. Lastly, for the pool work, I will admit that most agencies have dumb down their training, and a lot of old school divers like myself disagree with this. However, I also believe that we can learn way to much at the Open Water level if we are not careful. Thus, taking some skills out and putting them into other classes is not all that bad. Back when I learned, computers were very taboo, and considered unreliable, thus knowing how to calculate air consumption was much more important in the event of a computer failure. Though this still holds true today, computers are much more reliable than what they were, and even though the value of learning air consumption is still there, for most divers that only dive on vacation, in less than 40 feet of water, with time restrictions given to them by the charter, learning it in Open Water is not as valuable to some divers as it is to others. Once a diver makes the decision to continue their education by taking other specialties, then the value becomes even greater to them learning said calculations. Hope this somewhat answers your question. P.S., ask his instructor if you can sit in and audit his classroom, and then use that time to compare the way you learned, to the new age way of teaching, instead of what we tell you here on ScubaBoard. Happy Diving.

Thanks for your input. Really just making sure he will cover everything that is needed. I will definitely be sitting in on the classes he doesn't have a problem with that. We will be diving computers as thats what I am used to but I also believe that a diver should fully understand tables and dive planning without a computer.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom