UTD Instructor Course report...

[toodles]

Hello all,

I would like to share a short yet informative course report on the happenings of the UTD International Instructor Crossover Training Course held in San Diego, CA from December 5th thru December 14th 2008. This course was truly an amazing experience. Here is my report:

In early fall 2008, I, along with nine other International Instructors received an invitation to be part of the very first UTD Instructor Crossover Course to be held worldwide. Though there are plans to schedule multiple ITC's in the future, the immediate plan is to conduct three ITC's over the next year. Ours would be the foundation of creating the first batch of active Instructors and to be a part of this would prove to be truly rewarding.

Teaching the program would be Andrew Georgitsis, CEO and founder of UTD International LLC. Andrew is widely recognized as one of the most sought after Instructors for diving education. He needs no real introduction.

The Instructor Candidates:

Jeff Seckendorf
Andy Huber
Todd Powell
James Mott
Mark Gottfried
Brian Wiederspan
Poh Chang Chew
Jeanna Edgerton
Maciej Arkuszewski

Most of the above Instructors had never met before and we were all coming into the program with the anticipation to create a bond between us as the scheduled program was indeed intense. We knew we would all have to spend a lot of time with each other in all aspects of the program for multiple days so being able to connect at all levels was essential.

We also had a variety of Instructors from all different teaching backgrounds and involved with different agencies worldwide. All of us also had different levels of teaching experience behind us and taught at different levels within our specific agencies. What we did share was that we were all current, active Instructors and active divers in our local diving community.

We came to the program with a lot of diving experience and for some a lot of teaching experience as well, however we all came to the ITC with a willingness to learn and to start from scratch in our new venture of grasping the UTD philosophy. We were fully aware that this program was not going to be like any of the crossovers that we all had experienced before. This program was planned to be very intense and would not be easy by any means. We all had to be prepared for it.

Usually when you crossover to another agency the emphasis is on learning the specifics of how that agency teaches the same skills as well as of course making sure you know how to teach! We were all aware going into this ITC that this one would be different. The UTD crossover was not to update our skills it was about learning a whole new way to teach. We were going to develop the skills and techniques to effectively teach the philosophies we all believed in.

From the very get-go when we received the invitation to the ITC, we had a few months to wait for the ITC to begin. This can be a time when things settle down and it's just a waiting game for the program to begin in most cases. However this was not the case for our course.

I was thoroughly impressed with the consistent feedback us ITC Candidates were given in this time. Many, many thanks to Andrew and especially Jeff Seckendorf for all of their hard work. The energy to make this happen and put this ITC together so smoothly really impressed me. You can just imagine the logistical concerns having nine Instructors come from all over to attend the ITC. They really made this simple and easy for us to organize.

Both Jeff and Andrew gave us all consistent feedback within 12 hours on any questions we had about the logistics of the program. Most of the replies were much shorter than this, however this was the normal. We all had many questions to ask and there was no need to wait for answers....they were given promptly. They had set up open lines of the communication early between all the Instructor Candidates so no-one would miss out on any information whether it needed to be high priority or not. All required paperwork concerns were taken care of well before the program so this made it very easy for us.

We were also given our required reading material and assignments well before the start of the program which was nice as it made this very efficient for when we were starting the program. All these things may sound minor, but it made all the difference in the world how it was all coordinated. Travel arrangements (flights) were to be made by each candidate, but all other logistical concerns in San Diego were taken care of. This was by far the most organized class I have attended. Hotel stay, vehicle logistics, etc. were taken care of and this was communicated to us during the wait time leading up to the ITC. We were told what to bring and what not to bring and we did not need to guesstimate on anything.

For dive equipment, obviously travelling sometimes does not let us bring everything we want and we were asked what we need and this was also taken care of easily. If we asked, we received.

The Instructor Program was to be held at San Diego Underwater Adventures (SDUA). As a dive center manager myself, I do have my opinions on other dive centers. In my books, SDUA is top notch in my opinion. SDUA went well above and beyond during our stay in San Diego. The staff of Bill, Chip, Liz, and Todd was truly outstanding. They were gracious, attentive, and extremely professional throughout our class and we can't recommend them enough for their hospitality, equipment, service, and gas. These are people who love to dive, love to teach, and truly support their customers and they were more than happy to accommodate us during our stay.
When in San Diego, I would highly recommend SDUA.

As the starting date came closer over the couple of months leading up to the ITC, the lines of communication just got better. It made it so much easier as we approached the starting date of the program.

On December 3rd, we were all getting anxious as we were on route to attend the UTD ITC on the day/eve of December 4th. We all were arriving on this day at some point and our flights came into San Diego periodically throughout the day from early morning to the last flight coming in at 10:00pm. We were all picked up at all of our different times and shuttled to our hotel where all the accommodations were ready for us. Many thanks again Jeff for you efforts on such an exhausting day for you.

