Which agency has the best online materials?

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I am quite impressed by SSI's online materials. There is room for improvement but in general it is very jazzy, colorful and appealing for the new diver who is looking to get into diving. Depth of information is also there. I was wondering how it compares to other agencies, specially SDI.

 

[decompression]

SDI/TDI is quite good.

 

[lowviz]

I can't really answer your question as I can only speak to one agency's offerings.

I've recently broken down and taken an online course from SDI/TDI. I went into this with a somewhat negative attitude about online instruction in general. I was thinking that virtual OW certification would be next step, but I was pleasantly surprised. All that SDI/TDI's online instruction did was to remove a lot of "Chalk and Talk" from the instructor which translated into more in-water time for me.

Covering the completed online material is easy for the instructor. He/she has all your tries, the time between answers, and scores.

 

[BoltSnap]

SDI/TDI is quite good.

Is it a real online training with videos and interactive learning that illustrates the concepts and enables the students to learn and retain the material better or is it just an online PDF version of the textbook?

 

[АлександрД]

National Dive League NDL
E-textbooks
they have FREE online books

 

[Fastmarc]

I often wished NAUI provided their material online for those that gained certification, so you can always have access to it for review, etc. Not sure why this is not standard.

 

[HKGuns]

I finished up the PADI online OW course in June and certified in July.

The online materials are available for both desktop computers as well as Apple I-devices and worked well on both a phone and an IPAD with videos available along with the written course work. All tests were done online with a printable PDF summary as you progressed. I opted to buy the book for the AOW course as it was a more cost effective option and supported my LDS better. It was not due to my dissatisfaction with the online experience. I enjoyed the online form factor as it allowed me to progress at my own pace.

I thought it was really good and apparently a vast improvement over prior online experiences, based on feedback on this site.

 

[decompression]

Is it a real online training with videos and interactive learning that illustrates the concepts and enables the students to learn and retain the material better or is it just an online PDF version of the textbook?

Definitely not simple PDF’s, each course has different content and features but generally what you would expect for your money. Modern, informative and well put together.

 

[BlueTrin]

I do not know about SDI but my experience is that SSI e-learning materials are much more modern than the PADI ones.

 

[Addicted2H2O]

I just did the SDI OW with my son this past week and it seemed like it covered a lot of material but made it pretty easy to grasp each concept it was teaching. The only thing I would say could use improvement is maybe some newer video content. What they have works but it's low quality (360p) and seems quite dated. Maybe I'm being nitpicky but I'd expect at least 1080p and something from the last 5 years. Otherwise, though I thought it was a great course. I had the same thoughts with the DM course when I did the online portion of it late last year.