Scuba Instructor Training Courses – Teaching How to Teach

By | Training

I’ve had a few people ask me about becoming instructors, what to look for, and what to expect from an instructor training class. So I thought I would write this to give people my opinion of what an instructor training course should be like. I am not a Course Director (CD) or Instructor Trainer (IT). I am a PADI IDC Staff instructor, that allows me to teach Assistant Instructors (AI) and assist with the instructor development courses (IDC) for PADI. I really have no desire to become an IT/CD.

First, let me start off by giving my history of instructor level courses. I first became a PADI instructor by going through a full 7 day IDC. I crossed over to TDI by applying to be a Nitrox only instructor. That got my foot in the door at TDI. I then took a few TDI special instructor level courses and then the Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures instructor courses. Finally, I did a SDI crossover course to teach for SDI. Of all the instructor level courses, the only one that came remotely close to teaching me how to teach, was the PADI IDC. However, it has it shortcomings.

- PADI’s way of teaching instructor candidates how to teach is by having the instructor candidate do micro-teaching presentations. Micro-teaching, you let the student read the material at home. Then you go over the knowledge reviews/quiz answers and remediate only what they missed. The argument is that you don’t need to teach people what they already learned by reading the manual. So, during the IDC, instructor candidates are taught to create this micro lesson plans that only cover one question out of the book or quiz. In the water, the CDs do teach how to control students, how to position yourself and assistants to have control over the class, etc. This is good, except that multiple techniques were taught and we were told to pick the one that best suited us. There was no discussion on which method would work best in what situation. There was no discussion on how to create presentations for entire sections of the entire course. I don’t like the idea of only reviewing the questions the students missed and only having minimal lectures. I have a ton of knowledge in my head that I want to share with my students. So the class should have prepared me to create presentations that would maximize student learning.

- The SDI crossover I would rank as the number 2 course I took that was beneficial in terms of teaching how to teach. SDI has moved their crossover to an online version, which was nice as I could do it in my PJs at midnight. However, I didn’t have to prove that I can actually teach and that I knew the material. It was assumed that because I was already and instructor for PADI, I knew how to teach. I would think that they would want 100% proof that I was a good enough instructor to join their ranks. I, at a minimum, should have taught a course or section of a course.

- The TDI tech instructor I would rank as the worst in terms of teaching me how to teach. It basically consisted of me giving two classroom presentation, demonstrating a couple skills, and that was it. There was no time set aside to actually teach me how to be a tech instructor, how to control students, how to create presentations, how to evaluate student performance, how to position myself to remain in control of the class, or even if I knew any of the material. It was more of a, watch and do things like me type of class. I wasn’t even asked about how I would evaluate the students in the class I was “interning” for. In hindsight, my PADI IDC was more thorough than this ITC.

What an Instructor Training Course Should Look Like

It is my opinion, that any instructor course should teach the instructor candidate how to teach the material in which the class they are wanting to teach. If we look at my PADI IDC, I should have taught a complete program (i.e. full OW class) instead of small portions of sections of the class. To best judge who will be a good instructor, you have to see how they teach all of the material and if they know more than what is listed in the book. This is the thing, many instructor candidates do not have advanced level knowledge of the material they are wanting to teach. For example, Nitrox instructors should have a basic understanding of the Oxygen Window. Even though they may never teach that to their Nitrox students. However, by having an advanced understanding of topics in this area, it helps them explain to their students the benefits of diving on Nitrox. Get my point? By having a higher understanding of things, instructors can effectively come up with better answers to student questions than just reading, verbatim, from the instructor guide.

For tech instructor candidates, they should be teaching the entire course, both classroom and in-water sessions, under the direct supervision of an IT. There should be sessions where the IT and the instructor candidate(s) sit down and review the instructor candidate’s performance, knowledge, etc outside of the class that instructor candidates are “interning” with. Technical diving is an activity that can have disastrous results if not done properly. Tech instructors should go through an extremely rigorous program to ensure they know the material and can effectively teach the class. Having had discussions with people like Steve Lewis and Andrew Georgitsis, it is clear that instructor training courses should focus solely on making sure the instructor candidate can teach effectively. Tech instructor classes should be divided up into two sections. One where the IT teaches the instructor candidate how to teach, confirms the candidate knows the material, etc. Then another one where the instructor candidate puts into practice what he/she was taught and teaches a real class, under the direct supervision of the IT.

Any person wishing to become a scuba instructor should do their homework and interview potential CDs or ITs to see what they teach and how they teach it. The potential instructor should also be diligent and get the advanced level know of the topics they are wishing to teach.