At this point, Jeff filled us in on how the week was going to work logistically with all candidates and confirmed all the details with us and gave us the confirmed meeting time for our first day of class.

As our ITC was the following morning most of us had a quiet night of anticipating what was to come on our first day of the program. We were excited, yet a little nervous. We were all confident in our ability, but we knew that we were here to learn.

We all decided to meet for breakfast in the morning to finish meeting everyone and talk about the exciting course that was to begin. Some of us had done some prior training with Andrew as students in the past, and those who hadn't before, it was at this time we installed the Fear Factor Andrew's teaching's was what we were there for, and we were all sponges there to soak up all the knowledge he was going to deliver.

All joking aside, it was at this time we were on our way to our first day of class. Knowing Andrew, this was not going to be a piece of cake class. Those of you that have taken a class from Andrew you know this all too well. It's just now it was a little different as it was going to be nine days of it Most Instructors would not really look at a Crossover program as being difficult, however we had no idea where we were going to be at the end of the program. We were told this up front. We were all going to LEARN, no matter what the outcome was going to be..

With that in mind, we arrive at SDUA for our first day of class.....(gulp

Now everyone must be wondering Why so intense? Why so anxious? What can possibly take NINE solid days?

Daily updates to come ....

 

[toodles]

Day 1/Day 2/Day 3...

First stop: Starbuck's.
(everyday started and ended with Starbuck's with Starbuck breaks inbetween)

On the morning of our first day, we met Andrew at SDUA where we were introduced to all the staff of SDUA along with a brief tour of the dive center. Our 'home' was going to be in a very cozy classroom at the back of the shop. There was plenty of room for all of us and we had all the usual anemities for a classroom as it was very well laid out.

Andrew had us start off with dealing with all the required paperwork followed with the beginning of our lectures. It was at this time that we got our course schedule for the nine days. Each day was FILLED with ongoing lectures, presentations, and some in-water work both in the pool and the ocean.
We finally knew now looking at the schedule what we were going to cover was not going to be easy. This was going to be intense.

The first lectures of the day were all about covering the UTD Philosophies, Ethos, etc...and Andrew paved the way to have us understand in great detail the information presented. One of the things I enjoyed the most of the first two days of class was the open discussions Andrew welcomed in the classroom. Though the information was presented by lecturing, the group was always invited to chime in at anytime and this opened the door for many discussions along the way.
Everyone in the group had things to say and the discussions were extremely productive in more ways than one.

We all needed to have a clear understanding of what Andrew's vision was and if we had any questions before these first two days, Andrew clearly answered them all during this time. The foundation of UTD along with the future of UTD was talked about in great detail during this time. Knowing Andrew for quite some time, I have never seen him this focused. He is very passionate when he teaches a class, and this was no different, in fact, much more.

These kinds of open discussion talks can sometimes lead to intense conversations in some cases especially when you have nine people coming in from all walks, but the two days that we spent going over these kinds of issues were group discussions between everyone. Andrew set the tone by being very open to hearing what we had to say.

We also went into depth the UTD General Standards and Procedures manual in great detail. Of the ITC's that I have taken in the past, I have just been given this manual to look over, but have not been 'taught' to understand the finer details of things. Andrew wanted the complete opposite.
We disected that manual page by page. We needed to have a complete understanding of how the vision was all put together. To do this, again this led to many open discussions.
The Standards and Procedures manual was very detailed indeed and everything was talked about from the standards of specific classes, to the required paperwork and liability issues among many other topics covered.

Small changes were made during this time.....not because Andrew did not know any better, but the experience of the group brought many ideas into the conversations and of course this drove home the idea of us being 'thinking divers'.
These were just the conversations Andrew was looking for. Everyone had things to say and Andrew listenened.
The goal was not to be like 'everyone else' when it came to standards and procedures in classes. Andrew had his own set of ideas on how to conduct things and was passing on this valuable information to us which just made sense.

Alot of us had to step out of our 'slate teaching' kind of ways to be able to grasp the information that was being presented to us. Having a manual like this 'explained' to us in great detail gives the potential Instructor a HUGE advantage. There was no need to 'interpret' the information. We now were all understanding the 'why' and 'how' AG wanted things done a certain way.
If it makes sense, we were given the tools for our new toolbox.
Again, this led to many, open productive discussions.
Over the two days, we covered so many things. There was attention to detail with everything. Nothing got forgotten.

Andrew gave multiple lectures on teaching protocols which was different than anything I had learned before. It was a new way of 'thinking' when delivering information to potential students. We went through PowerPoint after PowerPoint after PowerPoint. This was a huge asset to this course as well. Of course there were multiple lectures but it was also nice to have material to go through and look at while we were being taught. We always had references to look at at all times. It was very nice to follow along.

