The General Angst Over the PADI eLearning Program

[PhilEllis]

When I first heard about the PADI eLearning program last year, I expected that there would be considerable knashing of teeth and ringing of hands.....but I never expected that amount I currently see. Again, another demonstration of our industries lack of understanding about the internet, the online world, and the new dive consumer of the future.

I have had the great fortune to be on an inside track on eLearning as it has been developed. I can't imagine a more professional, well-developed approach to a teaching subject. From both the business side (purchasing eLearning, distribution of income, etc) and the consumer side (improvement in the teaching methods, recognition of how the consumer prefers to learn), this is a first class program. Clearly on the quality level with learn-online programs used by the major universities in the United States.

I would like to ask a simple question of both consumers and industry professionals.....What is it that REALLY concerns you about PADI eLearning?

Phil Ellis

 

[Skinsfan1311]

I would like to ask a simple question of both consumers and industry professionals.....What is it that REALLY concerns you about PADI eLearning?

Phil Ellis

I don't know enough about it to make a qualified response.

Can you please provide a brief description of the PADI eLearning, and the types of concerns that you've heard voiced?

 

[in_cavediver]

Phil,

I personally don't know the full details of the 'elearning' program padi put together but I have decent idea that is just another option in the learn at home portion of the class.

As for why the agnst?

1) Ignorance. They simple don't know what area this is to supplement/replace in the course. Fears of students never getting the classroom portion of the class and going strainght into pool/OW.

2) Fear of the internet. This is prevalent in many areas ANY time you mention the internet. Its all bad to many LDS.

That said, here is a third option, and one I subscribe to.

3) Some feel the at home learning and self paced learning doesn't truly guarentee a student gets everything they are supposed to, even now without the internet option. A good way to look at this is in a college class. A textbook is required as is homework etc. You still though have a lecture presentation. While I feel online learning is just another tool, I have a nagging suspicion that this will evolve into the 'do it quicker to get diving' mentality PADI has advocated since the 'Dive Today' programs. I personally feel a quality classroom compenent is very important in diver education and may of these programs are not designed to augment and much as replace portions of the classroom work.

 

[cowboyneal]

Fear of the unknown; fear of technology and the fact that most people just don't know how to teach. It's a great program. Medical and law school students now eLearn. There's no reason why the diving classroom work can't be eLearned as well. When you do the pool and open water training, that's the place to provide reinforcement to the fundamental principles and why they are important through that practical training (and where a good teacher knows how to tie all the threads together).

CN

 

[drbill]

Phil, I'm not really familiar with the components of this eLearning program, so can't comment on it with my usual brilliance and insight. Of course it only certifies participants as cyberdivers, correct? Just teasing.

While many educational circles have adopted Internet-based distance learning, I do question how a subject like diving can be adequately covered this way. Yes, I'm sure it is only the basic textbook information that is done through the Internet, and that adequate face-to-face instruction and in-water dive experience is part of the package.

As an educator with some 40+ years of experience in the field, I have used both classroom and distance methods. For me the classroom or direct contact experience is far more valuable since it offers a good way to directly evaluate a student's understanding of the material. This is a component that I feel is necessary, especially in teaching a serious subject like diving (none of my marine biology students are going to die if they can't distinguish between a cerianthis and a zoanthid anemone).

In conveying information about marine biology, I also use media- and Internet-based methods. These are important because they allow me to reach many more people with the same message than I could ever do face-to-face. However, I would never use such methods were I teaching potential OW divers, only later in their dive instruction.

 

[amascuba]

E-Learning doesn't do justice to individuals like myself who learn from hands on and would rather listen and watch a teacher in person. I've done the E-learning thing in many different environments, but I do not learn as much from that application of teaching.

 

[DavidPT40]

E-learning would work for a diver like me. I read and study and actively try to understand the material. However, one of my dive buddies is a gargantuan dufus. He won't read or do anything unless an instructor is there telling him exactly what he needs to know. Thats why he failed his OW test twice and is an awful diver.

But that brings up an interesting point. If someone isn't willing to adequately understand the priniciples of scuba diving in an internet course, will having the lesson in a classroom setting be any different?

 

[Charlie99]

E-Learning doesn't do justice to individuals like myself who learn from hands on and would rather listen and watch a teacher in person. I've done the E-learning thing in many different environments, but I do not learn as much from that application of teaching.

All of my PADI courses repeated the same info, over and over and over in several different ways --- in the book, in the video, orally by the instructor, demo by the instructor, repetition by me. It didn't matter which learning styles worked for me, the course hit me with each and every type (and several times over in each style for the important things).

It seems that PADI has just added one more method or path to convey the info. If E-learning was meant to REPLACE the hands-on in-person training, then I'd be against, but it looks like E-learning is intended to supplement and support the hand-on training rather than to replace it.

Charlie Allen

 

[TSandM]

I see the e-learning idea as a way of doing class prep. If you do e-learning for the classroom part, you have the student read the material on his own, and do some evaluation exercises in real-time (I'm assuming you do the quizzes and such on line, and get immediate feedback on what you did right or wrong, perhaps even with explanations for why people choose wrong answers?) Anything that remains unclear can be discussed with an instructor, as well as any questions that occur to the student that are not covered in the course materials.

For me, that would have been a FAR better use of my time. I read the book, did the quizzes, and then sat through a lecture where the exact same material was covered, essentially word for word, and I didn't need that at all. To be honest with you, MY time would far better have been spent with additional time in the pool, because the book stuff came easily, and the in-water skills did NOT!

 

[rmannix]

I would like to ask a simple question of both consumers and industry professionals.....What is it that REALLY concerns you about PADI eLearning?

Phil Ellis

There's no way to know that the person taking the course is the one that will be named on the c-card. But then again, the shop I taught for let the students take their written exams home to do them.