Overall, teaching diving has been one of the best things in my life. I love doing it just as much as I love diving. It has made me appreciate the diving that I do. However, I wished I would have had more thorough instructor training courses. It would have saved me a lot of time, money and effort, that was spent on trying to come up with a program that works. Ultimately, I was able to create programs that I feel maximizes student learning, but it was all due to my own hard work. Of all the instructor classes I’ve taken, none have become what I call a “Glorious Class”. I still smile though. With all the agencies and ITCs out there, there must be one up to the task.

I welcome your questions and comments.

Dive Safe,
Duane Johnson
Precision Diving

NOTES FROM A RECREATIONAL DIVER – The Vagaries of Dive Training

By | Training

We all agree on the importance of dive training – it’s clear that how we actually dive, interact with others on our dive team, deal with unexpected situations – is largely determined by the quality of our training – as well as by our attitude, and by divers we learn from and dive with.

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Aruba Dive Report, February, 2004

By | Trip Reports

I know this is old, but I thought I would post it anyway. My wife and I took a vacation to Aruba for my non-diving wife’s 30th birthday. We spend nine days in Aruba, staying at the Bucuti Beach Resort. Bucuti is a really nice resort. The people were great and the beach was not crowded like that at the high rise section. I would strongly recommend staying at the Bucuti if you like your peace and quiet.

I will state one lesson learned. Don’t forget to put sun block on your face!!! The sun is very intense and the strong winds don’t make you feel hot. The first day we were there, I forgot to put sun block on my face. Well, three days later my face peeled in sheets. Learn from my mistake!!!

Now for the diving

I did seven dives with Red Sail Sports of Aruba. I have to say that I wasn’t overly impressed with them. Every day they picked me up late at my hotel. The first day is check in day and they take forever to get people moving. I was scheduled for a 9:00 dive. The boat didn’t leave till 9:45. I did four south coast dives. If you get sea sick, you might not want to do these dives. The waves were pretty rough. Red Sail offers two boats in the morning. The 9:00 does two tanks on the south coast. The 9:15 does the Antilla wreck and a second shallow dive. The 9:15 is the cattle boat that usually hauls the tourists from the cruise ships to the dive sites. The most people we had on our south coast boat was eight. So the boat wasn’t very crowded. Red Sail also has this rule that all dive times are held to a max of 40 minutes. This even includes people diving computers. So on a few dives, I would finish my dive with around 1000 psi left in my tank. This is one of my biggest complaints about Red Sail. Since the visibility wasn’t very good, I decided not to rent a camera. Sorry, no pictures.

Dive 1: Balashi Reef
Max Depth: 115 feet Dive Time: 40:50 Weather: Clear Visibility: 40 feet Surface Temp: 81 F Depth Temp: 79 F Starting Pressure: 2840 psi Ending Pressure: 580 psi Description: Balashi Reef is a decent dive. Had a decent current so it was a partial drift dive. Nothing like Cozumel. The coral looked like it was dying. There wasn’t much color to it. The marine life consisted of a few tropical fish. We did see one green moray eel. Overall a decent dive.

Dive 2: Skalaheia
Dive Time: 41:50 Max Depth: 54 feet Weather: Clear Visibility: Clear Surface Temp: 81 F Depth Temp: 79 F Starting Pressure: 2670 psi Ending Pressure: 1130 psi Description: Skalaheia is a great site for drift diving. The current that day was pretty strong. This one was close to the drift dives in Cozumel. Again, not much to see in terms of coral and marine life. There was a green moray eel again. I enjoyed this dive since it was just a nice relaxing drift dive.

Dive 3: The Fingers
Max Depth: 109 feet Dive Time: 41:30 Weather: Partly Cloudy Visibility: 50 feet Surface Temp: 82 F Depth Temp: 79 F Starting Pressure: 2760 psi Ending Pressure: 990 psi Description: This dive site is pretty cool. The reef looks like a giant finger pointing down to the depths. The coral looked healthier than that of the first two dives I was on, but it wasn’t the greatest. Some marine life. Saw a lobster, two green moray eels, and a barracuda.

Dive 4: Mango Halto
Max Depth: 61 feet Dive Time: 43:50 Weather: Partly Cloudy Visibility: 20 feet Surface Temp: 79 F Depth Temp: 79 F Starting Pressure: 2810 psi Ending Pressure: 1220 psi Description: Nothing very interesting about this dive. It did have a little current so there was a small drift. Same coral and marine life. Only saw a barracuda.

