TDI Intro to Tech or AN/DP?

[kensuf]

I'll admit I'm being an ******* about this, but it's a big hair.

If the student is expecting an instructor to include ITT as part of the AN/DP course, but the instructor is expecting the student to come in with the basic skillset behind ITT, someone will be disappointed.

Now if the student has made it clear to the instructor up front that he/she needs to learn all of the ITT skills, then that's another issue altogether. However, why not just take ITT as a separate class, gain some experience, then take AN/DP?

 

[Asheron]

I'll admit I'm being an ******* about this, but it's a big hair.

If the student is expecting an instructor to include ITT as part of the AN/DP course, but the instructor is expecting the student to come in with the basic skillset behind ITT, someone will be disappointed.

Now if the student has made it clear to the instructor up front that he/she needs to learn all of the ITT skills, then that's another issue altogether. However, why not just take ITT as a separate class, gain some experience, then take AN/DP?

Kensuf, now this i think we can all agree on!

 

[wedivebc]

If a local diver, who is available to break up training over the course of a couple of long weekends wants to do AN/DP without ITT I will entertain it with the understanding that any shortcomings need to be addressed before proceeding to the next session. Those who do not succeed as AN/DP are still eligible for an ITT cert if they can pass the minimum standard. A diver from out of town who needs to complete the class in 6 straight days will require ITT for me to accept them as tech students. Too many times I have had students try to pressure me to give them a pass because they have bought plane tickets, taken time off work etc.

 

[kensuf]

If a local diver, who is available to break up training over the course of a couple of long weekends wants to do AN/DP without ITT I will entertain it with the understanding that any shortcomings need to be addressed before proceeding to the next session. Those who do not succeed as AN/DP are still eligible for an ITT cert if they can pass the minimum standard. A diver from out of town who needs to complete the class in 6 straight days will require ITT for me to accept them as tech students. Too many times I have had students try to pressure me to give them a pass because they have bought plane tickets, taken time off work etc.

This. Entirely.

If someone that's adjacent wants to do long mentorship, fine, we can talk about it. Someone wants it all at once, ITT better be part of the mix OR they better have proof of training/experience OR they better be prepared to go home unhappy.

 

[tursiops]

If the student is expecting an instructor to include ITT as part of the AN/DP course, but the instructor is expecting the student to come in with the basic skillset behind ITT, someone will be disappointed.

Yes, but that is not what Stuart is suggesting.

Now if the student has made it clear to the instructor up front that he/she needs to learn all of the ITT skills, then that's another issue altogether.

Yes, but that is your point, not his.

However, why not just take ITT as a separate class, gain some experience, then take AN/DP?

Why spend the extra money if the material is being covered in AN/DP?

Remember when there was no ITT? We all took/taught AN/DP and covered what was necessary. Why is it OK to have TDI break up courses into smaller (more lucrative) bite-size pieces but it is apparently not OK for PADI to do it, where it is called a money-grab?

 

[elgoog]

Remember when there was no ITT? We all took/taught AN/DP and covered what was necessary. Why is it OK to have TDI break up courses into smaller (more lucrative) bite-size pieces but it is apparently not OK for PADI to do it, where it is called a money-grab?

This almost sounds like when GUE didn't have Fundies, you took cave/tech directly, mostly failed it the first time and that ended up being your very expensive Fundies-equivalent.

Was AN/DP a longer course before to include ITT skills? Seems like you still lose a lot of value in the AN/DP part of the course when you don't have time to practice and get solid with ITT/Fundies/Essentials skills. There's something to be said about not having to worry as much about buoyancy when you're trying to switch to a deco bottle or <insert other skill/task that requires a decent platform>

EDIT: Also, a course spanning multiple weeks or months and taking 20+ dives is an outlier, isn't it? How many courses are actually run like that?

 

[stuartv]

If the student is expecting an instructor to include ITT as part of the AN/DP course, but the instructor is expecting the student to come in with the basic skillset behind ITT, someone will be disappointed.

Now if the student has made it clear to the instructor up front that he/she needs to learn all of the ITT skills, then that's another issue altogether. However, why not just take ITT as a separate class, gain some experience, then take AN/DP?

Agreed. But, did you actually read the OP?

 

[KenGordon]

It is quite painful to be on a course and then discover a fellow student is not capable of the level required to progress.

It is all very well if an instructor if teaching one to one for them to take whoever they like and take as long as it takes but if there is a third part involved it isn’t the same.

To the OP, do ITT. If you’d been doing twinset stuff for a good while already them maybe consider skipping, but in your position it would be silly. AN/DP is quite a hard course, learning twinsets, shutdowns, fining techniques etc for the first time while also doing stage handling, team diving and generally not getting it wrong with an actual ceiling is asking for it.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

It is quite painful to be on a course and then discover a fellow student is not capable of the level required to progress.

This. This another reason why gatekeeper courses to tech are so important.

 

[Kyle0692]

I emailed my instructor a little while ago saying I’d like to go a bit slower and do ITT first. We’ll see where things go!