Posted by e-shark on August 02, 2001 at 12:17:25:
In Reply to: Re: Training standards posted by MHK on August 02, 2001 at 09:27:51:
"Right there it tells you right off the bat that the instructor can be replaced by a cd-rom."
For much of the classroom work for a traditional scuba class, you bet. When the CD-ROM starts getting in the pool or going to the ocean, then I'll be concerned.
Entry level diving academics is a discrete body of knowledge, not some arcane and mysterious lore that can only be passed on by a caste of priests in cult-like rites. How the beginning diver acquires that basic knowledge is not itself important, provided that it is acquired. The traditional lecture format is not an outstanding way to impart the basic knowledge. I've been to many lectures (scuba and non-scuba) where information is conveyed despite the lecturer's presentation skills, not because of them. The things that make a lecture effective, such as visual aids, can often be done better via a CD-ROM than in the typical scuba classroom. That a person is knowledgeable about diving and is himself a good diver is no guarantee that he can teach his way out of a wet paper bag in the classroom.
The point of the CD-ROM is that it should enable the scuba instructor to spend the available classroom time more productively, such as focusing on problem areas and/or application of the basic knowledge to local diving conditions.
If you want to complain that knowledge of local diving conditions is not being passed on to new divers in the entry level course, then say so. I'd probably agree, although I think the problem is caused more by decisions made by dive store owners and individual instructors rather than the certification agency.
"Would you accept your child getting sent home from school and told that in lieu of a teacher he/she can just learn from a cd-rom???"
We accept children reading textbooks at home and doing practice problems for homework. A CD-ROM is not fundamentally different.
"In the 80's did you just sit in the sand for 2 skills and call the dive???"
I recall in the 80's sitting in a classroom and listening to scuba lectures and being bored out of my skull. The information presented in the lectures was not much different from the textbook, so it was mere repetition. Also, the instructor had to spend time on elementary dive physics and dive tables for the few who just didn't get it.
As far as certification dives went, here are the stats for my four dives. Each was done on a different day (i.e., no repetitive dives or corresponding dive table calculations).
#1 20' max for :20
#2 20' max for :21
#3 20' max for :28
#4 35' max for :18
Given the location of these dives, the depths and times, and that there were five students in the class, there couldn't have been a tremendous amount of skills performed.
I certified through a traditional dive store in Southern California, one that had been in business for quite a while. It wasn't Sport Chalet, it wasn't a chain, and it wasn't PADI.