When is a skill "mastered"?

[chrpai]

FWIW, I know I'll never be [Insert name of your favorite dive god here]. But on the other hand the grim reaper doesn't care. I try to develop and maintain skills that will keep me out of his path.

 

[The Chairman]

To me mastery is obtained when a skill is comprehensive.

On this we will have to agree to agree. Not only does a diver have to be able to do a skill, but they also should know when to use it and do so at the appropriate time.

It's great that you know how to put air in your BC, but do you put a little in on the way down to remain neutral? Do you put enough in when you are on the surface so you don't have to wear yourself out kicking? If I am constantly telling you when to do the skill, then you really don't understand it. Also, if I have to tell when to refrain from that skill, like NOT putting in air as you ascend, then you simply don't comprehend it. I don't want to see a 90 second hover, I want to see it throughout the dive until it's time to float on the surface. I don't need to see skills done in a serial manner. I need to see them used to complete a dive. IOW, I want to see my student clearing their mask in situ and not while they are kneeling in the sand.

 

[Dsix36]

My personal thoughts on this might differ from everybody else.

I do not think that any skill is ever to the point of being "mastered". I believe that all skills require constant practice to be maintained and there will be progress rather than perfection (kinda an AA thing). There will always be that one in a million scenario where the circumstances will make a skill much more difficult, if not impossible, to perform in the anticipated time and manner.

Being proficient in the skill for the benefit of your instructor is not the same thing as having the skill mastered.

The best we can hope for is to be able to remain calm and work through each and every problem as we encounter them.

 

[TMHeimer]

All great answers from the experienced. It has to be automatic and at any time. Thus, I would say that very few if any OW students taking standard agency courses have mastered all (or most) of the skills. I know there are instructors who do more in depth courses with many more hours, so that may be a different situation. I guess you could master the giant stride by doing it once or twice. But for most people and most skills it takes repeated (and ongoing) practise.

 

[BDSC]

Thus, I would say that very few if any OW students taking standard agency courses have mastered all (or most) of the skills.

And if what you are saying is true, then many PADI instructors are passing students that they shouldn't. I say PADI instructors since they use the term "mastery". I have always felt it was more of a "feel good term" for PADI and not a word to be taken literally.

 

[TMHeimer]

And if what you are saying is true, then many PADI instructors are passing students that they shouldn't. I say PADI instructors since they use the term "mastery". I have always felt it was more of a "feel good term" for PADI and not a word to be taken literally.

I'm not saying I think that's true, but "mastered' is a debatable term (as per this thread). To my knowledge PADI doesn't define mastered. Sort of like advertising "our Pizza tastes best". If criteria for taste isn't defined, it can't be proven one way or the other. I could also define my personal "mastered" as being able to do the skills to "demonstration level" as required for PADI DM course--but not in super slow motion--maybe in very rapid motion. "Demonstration level" itself may be open to different views. On the other hand..... as you can see..... I'm not disagreeing with your reply either....

 

[RJP]

Discussion reminds me of a phrase I heard many years ago:

Learning means practicing something until you can do it right.

Mastery means practicing something until you can't do it wrong.

 

[AfterDark]

Yep, doing a skill correctly (not perfectly) without thinking about it and without stress. Someone posted like breathing.... or walking or waving.

 

[DevonDiver]

At the open water diver level, they need to be able to clear their mask "in a reasonably comfortable, fluid, and repeatable manner". Asking them to do it in a cave while shooting a bag is task loading and far beyond the scope of dive training.

Is that all?

What about maintaining buoyancy? I've seen divers who can't perform a mask clearance without losing all awareness of their buoyancy - they either begin an uncontrolled float to the surface or a plummet into the depths. I've had to intervene to prevent such occurrences with qualified divers on many occasions.

This is a common problem for me, where I teach basic wreck courses. Weakness in core skills causes task fixation. That in turn causes a host of subsequent issues - buoyancy/trim loss, silt disturbance, separation of buddy/team, guideline entanglement, impact or abrasion injuries against the wreck structure... etc etc etc

If a skill is taught...and assessed... only in a very artificial and isolated manner (i.e. on the knees), then it will fail to ensure the skill is applicable under reasonable 'real-world' conditions.

A skill cannot be considered 'mastered' for the purposes of certification at any given level - until it is sufficiently 'comfortable, fluid and repeatable' for application under real-world foreseeable and reasonable (for the level) conditions. The performance of that skill should not cause deterioration to other simultaneously required skill demands, nor should it pose any dangers to the individual diver, their buddy or their team.

Allowing a student to focus 100% on the performance of a single skill, with none of the additional demands they would reasonable encounter during an actual dive, is an entirely inadequate method of determining 'mastery'.

Assessing a skill in isolation, rather than in the context of reasonable application, should not be considered any definition of confirmed mastery for qualification. Yet, this is what happens on the vast, overwhelming majority of courses. This is how the performance/assessments standards are written for those courses... skills in isolation, with no context.

The assessment of skill mastery should be done in the context of all other valid skill requirements for that level. So, for Open Water divers, that means whilst maintaining neutral buoyancy and with gas/depth/time/buddy awareness... If DSMB use..or any other supplemental skills... were necessary in a given location (and included on that course), they too should become part of the context of all skills assessments on that course.

 

[DCBC]

...To my knowledge PADI doesn't define mastered.

You bring-up an excellent point. I suppose that the definition of "Mastery" is:

1. What the Certification Agency defines it to be; and in some cases

2. What the Instructor interprets it to be for the diving environment in-which the student is to be certified.

For example, NAUI could define what mastery is, but at the same time they encourage their Instructors to expand the "Minimum Standards." In other words as long as the minimum is met, I can increase the requirements as I deem are reasonably necessary.

In this way, Mastery is like beauty as it's in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps it would be more beneficial to explore what Mastery is not, than what it is. I see too many new divers that certainly don't seem to have attained "Mastery" of the basic skills and this should be a concern to all divers and the industry.