Wrote the PADI Nitrox exam today ...

[Alan Browne]

To be clear, you learned to use the tables, right?
Unless you paid more than an eLearning course would cost, then no harm no foul, you just worked harder than needed if you will only be using a computer for EAN. You may want to ask the shop or instructor about other options not offered for future reference, in case it affects the way you do business with them in the future.
Also, PADI does have a dive computer crew pack version too, so there is still a non eLearning version that does not require learning tables. With that independent study followed by the classroom, it is not too much different from doing the eLearning course.

Tables, yep. That used up a good portion of the session. To be sure I'll be diving with a computer (and we spent about 20 minutes on that too).

I don't mind doing the tables. It gives you clear appreciation and insight into what's going on.

This shop (I expect) does not offer anything other than the course as they present it. The instructor gathered all of our signed worksheets to be filed too.

Not sure how to put it, but I think they train "above requirement" by a wide margin. Very do-it-safe-by-doing-it-right.

 

[Alan Browne]

I had one student tell me the PADI eLearning took him 2 hours, but I think that is very much at the low end of the scale for actual experience. Still, easily done in one sitting. And I figure about an hour with me at the shop after, where I review far more than just the 10 question eLearning quiz and the two simulated dives. Multiple students will take longer.

10 question eLearning quiz? We did 2 x 25 question exams, the latter with the tables and direct calculations.

We did 2 simulated dives + a multilevel (as a bit of "off the menu dessert").

It's like a massive disconnect. I certainly feel better that I did it the way I did it.

 

[EireDiver606]

That sounds like some basic sh!t to struggle with as an adult. I mean it’s not hard at all.

I suppose everyone has their own learning abilities and speeds. What did they find hard? The sequence or the actual maths involved?

 

[JackD342]

10 question eLearning quiz? We did 2 x 25 question exams, the latter with the tables and direct calculations.

We did 2 simulated dives + a multilevel (as a bit of "off the menu dessert").

It's like a massive disconnect. I certainly feel better that I did it the way I did it.

Yes, 10 question quiz with eLearning. I describe the eLearning quizzes as “quality control,” since the online course already requires mastery of various quizzes and exams before ever arriving at the shop. Two entirely different animals, and again in this case with tables, very different content.

You felt you got value for your money and your time, and that is all well and good. And the shop is certainly not required to explain all of the options available, but other customers/students may feel differently than you. I am not criticizing the use of the old course, just explaining all the options. Lots of different ways to get the job done. I don’t see any “disconnect.”
Even the entry level Open Water course now defaults to learning with computers, and learning RDP is an option. I strongly encourage learning RDP for a foundation of understanding, but I don’t force it on my students.

 

[Divectionist]

I should clarify re my PADI Nitrox experience.

Step 1: Ask local dive shop for Nitrox Course
Step 2: Receive email with PADI elearning code
Step 3: Log onto course, see a number of videos available plus a knowledge review and final exam tab
Step 4: Scrub through some of the lecture videos during lunch, realise that they are very basic and decide not to watch them (I know the theory)
Step 5: Realise that I can skip the knowledge review MCQ as the "take the final exam" page that should be displayed after completing the review is just a scroll down away from the knowledge review start page.
Step 6: Proceed to the 20 or 25 or something like that MCQ final exam questions, each taking between 5-15 seconds to complete I would say, so around 5 minutes is probably a good guess.
Step 7: Go analyse some tanks (takes 3 minutes to learn using the O2 Quickstick, calibrate the thing for air, which was already fine, and then check both tanks) and then just go diving with two tanks like any other dive with my comp set to Nx32.

Not a table in sight. Not a single calculation in sight.

So yes, even if you know nothing about Nitrox when taking the course (I am just not the type of person that 'blindly' enters a course for spoon-feeding by learning material) and watch all the videos, it is an extremely shallow and quick course.

I would much prefer being required to do all the calcs it takes to manually come up with a dive plan. Not because that is realistic (computer does it all) but because I believe in understanding fundamentals.

I wish diving education was not designed for resort holidaymakers.

 

[TMHeimer]

When I took it (2006) I don't think there was e learning and think computers were not taught in any course here. It was frustrating however for the instructor to have to go over the AIR tables for one or 2 people. Talk about being unprepared......plus, how were these "advanced' people diving without knowing tables and most likely without a DC?

