Dispelling scubaboard myths (Part 1: It is the instructor not the agency)

[TMHeimer]

To get back to chrisch's post--Yes, humans are complex. Best combination is that both teacher and student are "good". You can have the best music teacher alive and it won't work if the student doesn't practise the instrument, or practise it enough. The often discussed changing to teaching OW neutrally probably makes the OW more fun indeed. But the student then must dive regularly to improve/maintain skills. Likewise, learning on the knees seems like work (it is, as is neutrally), but students like myself would know that it also leads to diving. Instructor teaching neutrally and student continuing to "practise the instrument" is the best combo.

My approach to taking any of the courses I've ever taken (scuba or not) is:
1) What to I have to do to pass/get a good grade?
2) How does what I learn help me?
3) If it's scuba, I want to know how this improves me and keeps me safe.
Now, if you are talking about REQUIRED school (K-High School), I mostly followed rule #1, and mostly got really good grades (great at times). In those years all I really LIKED to do was play basketball and my clarinet. But, everybody is different.

 

[boulderjohn]

The often discussed changing to teaching OW neutrally probably makes the OW more fun indeed. But the student then must dive regularly to improve/maintain skills. Likewise, learning on the knees seems like work (it is, as is neutrally), but students like myself would know that it also leads to diving.

I am trying to understand what you seem to be saying here.

As I read it, you are saying that the purpose of teaching students while they are neutral and horizontal is so that they will have more fun, and you are saying that teaching them while on the knees is equally as effective. Is that what you are saying?

 

[KevinNM]

What do they do to make sure they have superior instructional skills?

They have to teach an entire course, from recruiting students to filling out certificates, to the satisfaction of the instructor examiner who watches the entire class. The is after another Ie or IT certified that they can properly deliver the several dozen required teaching points for that course and has seen them interact with students.

It doesn’t assure superior, but at least you have some effective QC.

 

[2airishuman]

Where do all the OW instructors come from? What are their motivations for teaching? Is that part of the answer?

I've met one or two who love everything about the water, care about safety, and have a teaching background.

I've met some young people who are trying to figure out a way to monetize their enjoyment of diving. I suspect some of them will go on to own retail shops or charter operations.

I've met some people who are mainly teaching so that they can dive more.

@boulderjohn some students still learn the material despite a poor curriculum and weak teacher. Teaching OW has parallels to teaching wood shop or a chem lab. One of the criteria for a successful class is that no one gets hurt. The point being we ask a lot of an OW instructor who is supposed to be an effective teacher, safe, entertaining, and willing to work for air cards.

 

[The Chairman]

@boulderjohn hit the nail on the head: it's all about fun. It has to be fun. It has to enable fun. Fun is the reason we dive and it's the reason I teach and it's the reason our students are taking the class. Kneeling or not kneeling it has to be fun, fun, fun. I want to challenge my students, but it has to be a fun challenge. I have to teach my students how to be safe, because unsafe is no fun. It's why I teach and push neutral buoyancy. Being in control is the beginning of fun in my eye. Being out of control and feeling like you're falling can't be fun.

 

[stuartv]

Is it your impression that school districts have to hire a whole new set of teaches each year, and they have to select from lists of teachers who come in with no training?

No, that is not my impression.

those agencie do indeed make sure that their instructors have great diving skills.

What do they do to make sure they have superior instructional skills?

I have no idea. If you read the post I was responding in the writing from me that you quoted, I don't think you'll find any implication that they do or do not do anything in that regard. He only said they filter out "the good ones."

 

[TMHeimer]

I am trying to understand what you seem to be saying here.

As I read it, you are saying that the purpose of teaching students while they are neutral and horizontal is so that they will have more fun, and you are saying that teaching them while on the knees is equally as effective. Is that what you are saying?