Andrew's teaching protocols were presented in association with the UTD Standards and Procedures manual. Many examples were given and he welcomed many open discussions to assess what protocols we were all using. This led to many discussions as you can imagine and a whole new set of protocols were presented. Not only was Andrew trying to create 'thinking divers', the only way to do this effectively was to create 'thinking Instructors'.

Nearing the end of Day 2, we were finishing up the Instructor Power Point presentations. This was in talked about in great detail as we needed to understand how to deliver the information to the student most effectively when it came to the classroom. Any good Instructor can give information to students, but how it's presented to the student can be more beneficial. We learned about specific techniques to use when delivering information. There is a difference.

So much information was delivered in the first couple of days. This was intense. By the end of Day 2 we were pretty much filled with a whole lot of information. Our first two days consisted of 8am and not seeing our hotel again until 11:00pm. This was only the beginning and as it turned out that this exact schedule would follow for the remaining 7 days straight. The second day was also the first day of our required 'homework'. We were to prepare our first in classroom presentation for the next day.

As the ITC went on we were to get 'impromtu' presentions both in-water and classroom. However the first one was to prepare a presentation. Andrew wanted to assess our level of knowledge of the UTD curriculum and also how we presented the information. This was not an easy task to do infront of our fellow students, let alone Andrew sitting in the back row.

Was this easy? No. After being up until 2am in the morning preparing our presentations, Day 3 arrived. The night before, Andrew gave us specific presentations to prepare and deliver. Maybe he would start off easy??? Um, no.
They were presentations that were supposed to last 30-45 minutes. Each Instructor candidate would present the information with 'specific' questions asked by the 'audience'. If you think that the presentations were about 'how a drysuit works' then we both guessed wrong.

The presentations were along the lines of gas management, gas physiology, ratio deco, deep stop theory, decompression theory, etc...
Presenting the information was one thing, but many candidates including me were stumped by the ongoing questions as the idea was to put you as the Instructor on the spot to see how you could stand a little under pressure.
Specifically one student in the back row was a real pest

Andrew listened to all of us present the information. He was consistently testing us. Not only that, for each person afterward he opened up the room for open discussion as he asked 'the audience' to evaluate at the same time. We did not know but but many times throughout the program, he was testing us, and we did not realize it. He wanted our feedback followed by his feedback. He also corrected any information that we presented incorrectly right then and there which helped us all.
Of course we were all nervous and it showed. Andrew had seen some of us in the water before, but giving lectures for the first time was a little heart-pounding.

Each person took about 55-65 minutes when all was said and done after all the debriefings. This was a real learning experience in more ways than one. We tried our best to take what we had learned over the past two days and present it in a professional manner.

Day 3 was long....really long....with all the presentations. It was not just about watching and listening to people talk. Andrew was lecturing all throughout the full day and this was all part of the big picture of the program and where it was going.
He was setting the bar high, and we all understood.

Also on Day 3, what I did like about this ITC was that Andrew was going to give us all feedback on our overall performance thoughout the program (day 3, day 6, and day 9) He individually took us aside and talked gave us each an evaluation on how we were measuring up in the program. This was nerve-wracking, but good as well.
He gave us feedback on our overall performance including overall undestanding of information, communication, professionalism, knowledge of UTD theories, delivery, level of involvement, etc....
At this point, the evaluation was based on all classroom work up to this point.
Andrew was open and honest with his initial evaluation.
We all had things to work on.

At the end of the first three days, there was tons of information delivered, tons of discussions, and of course no course would be complete without tons of laughs. Everyone had a unique sense of humour which allowed for many 'unprofessional' moments (and there were many) but once done, we were right back on track.

For the first few days and the duration of the course our diet consisted of Starbuck's 2-3 times a day and a choice of many stripmall joints that served something quick. Our dinners were of course late at night and usually involved lectures as well.

OK.....It was 11:00pm at the end of Day 3.....let's take the rest of the evening off and prepare for the next day.

Stay tuned, more to follow....

 

[TSandM]

Sounds like the "UTD ITC" weight loss program . . .

Of course, what we all want to hear is what the vision for the UTD agency IS

 

[rainman_02]

Unified Team Diving (UTD) International LLC - (253) 632-5100

 

[Vie]

I highly recommend Edward R. Tufte's The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within (and his other books) for those who are really into PowerPoint presentations...

Amazon.com: The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within, Second Edition: Edward R. Tufte: Books

 

[rjack321]

Of course, what we all want to hear is what the vision for the UTD agency IS

Starbucks and Mojitos dancing in your head

 

[John_B]

Of course, what we all want to hear is what the vision for the UTD agency IS

This seems to be it, in a nutshell:

At UTD, we always believe divers should be trained beyond their level of diving, as opposed to diving beyond their level of training.

I'm doing a class with Jeff S next month on Catalina, I should know more after that.

 

[Blackwood]

^^
Cool. Jeff is a good friend and a good, passionate diver and instructor. Have a good time.