Diver Training, Has It Really Been Watered Down???

[KevinNM]

The way to make a true comparison is to look at agency standards from one era and compare them with the standards from another era. That happened only a couple weeks ago on ScubaBoard. Someone listed all the PADI OW requirements from 1995 so we could compare them to today. The only thing missing from current standards was one-regulator buddy breathing--the course did NOT teach require using an alternate air source. In contrast, the current PADI courses has at least 15 requirements that were not required then.

If you go to the actual course requirements, at least for PADI, the current courses require more training than the past courses did.

There is also the assumption of what people are doing in the water. For example, I have been told that the original marketing for scubapro jet fins included how great they were because you could kick the hell out of the reef without damaging your fins. If that's true it pretty obvious that some assumptions about what it means to be a diver have changed a bit.

 

[agilis]

Yes.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Regardless whether online reading or classroom reading makes a difference I don’t know. I don’t know how the content is presented.
I know that I got the book and read it through and through, then took the class and along with reviewing the book we were shown some videos.

One thing that really pisses me off and makes me cringe whenever I hear it is the line “It’s not the agency, it’s the instructor”. Or “There are crap instructors, and there are excellent instructors” (presumably working for the same agency). To me this is just acceptance of a very flawed system with very little quality control. A standard should be a standard period! There should be no softening or skipping parts just to make time deadlines by a lazy or incompetent instructors.
If all the subject matter and skills were taught the way it’s supposed to be, thoroughly, I think for normal recreational diving it is fine. But unfortunately it becomes much more subjective than that, and as a result the customer gets screwed.

Speaking of really bad training from back in the day, I know a guy who got certified by a NAUI instructor “buddy” back in the early 70’s. The worst training story I ever heard!

 

[TMHeimer]

As I thought may happen, the OP's question isn't being really answered, including my own post. We're getting comparisons of this and that, but not reports from divers who, like me, were certified the traditional way--comparing that to taking OW by e learning. Need to be able to view that free e learning course to make those comparisons.

 

[Bob DBF]

Need to be able to view that free e learning course to make those comparisons.

My issue is not so much with the difference with learning from a book rather than online, I've done both. I'm old so I'd rather read, if it isn't a third grade level comic book. The big difference is you can't learn any more from a book or computer than it has, an instructor can add a lot to a class that is not in the materials.


Bob

 

[RichieRich1042]

I took my initial PADI OW course in 2000 as a young kid (I was 14 at the time). I took some time off and came back into it and I have to say that things have changed since I last remember. Maybe not a whole lot, but definitely different than I remember. Do I think it's watered down? No not necessarily. I will say that I did my reactivate online and while I like the idea of doing a course online at my own pace, I feel like the instructor based program is better for me as I may have questions that they could answer and give me different POV that a computer screen can't give me.

 

[TMHeimer]

My issue is not so much with the difference with learning from a book rather than online, I've done both. I'm old so I'd rather read, if it isn't a third grade level comic book. The big difference is you can't learn any more from a book or computer than it has, an instructor can add a lot to a class that is not in the materials.


Bob

I agree. Only problem of course is what an instructor adds probably varies a lot from class to class, even with the same instructor. Something may not be discussed in depth unless a student raises a question about it. But yeah, I'm sure you pick up a few more tips with the traditional classroom. Then as a cert. diver you start to fill in the gaps.
I had an excellent instructor (whom I later assisted). In my first year or two I frequently asked "Why didn't she mention that little trick"? Just too much to cover unless you go back to those good old days, decades before my time in scuba.

 

[boulderjohn]

When the eLearning first came out, the director of instruction in the shop where I was working was dead set against it, so we didn't do it at all. Then he reluctantly agreed to it, and the results were shocking to everyone. The students came in really knowing their stuff. I think I went through a dozen students myself before I had the first one miss a single question on the exam. It was not long before the shop totally flipped and required ALL instruction to be done with the online class because they felt the students were that much better prepared.

When you do the online class, it is not instructor-free. The students still have to come in, meet with the instructor, and take the exam. We always made that meeting long enough to allow the instructor to add all the stuff that instructors normally add to the class. That way, nothing was lost.

 

[TrimixToo]

There are elements of today's courses that I don't recall being included in my original YMCA class in 1972, and elements of that course that are considered technical diving topics or advanced skills today. For example, I think people were expected to know how to use a compass and pay enough attention to how to navigate underwater, so it was not taught. But classroom work included planning repetitive decompression dives using Navy tables, and open water tests included underwater doff and don.

But the biggest difference to me, by far, is that back then certification was binary. You were a certified diver, or you were not. There were no courses after the first. The implications of this might not be obvious. We were expected to be fully independent divers, to be able to plan and execute our own dives (which emphatically did include gas planning), and to take full responsibility for the outcomes, once the ink was dry on the C-card. Today's recreational training seems to have de-emphasized this aspect of things. But in today's world, recreational charters with pre-planned dives at known sites seem to make that OK.

Edit: If time allows, I'd be happy to take your online course and comment, but I'm afraid I won't travel to NC to do that!

 

[BDSC]

I wish I could answer the exact question the OP asked but I was certified in 91 so e-learning wasn't available and I have never taken any significant time off since, but I do have a couple of thoughts.

First, I think it's going to be very difficult to get any objective information when you have someone who took the course years ago and then took it again as an e-learning course to freshen up on the subject matter. The problem you have is the diver isn't really learning the material again. They already know the material and what they are really doing is taking a refresher. So is the e-learning going to seem easier because they essentially already know what they are looking at? Are the e-learning materials more than enough because everything will quickly come back to mind?

Second, I think e-learning in general is a better way to learn. I work in the power industry and we have all kinds of safety classes, chemical awareness classes, etc. Early in my career all of this was taught in a classroom setting. Such classes were usually at a minimum 4 hours. Most of the time longer. These classes were scheduled such that every hour there would be a 15 minute break. During the class folks could stop the instructor and ask questions. Certainly nothing wrong with asking questions if you don't understand some concept. But what about the folks who easily understand the material. Sometimes there was always that person in the class who would just ask question after question and would stall the entire process. E-learning seems to take care of this. Almost all of these same classes are now offered in an online form and can be accomplished in less than half the time. Sometimes much less. You can still contact safety reps if you have questions with a phone call so if you truly are having difficulty with something there is a way provided to get clarification.

If I had a choice when I was certified, I'm sure I would have preferred on online course. The course material is not difficult at all and I think the concepts are very basic. Perfect for an e-learning environment.