Dive 5: Blue Reef
Max Depth: 69 feet Dive Time: 40:30 Weather: Clear Visibility: 30 feet Surface Temp: 82 F Depth Temp 79 F Starting Pressure: Ending Pressure: Description: This was my last day of diving in Aruba. It was a Sunday and Red Sail doesn’t offer any boats to the south coast. So I was put on a cattle boat. There must have been 15-17 people on this boat. The dive site itself was OK. Saw a green moral eel. At one time, this reef was alive with color. Hence it’s name, Blue Reef. Now after years diving on it, the coral has started dying and not much color remains. It was an OK dive. At least I got wet.

Dive 6: Arashi Airplane
Max Depth: 42 feet Dive Time: 45:40 Weather: Clear Visibility: 20 feet Surface Temp: 81 F Depth Temp: 79 F Starting Pressure: 2870 psi Ending Pressure: 1390 psi Description: This was supposed to be a dive on a sunken airplane. The only thing that I saw were three props. Here I did see a spotted moray eel and some tropical fish. The viz wasn’t the greatest and the dive master decided to do his own thing and left us to follow. This is an OK dive to off gas.

Dive 7: Antilla Wreck
Max Depth: 55 feet Dive Time: 41:20 Weather: Clear Visibility: 10 feet Surface Temp: 82 F Depth Temp: 79 F Starting Pressure: 2760 psi Ending Pressure: 900 psi Description: This is the dive where I had some adventure. The dive plan was to enter the wreck at the bottom and work our way up through the wreck and exit at around 40 feet. There were only four of us on the boat. So it was a small group. It was determined by the dive leader that we follow in a single file line through the wreck. Since I was the most advanced of the group, the dive leader wanted me to be at the end of the line just in case anyone had any trouble. No reels or lifelines were used when penetrating this wreck. We get through the first two levels OK. Some passage ways were completely dark. Thoughtfully, I brought along my dive light. We get to the third level which is a dimly lit passage way. At the end there are some steel beams that look like a grid. With the exit hole just pas the grid. With holes big enough to swim through. Or so I thought. The dive leader and the three people ahead of me have no problems getting through the grid. Well, I’m 6’3″ and 235 lbs. Needless to say, there wasn’t enough grease to lube myself up with to squeeze through. Not knowing how to get out of the wreck the way I came, I decided to wait for the dive leader to come back and get me. I waited for 5 minutes (which felt like hours). No one showed up. So I realized that I was on my own to get out of there. So I removed my BCD and clipped it off on the other side of the grid. Then I had to pull myself through the hole and put on my BCD. By the time I exited the wreck, only one person was there waiting for me. So we swam back to the up line, did our safety stop. After the safety stop, I was on my way up the line when a sudden up surge pushed me up too fast and my computer gave me a ceiling violation for a fast ascend. So I did another three minute safety stop just to be safe. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy with the dive leader and he didn’t get a tip from me that day.

Overall, we loved our vacation to Aruba.

The climate is next to perfection. I was a little disappointed in the diving. But a bad day in Aruba is better than the best day in Chicago. Diving in Aruba doesn’t compare to that in Grand Cayman or Hawaii. But it was better than diving in Jamaica.

GUE Fundamentals – June 2006

By | Course Reports

At 4:30 AM on Friday 9 June, 2006 I left my warm and cozy bed for the 4 hour drive from Chicago to Detroit to start my GUE Fundamentals course. I’ve been looking forward to this course ever since I first started talking to one of the instructors in late 2005. Needless to say, my excitement got the best of me and I didn’t sleep much the night before.

I arrived at the home of Scot Wernette shortly after 10:00 AM. I felt bad for being late, but I was relieved I didn’t miss anything as Scot was having technical difficulty getting the projector to work. At 10:30 AM everything was running and my official journey towards DIR started. Teaching along with Scot was Brandon Schwartz.

Day 1
This day was dedicated to achieving as much classroom work as possible. We spent the day in Scot’s dinning room going over all of the things in the DIR-F workbook and a few other things that Scot and Brando had for us. Nothing really special here. Just your typical classroom stuff.

Day 2
The morning started off by stopping at a local coffee shop to pick up James Mott. He was to help out by shooting video of the class. Grabbed an OJ and muffin and we were on our way to the quarry. Once we arrived at the quarry, we geared up and started our dive briefings.

Dive one was to consist of propulsion techniques. My frog and modified frog kick looked good as did my helicopter turns. My modified flutter still needs a little work as I don’t quite have that “snap” at the end of the kick. I need to work on keep my back arched and butt cheeks tight. I’m still dropping my knees. My back kick, well do we really need to go over how bad that was? I did practice it a little during the weekend and could feel it getting better. Especially on the times when I had my trim under control.

