dive-training.com

[Soggy]

I would've been able to learn everything I needed to know to start diving from a well designed online program...it's just book knowledge....it all depends on how you learn best. However, nothing can replace the time spent in a pool...by doing the training online, one may be able to get more time in a pool (which is the really important stuff).

My LDS offers a nitrox course where you stop by, write a check, get the materials, and read. You come back and take a test when you're done....they then give you a nitrox card and 2 fills...

Certain skills can easily be learned online or by reading books alone. However, nothing can replace having an instructor around so you can ask questions about what you don't understand. Heck, I think some people might be better divers because of it. I know a few people who never read their OW manual...they just listened to the instructor...and because of it, they have forgotten a lot of important concepts.

 

[TCDiver1]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...

I do think that home study either on-line or with a book is good to have student come to class with some understanding of the subject. But if I was expected to skip the lecture and just take them diving I would refuse PERIOD.

Home study and six hours in the pool isn't going to cut it for most student and anyone who says otherwise has no experience in dive training or is a lier.

I agree Mike. I would still make the students complete knowledge reviews(kr), quizes and tests per standards. We review all the kr questions, expanding on the material being discussed, (no change since they are generic), add experience related discussions, then quiz, then test.

As i said, as long as the instructor still has control over knowledge development assessment, i think it could work.

 

[Scuba]

A well designed interactive presentation can be as good or better than a classroom lecture with movies. What this lacks is real time interaction, where the student is able to ask question in order to clarify, correct, or enhance his understanding, while the subject is fresh in mind and before he goes on to the next topic with a faulty or incomplete understanding.

Some online courses, not scuba, offer this interaction ability through e-mail, or other communication programs.

Obviously this is not for everybody.

 

[dotyj]

I really like having study material on CD-ROM.

I did really well on my written exams and had/have the opportunity to ask my instructor questions about issues I didn't/don't quite understand.

Without being able to ask questions on the material covered on the CD-ROM the whole thing wouldn't make any sense. I would be scared to get in the water if I didn't understand what is needed to keep me alive as well as have fun.

I've had three pool sessions so far. Each has been for no less than 1 1/2 hours. I still have a long way to go and can't imagine anyone having to cram everything they need to know how to do into just six to eight hours of lessons.

My instructor also "Pop Quizzes" me during our pool sessions. My instructor will come up with a potentially dangerous or fatal scenerio and ask me how to cope with or avoid the problem all together. I like that, it gives me a chance to put both my home study and pool session learning to work.

I like to go through my CD-ROM the night before a class and go over the skills and knowledge that I'm expected to perform and know the next day. This has been very valuable to me even though some of the skills I need to learn can look pretty scary. I really thought breathing from a free flowing regulator was going to be scary until I did it.

For me this isn't a race to see how quickly I can become certified. I really want to scuba dive, but I want to do so safely.

Lectures would have been fine by me too, at least as long as I could still have my CD-ROM for home study.

 

[MNScuba]

Ok, have you seen those 'home study' courses where you can get your degree in blah, blah, blah? I think one is a nurse, and there are a couple others that are pretty surprising as well. The day is here, and technology can't be stopped. Someday you'll probably never have to 'go to school' and get your college degree without ever leaving your home. I guess I could see school buildings disappear all together in the not so distant future. With web cams and high speed internet connections it's only a matter of time before we have virtual classrooms.

 

[TCDiver1]

MNScuba once bubbled...
Ok, have you seen those 'home study' courses where you can get your degree in blah, blah, blah? I think one is a nurse, and there are a couple others that are pretty surprising as well. The day is here, and technology can't be stopped. Someday you'll probably never have to 'go to school' and get your college degree without ever leaving your home. I guess I could see school buildings disappear all together in the not so distant future. With web cams and high speed internet connections it's only a matter of time before we have virtual classrooms.

Ask any first or second year student at a your average major university how often their prof. lectures in person. A lot of video/internet lecturing is going on. Colleges who don't embrace this are history in the not to distant future IMO also.

 

[norcaldiver]

gedunk once bubbled...

Ask any first or second year student at a your average major university how often their prof. lectures in person. A lot of video/internet lecturing is going on. Colleges who don't embrace this are history in the not to distant future IMO also.

Have you interviewed some of these people fresh out of school lately for any kind of job? Maybe that's the problem...

I interview freshly graduated "programers" all the time and i'm just not that thrilled with them

 

[norcaldiver]

Regardless of whether schools do it or not, I'm not that big on the weekend course. And I have people tell me all the time, "how do you learn, by doing right? Not by listening." It amazes me that people think that. It's a combo of both. The more classes I take, the more I think that way. I end up staying after to ask questions (the quick way)or spending more time on the internet looking up referenses to find my answer(the long way)

 

[TCDiver1]

norcaldiver once bubbled...


Have you interviewed some of these people fresh out of school lately for any kind of job? Maybe that's the problem...

I interview freshly graduated "programers" all the time and i'm just not that thrilled with them

Yes i have & it is scary but i suspect we were just as scary in our first interviews. We just didn't think we were.

Take faith, a design firm we work with just hired a Mech. Eng. out of U of M and he is a sharp kid. They do exist!

 

[detroit diver]

gedunk once bubbled...

Ask any first or second year student at a your average major university how often their prof. lectures in person. A lot of video/internet lecturing is going on. Colleges who don't embrace this are history in the not to distant future IMO also.

Yes, but there's usually a TA or similar around for purposes of questions and discussion during the lecture.