Open Source Instruction for Entry Level Scuba

[awetmedic]

We are a 100% volunteer organization, the instructors are not paid, we operate as a sport not a business. We have a pool that is part of the noprofit and have a large amount of donated equipment including an air compressor. Our pool is heated by an ingenious wood heater that is probably 95% efficient. We really don't have much cost at all. We were not started to survive or depend on teaching scuba, it is a sport we participate in.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

As I see it, calling yourself an "agency" and issuing certification cards is all well and good, but will dive shops give someone an air fill based on nothing but your card? Remember that shops want to see C-cards because if they give someone air without doing so, their liability increases significantly and their insurance may not cover a claim. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that a shop giving air to someone without an "adequate" card might even lose the right to advertise itself as a PADI shop, which might deter divers from using the shop.

That's not entirely true.
Dive shops will fill tanks for non certified divers when the tank is used for paintball or craft use such as running airbrushes or a compressed air source such as remote tire fills or for air tools, the 4 wheel drive guys use scuba tanks all the time for this.
As long as the tank is in hydro and has a current VIP that is as far as the shops liability needs to go. They don't have any control over who or how that tank is used once it leaves the shop.

 

[awetmedic]

The online portion is simply a way for them to take responsibility. How many times have you seen students finish their course with pristine books that look like they have never been opened? Any instructor with any kind of value does not take a students word for reading books, watching videos or learning online, they just hope they did. Until you review, evaluate and test that student, you don't have a clue what they learned. But usually, they don't do much on their own.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

There is nothing stopping our students from getting a card from another agency or knowing of all the problems that they will encounter. As these posts will be part of information available to them, during their course, they will be clearly aware that they will be rejected as untrained, uncertified scum of the earth. Similar to what a NAVY SEAL experiences when he dives at a resort and he shows up with no card. And yes, this happens, I have worked at resorts in Grand Cayman and Bonaire when uncertified SEALs and other great divers show up. We had procedures at our resort, a check-out dive, quiz and evaluation for everyone we had not dove with, C-card in hand or not. There are a lot of C-card divers who have had one quarry dive 5 years ago and now want to dive, think that C-card means they can?

We are not issuing a card that we claim is acceptable to everyone else, we will go to great lengths to ensure our students know of how this industry is completely against anyone else joining it and how they will be outcast and rejected regardless of their ability.

... which begs the question, if they have to get another card from a recognized agency anyway in order to dive outside of your specific location, why would they want to take your class?


I think you misunderstand the meaning of "open source" ... it means that your product integrates well with established offerings. What you're suggesting isn't "open source" at all ... it's just another choice in training. In fact, at the recreational level, what's currently out there is far more "open source" than what you're recommending. As an example, I got my initial training through the YMCA, then moved to NAUI. I was not required to retake the classes I already had taken ... they were accepted as prerequisites for the classes I wanted to take. Likewise, I accept any agency's certifications as prerequisites for continuing education classes.

So if your cards are not acceptable as prerequisites, then I see no point in offering them ... except perhaps for people who only plan to dive with you.

I am also leery of any instructor who even thinks in terms of "they will be rejected as untrained, uncertified scum of the earth" ...that suggests to me a person whose negativity is going to get in the way of an objective presentation of information ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[awetmedic]

That is true, and your lds isn't the only who can fill tanks. We got our own compressor after a local diveshop wouldn't fill 8 of my tanks as I did not have my instructor card with me, and they had seen me and filled my tanks many times. They were simply trying to control things and my class that day was scrubbed. That was the last time walking into that shop, I encourage my students to buy online. I used to go with them to diveshops to buy. Not anymore, well one shop I like and still do, but they are 90 minutes away.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

As a dive charter operator, my insurance requires me to see a card issued by an accredited agency. Accreditation comes from RSTC.

That is only true for the agencies who are RSTC members ... many accredited agencies are not, including NAUI ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[awetmedic]

You are right on in my opinion. Online instruction should never be anything more than and adjunct to the instructor in the classroom. I completely disagree with the current process of cutting the instructor out of the classroom. This is why I want to provide as good an online program as possible, and then still be in the classroom where the rubber hits road. We have not eliminated the classroom portion of our courses, or shortened them. The point is that knowledge should be free and available and this is why I support online instruction in conjuction with good old classroom training.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

We are a 100% volunteer organization, the instructors are not paid, we operate as a sport not a business. We have a pool that is part of the noprofit and have a large amount of donated equipment including an air compressor. Our pool is heated by an ingenious wood heater that is probably 95% efficient. We really don't have much cost at all. We were not started to survive or depend on teaching scuba, it is a sport we participate in.

What it sounds like to me is that you have a nice, local operation that wants to train people to be better divers. This is not the same as issuing c-cards.

More and more, I involve myself in non-certification type classes ... workshops, if you will. Given what you've told us so far, this seems like a far more productive approach for you to take. Focus on what you do well ... helping already certified divers improve their skills ... rather than taking a stab at becoming an alternative to agencies. Perhaps in so doing you can help increase awareness of how much there is to learn that the agencies don't teach.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Wookie]

That is only true for the agencies who are RSTC members ... many accredited agencies are not, including NAUI ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Cool. Who accredits certification agencies that aren't RSTC/WRSTC members?

 

[Superlyte27]

my computer went haywire, didn't let me finish my post, then posted only half. See revision below.