 

[yle]

I'll agree that Jack has a valid point: most people using nitrox these days are "casual" divers that really just need to know how to analyze their tanks and set their computers to the correct mix. However, there is real value in understanding how to use tables for nitrox. The value is in dive planning, and it can have real consequences. I recently spent a week in Cozumel doing two-tank trips and chose to do one air, one nitrox. Which one should I use first?

Knowing how to use the tables, and having the tables available, meant I could answer that question very quickly and decisively. Personally, I think people that are run through a nitrox course that ignores tables are being short-changed. I always go through the tables and computers when I teach nitrox, because I understand the value to my students.

 

[yle]

I should clarify re my PADI Nitrox experience.

Step 1: Ask local dive shop for Nitrox Course
Step 2: Receive email with PADI elearning code
Step 3: Log onto course, see a number of videos available plus a knowledge review and final exam tab
Step 4: Scrub through some of the lecture videos during lunch, realise that they are very basic and decide not to watch them (I know the theory)
Step 5: Realise that I can skip the knowledge review MCQ as the "take the final exam" page that should be displayed after completing the review is just a scroll down away from the knowledge review start page.
Step 6: Proceed to the 20 or 25 or something like that MCQ final exam questions, each taking between 5-15 seconds to complete I would say, so around 5 minutes is probably a good guess.
Step 7: Go analyse some tanks (takes 3 minutes to learn using the O2 Quickstick, calibrate the thing for air, which was already fine, and then check both tanks) and then just go diving with two tanks like any other dive with my comp set to Nx32.

Not a table in sight. Not a single calculation in sight.

So yes, even if you know nothing about Nitrox when taking the course (I am just not the type of person that 'blindly' enters a course for spoon-feeding by learning material) and watch all the videos, it is an extremely shallow and quick course.

I would much prefer being required to do all the calcs it takes to manually come up with a dive plan. Not because that is realistic (computer does it all) but because I believe in understanding fundamentals.

I wish diving education was not designed for resort holidaymakers.

Yeah... unfortunate, you pretty much describe the minimum standards of the PADI nitrox course when using the eLearning option. Of course any PADI instructor is allowed to expand on the knowledge shared in the course, and the real value of the course is in the additional knowledge that comes from the instructor's personal experience. When I do the nitrox course, I like to go through a "here's what the book says, but here's how you'll find it really works when you actually go diving" session with my students. I also welcome students' questions about the finer points of deeper diving and using mixed gases, as it opens the door for me to explain how the basic nitrox course allows them to eventually progress to AN/DP, if they're interested.

Sounds like you got someone only interested in giving you the bare minimum. But it doesn't have to be that way.

 

[yle]

10 question eLearning quiz? We did 2 x 25 question exams, the latter with the tables and direct calculations.

We did 2 simulated dives + a multilevel (as a bit of "off the menu dessert").

It's like a massive disconnect. I certainly feel better that I did it the way I did it.

Your instructor went well beyond the minimum requirements, which is great for you. Your instructor really wanted you to have an understanding of the subject that might inspire you to think deeper (no pun intended... okay, maybe a little intended) about your diving and how it relates to your training. And possibly encourage you to take your training further.

 

[Divectionist]

Sounds like you got someone only interested in giving you the bare minimum. But it doesn't have to be that way.

I can't put the fault onto the instructor in this case because I dove with the operator before and there was an understanding that we are going through the motions.
That said, for complete beginners without any external knowledge, there is a massive difference between dive schools and instructors and I would urge anyone to find those that go the 'extra mile', which means as much as the extra mile that should be prescribed but is sadly the domain of those few that really care.

When I did my first open water equivalent course with a German agency 14 years ago, we had a really good classroom section with very boring dives, felt very much like the academic session it probably should be and is not anymore. When I then did PADI on a liveaboard, the dives were amazing (GBR 10 years ago) but the classroom section was more entertainment than serious. My AOWD was an online joke plus dives similar to the Nitrox story above, but at that stage that is probably sufficient unless one does the AOWD immediately following OWD without any experience in-between, or is in need of a refresher through that course. If you just want to dive and get the certs on the side to satisfy operator requirements, it's fine.

It is the combination of new divers + little self-guided learning capacity or interest + unmotivated teaching + bare basics elearning content that scares me. It is not like we need any more bad divers.