Design your own OW class!

[MikeFerrara]

There has been a bunch of discussion about the ills of dive training today. Divers travel long distances to take GUE classes that teach basic skills. There are always DIR vs non-DIR arguments. Lets get more specific.

I would like to ask all of you to design your own OW class. You can add or take away from a current class, leave the content alone but specify changes in administration/implementation or design a new class from the ground up. For this exersize, let's not mention any agency. I am more interested in the opnions of individuals. Also, please explain what your proposed changes are meant to fix. I'm looking foreward to hearing your ideas. I'll take my turn later.

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

I think class needs to be 8-10 nights but of course that would raise the cost. With the other dive shop down the road with the Calif. based agency and there on/off $99.00 class...It's hard to get much more than 5 nights in.

One thing I would change would be more time to work on skills at neutral bouyancy. Not all skills but mask clearings and cramp removals..Those type of skills.

I'll have more ideas, once your post sinks in a little more.

 

[jonnythan]

My class was 6 6-hour sessions.. half class, half pool for each. The instructor was good, and I feel the class adequately prepared us for typical rec diving.

Reading the DIRF course outline makes me wish that the OW class taught most of these basic skills (frog kick, trim (not just buoyancy), etc). I'm not too concerned about DIR gear config for the classes... i think using back inflate BC's would be fine, and hoses could stay the same (long would be good though.)

So the ideal OW class for me would be the SSI class I took PLUS these things: back inflates, greater focus on trim and buoyancy control, introduction of several kicks, and, of course, actual buddy skills. Thinking back on my class, this could be taught in an extra couple of pool sessions, and maybe one or two OW dives.

I LOVE the idea of taking video of the students like GUE does.. wonderful learning aid.

I'm not saying that all OW classes should meet the standards of GUE's DIRF (I think that's impossible), but some of the elements could be used.

 

[sheck33]

other than including the well known DIR level skills like bouyancy, buddy awareness and the like in the OW class, rescue skills should be included rather than having to do a seperate class to acquire them. Also, wannabe divers should get say 10 dives or so in BEFORE being assessed on skill levels, these dives should be no deeper than 30 ft under guidance of DM level divers.
This gives time to practice skills before showing them to an instructor to get a C-card.
REQUIRE 25 or so dives before admission to an AOW class and REQUIRE 40 or so dives before ever doing rescue, not to mention the fact it should be possible to fail a class

The MAJOR thing that should happen is classes should be FREE, other than paying a small fee to GUE, TDI or whatever agency it is insane to pay $300 for a DM class or this $50 a dive for a guided tour. Believe it or not when i did my original certifications in Europe all i had to pay were the course materials and a small fee to my diving club. This will vastly increase the qualitity of the education as it eliminates the instructors that are in this to earn a living. It will leave the really dedicated instructors that love the sport and teach because they are highly motivated.

it will eliminate the PADI style assembly line type 'education'
classes should be free and the bar raised significantly since that will also eliminate divers that are not serious about becoming safe skilled people under water, a good thing for the environment too :boom: :boom:

now i did it (or not) we'll see

 

[chepar]

jonnythan once bubbled...

Reading the DIRF course outline makes me wish that the OW class taught most of these basic skills (frog kick, trim (not just buoyancy), etc).

I LOVE the idea of taking video of the students like GUE does.. wonderful learning aid.

In an OW course of my design, I would like more focus and practical application toward buoyancy control and trim. I would also like the different types of kicks included.

I also love the idea of taking videos of students as a teaching tool. Without being able to see yourself "in action", it is hard to know what you are really doing.

 

[MikeS]

I just completed OW in April but have since completed AOW, Rescue and Nitrox training. While I obviously don’t have a lot of experience I would like to throw my 2 cents in.

I think that the current OW curriculum should only result in a diving learner’s permit. Diving should be restricted to dives under the direct supervision of a DM or Instructor. After completing OW I did not feel comfortable diving unsupervised with someone of the same experience level. No amount of classroom training or book learning would change this; I had to get in the water. However, I did feel comfortable on a “guided tour dive” in warm water with good visibility. And there is nothing wrong with people that only dive once or twice a year staying at this level, it’s suppose to be fun not a contest. Only after completing AOW and Rescue training plus 20 something dives did I feel comfortable diving without a DM or Instructor.

