Length of Dive con course

[readysalted]

Hi there,
I am thinking of starting a dive con course, but i am unsure how long the course should run for, i have spoken to several people and they have said from 12 hours to a week ( this is with the books being filled out in you own time in both cases)
It sure would be good to know of other people's experiences on this so i will know what to expect.

 

[Bappelt]

You must just be talking about the DC classroom part. There is no way to do the DC classroom part, the pool part, the OW cert dive support and the OW classes in 12 hrs!

Even cramming all that into a week (assuming 8 hrs/day) would be tough.

Each shop is different but the time required is dependant upon the DC student and their progress thru the requirements.

 

[blue steal]

I too am curious. I was told it would be anywhere from 2-3 weeks.

 

[*dave*]

Like any course, it will depend on a variety of things. Student to instructor ratio, intensity of the course and the instructor, to name but a few. Some shops will require you to assist with a couple classes before they cut your card and that can take several months, depending on the shop.

Talk to the instructor.

 

[Lead_carrier]

If it only takes 2-3 weeks, then in my personal opinion, I wouldn't count on anything more than being rushed through and learning what the book says. When I do the course, it will take usually a minimum of 3 months, if that is a 2-1 ratio and I have OW classes going on for the candidates to assist with.

One place I looked at when I took the course, the time frame was approximately 1 year. You had to work weekends at the dive shop as an "volunteer". Of course, the time frame shortened if you were able to sell enough equipment.

 

[readysalted]

Thanks for the info so far,
the trouble of asking the instructor is that they would just say that there course is the best.....
As for the 12 hour course, that was the total time spent with the dcs instructor, more time was spent with the " open water instructor" and around the dive shop, this time with the dcsi included all prac, dives and exam, all the book questions was filled out in his own time then the answers were went through so to insure they were correct.
Like I say I just want to get a feel for what a good course should be and what ones to keep away from.

 

[jscott099]

At the shop I used to work with the class was stretched over two or three months depending on number of people and trying to work with everyone's schedule. That was the classroom part. There is also self study on your own. One of the highest demands of time is apprenticeship. We required our candidates to be mentored with different instructors and attend some of their classroom and pool sessions for OW. They were also required to attend Stress and Rescue classes and specialty classes. This kind of apprenticeship is the only true opporunity you get to learn how to be an instructor by observing other instructors. You can't get that kind of knowledge in 12 hours.

 

[PvtStash]

At the shop I used to work with the class was stretched over two or three months depending on number of people and trying to work with everyone's schedule. That was the classroom part. There is also self study on your own. One of the highest demands of time is apprenticeship. We required our candidates to be mentored with different instructors and attend some of their classroom and pool sessions for OW. They were also required to attend Stress and Rescue classes and specialty classes. This kind of apprenticeship is the only true opporunity you get to learn how to be an instructor by observing other instructors. You can't get that kind of knowledge in 12 hours.

For what these classes cost you really are doing yourself (and your future clients) a disservice by not getting all you possibly can out of it. The bookwork/classwork should be the Smallest portion of the class, with the majority being hands on/observational fieldwork.

 

[P.K]

Hi,
the present course consists of quite a few modules. I teach 12 3-4 hours classes. The Divecon training is waiting for new materials to be released. The DC training will be split in a specialty the science of diving, diveguide/ divemaster and some additional teaching. I have no idea if the new DiveCon training matarials can be done in 12 hours

Best, Pieter SSI IT 10168

 

[readysalted]

Hey pk,
so your saying you do a 3-4 hour class on each of the chapters?
That's a bit different than "read through it and fill in the blanks" !!!
Is there not a standard format that has to be covered or followed?
Apart from read this and pass this exam?