DIR-F Lite - "Essentials of Diving"

[WaterDawg]

I think it will bw good for folks in the N west coast area. Being able to take a class w/ out the investment in gear. Im sure that gear will be talked about in class and their appetites for such training and equipment will be increased.

 

[narcT]

Andrew may have a legal problem with useing that name and then again maybe not.

I can't see GUE ( or any Reputable agency ) terminateing an Instructor just because they teach for someone else also. How many GUE instructors are also naui or padi or whoever's instructors also? As long as they don't issue a GUE 'cert' with the course, they haven't violated anything that GUE could disqualify them for.

As NAUI was just recently incorporated, 1959 I think, they could probably learn a lot from a few good DIR gurus teaching them how to do it right!!!

ROTFLMFAO (you guys are killing me here!!!)

 

[kidspot]

There is a good thread on this same subject over at http://forum.5thd-x.com/viewtopic.php?t=750 and it would appear that while DIRF-Lite in not required before Fundamentals, it is in place to help new divers take "smaller bites" of information and hopefully be able to retain more. Andrew, Joe & Delia have really done a good job putting this together and thinking it through in my opinion.

I was told that as many as 90% of all divers taking DIR-F do not pass, this is Andrew's answer to that problem. I for one hope it is a big success!

Aloha, Tim

 

[BarryNL]

As I understand it, it's pretty much like the Fundamentals class was before GUE made it a pass/fail. Personally, I like the workhops because they take they stress out of passing and "can" be more condusive to learning. Oh, and yes, 5thd-X does have two very good GUE instructors who are in good standing with GUE.

Certainly a better idea than the pass/fail thing. After all, it takes two to fail a course; the instructor to fail to teach the skills and the student to fail to learn them.

I was told that as many as 90% of all divers taking DIR-F do not pass, this is Andrew's answer to that problem. I for one hope it is a big success!

Aloha, Tim

... and if 90% are failing it certainly suggests the fault lies with either the course or the instructors.

 

[jonnythan]

... and if 90% are failing it certainly suggests the fault lies with either the course or the instructors.

90% are failing to display the level of skill required to take Tech 1.

 

[BarryNL]

90% are failing to display the level of skill required to take Tech 1.

Ah, but is the goal of the course to train them to this level? If not then that's fine. If so then it sounds like the course is very poorly designed.

 

[jonnythan]

Ah, but is the goal of the course to train them to this level?

It's not. It's a 2.5 day workshop class. You may possibly demonstrate that level of skill by the end of the two and a half days, in which case you "pass," but you are by no means expected to. You go in with PADI skills, you can't expect to have GUE Tech 1 skills dialed in after a mere 4 dives.

It's not "failing" the class not to demonstrate the level of skill necessary to take Tech 1, it's simply failing to be allowed to advance in the training.

The term fail is unfortunate.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Barry, another way to look at it is that so much is covered in the fundamentals class that it is the exceptional 10% who are able to immediately demonstrate all of the skills covered and thus get a *pass* to continue on to Tech 1. It is far more common to find that people need time to develop the skills between being first exposed to them during a fundamentals class and taking a Tech 1 class. Making fundamentals a *pass/fail* type of class was merely a way to formalize this. It made no sense for folks to jump right from a fundamentals class into a Tech 1 class without taking the time to actually aquire the skills necessary to successfully take the Tech 1 class. Fundamentals was never intended to *magically* impart the skills... it was intended to show people what skills were require and give them a means to aquire those skills through practice.

 

[Rick Inman]

Ah, but is the goal of the course to train them to this level? If not then that's fine. If so then it sounds like the course is very poorly designed.

Fundamentals was never intended to *magically* impart the skills... it was intended to show people what skills were require and give them a means to aquire those skills through practice.

Some DIRFer recently said to me, when they heard I was signed up for the 5thD Nov. class, "If you're lucky, you won't pass on the first go, and you'll be able to come back for the re-evaluation."

It's difficult for me to accept (ego? pride?), but the goal is not to "pass", but to acquire the skills.

 

[kidspot]

btw - I forgot to add that I was also told the remaining students who take Fundies a second time nearly always pass... So it does speak to the quality of the instruction, but also to the high standards...

Hey Rick - I hope you have a blast in November!

Aloha, Tim