Dive two was to consist of the basic 5 and center of gravity drill. The basic five went well as I’m used to having students knock my mask off or kick the reg out of my mouth. To test our situational awareness, Brando and Scot threw an OOG at my two dive buddies. They performed it well, but didn’t pay attention to me. As a result, I got punished. Brando yanks me away from the team and asks for my mask. Below the thermocline. Thanks! No use deploying the backup as he would have asked for that too. I think I sat there waving my light, getting a major brain freeze, for 10 minutes before they finally found me and gave me my mask. Dive was called after I broke rock bottom. Doh!!!

We went to the hotel and checked in. We met up again at to go over the video debrief. We went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and had a good time making fun of ourselves.

Day 3
We started the day by finishing up the lectures on dive planning, the 4 pillars of DIR and lift bags. Then we headed to the pool for our swims. It wasn’t as bad as I was planning. But 16 laps in a small hotel pool really suck. The only thing that I practiced before the class was making sure I had the swimming down. I wasn’t happy with the time it took for me to do the laps. I finished them up in 12 minutes. During my practice sessions, I was doing them in 9. But it was still with the 14 minutes required. The breath hold swim went well. I had to go last in order to catch my breath from the laps (and my shoulders were starting to tighten up). The pool was 50 feet long, I was able to do with no problems. And to add an extra touch, I swam half way back. At least I could do something right for this class.

Dive three of the class was to consist of valve drills. I was able to perform the drill, but it needs to be cleaned up a lot more. My buoyancy wasn’t the greatest. My problem was that I made an equipment change prior to the class and not having a chance to try it out yet. I needed to tighten up my harness for the suit I was wearing. When I test dove that, I found that I was top heavy from the tanks. So I moved the bands up further and of course I didn’t get a chance to dive them yet. If I had, I would have realized that they were up a tad to far and had some slight difficulty reaching them on the first try.

Dive four was to only consist of the descent/ascent drill. What a mess! Right off the bat one of the team members was having ear problems which slowed down our descent. Of course, we didn’t keep track of him and lost him when we got to the bottom. For our sin, Scot and Brando threw an OOG our way. So now we are sharing air and decide to look for our missing teammate. I tied off my spool to the up line to perform a circle search for him. That was another mistake. Since we were at the beginning part of the dive, we should have just surfaced after losing the buddy. There really was no need to search. While we were searching, Brando and Scot put our missing buddy close to where I tied off. Now this buddy was a line magnet. On every dive, he would always get tangled up in the line. Not because the instructors did it to him, but because he did it to himself! This is where things got worse. We find him and get ready to surface, but now he is all tangled up in line. Not just tangled, but it was tied around his valve! Once we freed him, we realize that we lost track of the up line. During all of the mess with the line, the person I was donating to swam under another line. She then had to share with the buddy we just found to free up my long hose. Once we got everybody squared away, we ascended. But we ascended to slow to Brando and Scot’s liking. I got punished again. Scot comes over and asks for my mask. Damn him!!! I let him know what I was thinking with a one handed gesture. Reluctantly, I gave him my mask.

After we surfaced, we agreed that that dive flat out sucked and wanted to practice it again. Be careful what you wish for!!! We descended again. The times and depths weren’t right on the money, but close. We kept track of our teammates and were thinking this was going to be a fun dive. WRONG!!! Our ascent started a little slower than we would have liked. For that we got punished. I did a good job keeping the up line in sight, but came to close to some yellow line that was already there. Some how I got tangled up on it. No worries, I stopped what I was doing and signaled my team to come and help. While they were helping me, Brando and Scot threw another OOG at them. We got squared away and started our ascent. Again the ascent was too slow and again I got punished for it. Scot comes over to me and asks for my mask again! Come one! At least we were above the thermocline. Now this is where the dive turned to crap. The person who was controlling my ascent wasn’t controlling her buoyancy. I found out the hard way when we dropped below the thermocline. Thanks. Scot and Brando thumbed the dive due to gas and we surfaced.

We met up again at Buffalo Wild Wings for the video debrief and evals.

Conclusion
Overall I didn’t bring my “A game” with me. I know I can do better than what I did during the class. The things I need to work on are keeping my trim while task loading and slowing down the thought process to get things in the right priority.

GUE doesn’t want zombies. They want thinking divers. That was the thing that was driven home for me. You can have great skills, but if you can’t think and put things in the right priority, then those skills aren’t worth spit. Very little time was spent on the equipment of DIR. More time was spent on situational awareness and thinking the right way. That is what is truly at the heart of DIR.

In the end, I achieved most of what I wanted out of the class. I wanted to be put into situations that I haven’t be in before. Scot and Brando definitely did that and then some. There is so much more that I can put into this report, but you won’t learn anything by reading this on the internet. You have to go experience it.

I have to give a big thanks to Scot and Brando for starting me on the path to doing it better in my journey to doing it right.

Dive Save,
Duane
Precision Diving

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