This week I noticed that the local SDI shop was teaching an "Advanced Buoyancy" class, and it wasn't very expensive, and I didn't have any other diving planned for months. So, despite my thinking that specialty classes are often a waste of time, I took it. And despite some people out there probably thinking that diving in a swimming pool isn't real diving, I found that a few hours of doing nothing but focusing on weighting, neutral buoyancy, trim, breathing, and kicking properly (that was an addition to the class, I believe, that we asked for) was very helpful. I was thinking that maybe OW classes should add some hours of practice to go over that, but I guess that those instructors who are covering being neutral from the beginning of an OW class are getting it taught.
Yes, this is a great idea.
Coztick points out the diversity of student ability. Along those lines, I've always found it odd when someone with very little "water" backround and possibly can't properly swim decides to take scuba. But they do.
The extra hours you suggest just spending time in the pool would of course be great. It would also raise the price (and length) of the OW course, which would be a deterrent to some in today's "get it fast and cheap" world.
But the extra pool time would be like doing those first few post-OW dives on your own, but doing them with an instructor and nailing down your buoyancy. I saw this to a point the last year I worked.
There SHOULDN'T have to be any time spent on weighting-- you do a proper weight check and that's what-- 5 minutes?
Trim- yeah a little time on that, but again, once it's done it's done unless you change equipment. Same thing with weighting unless you gain or lose a lot of body weight. Breathing? You breathe slowly, pretty much naturally.
Kicking? If you haven't done the basic forward kick on your own before the OW course, you should take swim lessons. Don't bend knees (much, anyway), move legs up & down. I saw a student doing the "bicycle" kick for the first time, and I honestly thought he was trying to do something fancy to show off. I just assumed everyone knew how to KICK!
MichaelMc--Agree on everything except me being a diving prodigy God (don't know how to do the "winky" face).
I think what it is more like, is I was maybe typical of most beginning scuba students back in the decades way before I took it in '05. My guess is back then most people did in fact have a lot of water experience before thinking about scuba, whereas today some folks see an ad sign in front of an LDS and just walk in figuring to give this scuba thing a try. PADI and others have long said that the idea is to open it up to everyone. But everyone isn't necessarily ready "water"-wise.
One job I had as an assistant was to monitor the 200 yard swim test. This is how I saw it--
Class of 8:
-- 2 had proper strokes and nailed it easily.
-- 2 had such poor swimming ability I shook my head.
-- the remaining 4 made it OK (maybe a couple coughing up a lung) but had obviously never been taught the proper way to swim.
Now, we all know the discussions of swimming vs. scuba (so let's avoid that), but I use this to show what I think has happened to OW courses since way before my scuba years. I would think back then, almost all of them would've nailed the test easily with a proper stroke. None would ever have needed to work on how to do a straight forward kick while on scuba. To tie it into this thread, I doubt any would have had anything but very minor problems to overcome had they been taught on their knees (they were...).
MichaelMc--Your post correctly points out the different ways people learn things. Something educators have long studied.
My point is not about how people process and comprehend new ideas, but about what (water) experience they may have before attempting something like scuba. If you have a good amount of that kind of experience it's not gunna make too much difference how the subject matter (basic skills) is presented.
I've never done any skiing, but I imagine you do a lot of the bunny hills first before the big downhill. Scuba is the big downhill.