One area where it seems to me that LDSs drop the ball is in organizing local dives. Sure, they all have to trips to Bonaire and the Figi Islands but I can only afford the time off from work for one or two such trips a year. It seems like you take OW, go on a trip, and then it’s very difficult if not impossible to find a buddy and sort out where to go. How many divers do you suppose just loose interest and fade away? Although there is no money in it in the short term, I think if I owned an LDS I would make sure that there was a local trip every weekend somewhere local. For me the local dives are where I improve skills. Sorry but there’s just too much to see diving on a reef in Aruba, or on a wreck off the coast of NC, to worry about working on trim.

Mike

 

[TCDiver1]

Flame on.............

As usual i liked some of the meat in your post but IMO there is some gristle that needs to be cut off. I know your at least partially chummin here but as you know, blood in the water tends to attract me.

Last time i checked it was still okay in the USA to make money doing something you love to do. How many rich scuba instructors, who don't own dive stores, have you ever met? IMHO making money teaching scuba IS NOT the problem, not teaching to established standards can be and is a problem. There are plenty of great instructors out there who get paid & still teach a great OW class.

You want to go after somebody, go after the LDS's, who, & i'm generalizing here, may have a tendency of turning OW training into an assembly line to benefit the bottom line. Sure some instructors, possibly many get sucked into that philosophy, but don't go lumping us all into that catagory.

Flame off..........

Personally i'm still learning about the DIR philosophy and am not sure where it fits into the scheme of OW training. I suspect in time i'll land somewhere in the middle of new and existing training philosophies. IMHO existing training standards are far from broken which is not to say they couldn't be improved.

One thing i would propose Mike, is that cold water diving should be a seperate level of certification of OW. Colder water, tends to yield lower vis, increases exposure protection restriction, which raises amount of weight required to offset added bouyancy. For people certified in warm, high vis water, this added task loading is usually very stressful.

 

[sheck33]

gedunk once bubbled...
Flame on.............

As usual i liked some of the meat in your post but IMO there is some gristle that needs to be cut off. I know your at least partially chummin here but as you know, blood in the water tends to attract me.

Last time i checked it was still okay in the USA to make money doing something you love to do. How many rich scuba instructors, who don't own dive stores, have you ever met? IMHO making money teaching scuba IS NOT the problem, not teaching to established standards can be and is a problem. There are plenty of great instructors out there who get paid & still teach a great OW class.

You want to go after somebody, go after the LDS's, who, & i'm generalizing here, may have a tendency of turning OW training into an assembly line to benefit the bottom line. Sure some instructors, possibly many get sucked into that philosophy, but don't go lumping us all into that catagory.

Flame off..........

Personally i'm still learning about the DIR philosophy and am not sure where it fits into the scheme of OW training. I suspect in time i'll land somewhere in the middle of new and existing training philosophies. IMHO existing training standards are far from broken which is not to say they couldn't be improved.

One thing i would propose Mike, is that cold water diving should be a seperate level of certification of OW. Colder water, tends to yield lower vis, increases exposure protection restriction, which raises amount of weight required to offset added bouyancy. For people certified in warm, high vis water, this added task loading is usually very stressful.

ok ok, i admit the partial chumming part

i am not sure if not teaching to established standards is a problem or wether the standards themself are the problem here..
by no means did i intend to throw ALL instructors into the money-hungry-i-dont care-about-quality group, it is a few bad apples, jusy like there are some bad DIR apples that screw things up for the rest. I agree on the cold water certification part. We do tell OW students if you can dive in Puget Sound you can basically dive anywhere.

I think the whole DIR idea very much has a place in OW but then again i am biased here

 

[jbd]

to see 8 to 10 sessions also. I would like to see more work on bouyancy and trim. More work on skills done in horizontal positions. More time to teach different kicks. I would like to see more OW time with some task loading some what similar to but not as intense as what is done in the DIRF.

In the classroom I would like to see more emphasis on the science of diving.

 

[otter-cat]

MikeS once bubbled...
I think that the current OW curriculum should only result in a diving learner’s permit. Diving should be restricted to dives under the direct supervision of a DM or Instructor. After completing OW I did not feel comfortable diving unsupervised with someone of the same experience level. No amount of classroom training or book learning would change this; I had to get in the water. However, I did feel comfortable on a “guided tour dive” in warm water with good visibility. And there is nothing wrong with people that only dive once or twice a year staying at this level, it’s suppose to be fun not a contest.

I think that such a certification as you describe exists. However, it includes even less training than an OW course.