No. I'm saying that I can see why teaching neutrally can make an OW course more fun (as you compared it to the DSDs you taught). I also can see that it probably would result in fewer people quitting after getting certified if they weren't turned off by the "work" approach that teaching on the knees brings. Either way, the student must do his/her part and try to dive regularly after certification. In my case, it would've made no difference if I had been taught neutrally --other than I would assume my buoyancy skills would've been as good on dive one as they were eventually on maybe dive 5 or 10. The lack of fun being taught on my knees made no difference mentally to ME as I only approached the OW course to work and learn what I had to learn. I knew the fun would obviously come, as from snorkeling down all those years I had a good idea about what diving would be like (as I found out, not all OW students have such a backround). All students approach taking classes differently, as I'm sure you'll agree.

 

[shurite7]

@boulderjohn hit the nail on the head for my opinion about anyone wanting to be a "real" scuba instructor taking at least educational psychology and science education classes at their local community college. No agency that I am aware of teaches their instructors how to actually teach, and frankly I don't think they care if they can or not.

While this statement holds true, the system set up by PADI and NAUI is supposed to be mentor system in which a candidate learns from other DM/AIs and Instructors. However, most candidates rarely take the time for this approach claiming they are being nickeled and dimed by the agency. I have met plenty of DMs who became instructors, yet spent very little time, if any, working with an instructor as a DM/AI. Many think DM/AI is simply a step to become an instructor rather than augmenting it as a mentorship/intership to learn how to teach.

Further more, I've never seen a NAUI ITC or a PADI IDC advertise "they will teach you how to teach". That should have been taken care of before entering the program. Which makes me wonder, why do people think they will learn to teach while going through an ITC or IDC course.

 

[boulderjohn]

While this statement holds true, the system set up by PADI and NAUI is supposed to be mentor system in which a candidate learns from other DM/AIs and Instructors. However, most candidates rarely take the time for this approach claiming they are being nickeled and dimed by the agency. I have met plenty of DMs who became instructors, yet spent very little time, if any, working with an instructor as a DM/AI. Many think DM/AI is simply a step to become an instructor rather than augmenting it as a mentorship/intership to learn how to teach.

Further more, I've never seen a NAUI ITC or a PADI IDC advertise "they will teach you how to teach". That should have been taken care of before entering the program. Which makes me wonder, why do people think they will learn to teach while going through an ITC or IDC course.

I am puzzled about the claim that instructors are not being taught how to teach. There is a lot more "teaching you how to teach" going on than you think.

For several years, my job in education was trying to teach existing teachers how to use teaching methodologies that were proven through research to be most effective. Most important of these was a process that has gone under a number of names, including standards-based education. It is all based on the theory of mastery education first described by Benjamin Bloom. Using those methods completely transformed my classroom teaching, and I was happy to try to show other teachers how very much more successful they could be. Most of them fought it as hard as they could. Most of them would not change from their traditional approaches. It was very frustrating. All of this was before I became a scuba instructor.

Imagine my surprise when I became a scuba instructor and found that the methods being required of PADI instructors were precisely the mastery learning methods I could not get high school teachers to adopt. As part of my instructor training, I had to read the documents written when PADI explained its new approach, and I saw that they were referencing some of the same experts I had researched on my own years before.

When instructors are told a multi step approach to teaching skills, when they introduce the skill with an explanation that includes key ideas, explain signals, demonstrate, debrief, give suggestions, have students repeat to mastery, etc,--those are all accepted instructional skills. They are learning how to teach.

When they are taught a sequence for explaining concepts in the classroom, listing the components they should be sure to include, given clues about the use of visual aids, etc., they are being taught how to teach.

 

[boulderjohn]

When instructors are told a multi step approach to teaching skills, when they introduce the skill with an explanation that includes key ideas, explain signals, demonstrate, debrief, give suggestions, have students repeat to mastery, etc,--those are all accepted instructional skills. They are learning how to teach.

I thought I would use this in further reply to a previous comment about a couple agencies that ensure their instructors are the very best, and I said there was a difference between making sure they were excellent divers and making sure they were excellent instructors.

I had extensive training through one of those agencies, and in one of the first classes, the instructor talked about that sequence I quoted above. He sneered at that, and said "In this class I won't hold your hand the way PADI does." He didn't. He didn't explain or demonstrate before demanding that we perform a skill, because that would be holding our hands.

Call me a wimp, but I could have used some hand-holding, and I would have preferred a little less ridicule when my first attempts fell short.