Very interesting thread, Lynne, and thanks for starting it. Im a rank rookie, so let me add the uneducated consumer's viewpoint. I admittedly don't have a lot of perspective here, but my PADI AOW did exactly what I expected it to do - it finished the intro job that was left undone by my OW class, and gave me a few more dives under some supervision the chance to make a few mistakes with an instructor watching and able to offer corrective advice (like, "you're swimming to maintain constant depth, so stop and learn to control your buoyancy instead of swimming", or relax and control your breathing, right now youre the source of Ross Perots giant suckin sound).
Whats more, it didnt seem that bad a deal for the student to me my instruction and card was included in the booking of a six dive package with the school, but even in most of the less attractive pricing plans Ive seen, its not too much different than doing those five required dives off a dive boat without any instruction at all. I wholeheartedly agree that it's pretty thin achievement to call myself "advanced" on the strength of this class (and I wouldn't), but it helped a good deal, and was worth it (the fact that I was lucky enough to take my AOW with an experienced course director as a one-on-one affair may have had an effect on my appreciation of the course).
"Open Water II" makes much more sense as a name for this course, though. Advanced Open Water sounds more to me like what Master Scuba Diver should be called, since from my reading of the requirements, that term may be a bit inflated too (I hasten to reiterate for the benefit of those who are so certified that this is solely from a reading of the paper requirements, and not a reflection on the skills of those who may hold the card, which Im sure greatly exceed my own.)
OW2 should be an option in its current smorgasbord format, I think. I doubt it makes anyone a worse diver, and not everyone has the time, the money, or the interest to do a more demanding course, so OW2 is probably right for them. It provides a convenient, bite-sized chunk of training, and perhaps most importantly, helps keep the lights on at the LDS, which is neither trivial nor (Im sure) easy. I think the name does matter, because Ill bet it has an effect on what some divers think they know when theyve completed the course as Pearldiver07 points out, AOW may make some overconfident (if they take the label too seriously), but changing the name would help that a lot, Id guess.
I was a little disappointed that the course was so cursory even though I thought I got a fair amount from it, though, and Id have cheerfully paid more and committed more time for a more rigorous version. If Dave's right and Advanced turns out to be sacrosanct to PADI, maybe Performance Diver or some such title could be used for that sort of course.
I agree that such a more rigorous course should have more structure to it. I agree with Tom and BabyDuck that it should require the student to meet well-defined standards of performance, and I imagine it would likely have more required dives, which should come in a prescribed order. This would have several advantages, the two most important of which would be; 1) when you met the standards, you and your future diving companions would have a well defined set of expectations that you all knew you could meet, and 2) it would make the course more portable, to allow the student to do it in stages as time and money allow, and not necessarily in the same place (one instructor would have to know where to begin with a student who had completed only part of the course).
Id defer to those of you who have taught diving to define those standards, but Id have liked to see:
In the water: Start with PPB/trim dives (probably at least two), and dont advance until clear and recognizable standards are met. The standards would have to be defined by folks with more skill than I, but when I completed the section, Id like to know that I wouldnt embarrass myself among more experienced divers, could rely on staying off a reef and not making unplanned depth deviations of more than a foot or so(?). Im a pilot, and you cant get a private pilots license until you can keep a planes altitude to within 100 of your intended altitude. Im not by any means saying pilot training is perfect (its not), but something similarly concrete should be required of divers (though Im guessing the tolerances will be a good deal closer!
) As a bonus, I love dschonbruns idea of being required to be able to adjust for a suddenly imposed change in buoyancy (or trim, for that matter) I imagine that would be very useful in keeping some minor emergencies from turning into major ones.
On land (either before or after the first dives): Impose some pretty serious gas management, dive planning, and navigational headwork, including a workbook with some basic drills and some interesting and complex problems that would push the student enough that if he completed them properly, he (and future instructors, DMs, and buddies) could be confident that he knew what he was doing, had the principles down cold, and would not need to be watched too closely to prevent his blowing an NDL or a minimum SI, or getting lost. Require that workbook to be turned in and reviewed to be sure its properly done, and then require (and review) a gas management plan for every dive in the course after that, regardless of whether or not the diver used a computer, and spend a little time with how to use that prepared plan in the event of a computer failure. This would probably involve some computer use instruction the instructor would have to take the time to learn a computer he didnt already know how to operate, and make sure the student knew also. Then, check the gas plans the student produced against the instructors overall dive plan for each dive, and account for any variations to the instructors satisfaction.
I think the rest of your curriculum sounds great, in the order you describe (and I agree with Peter that at least one deep dive should be required, if not more than one), provided that there were agreed and clear standards for the tasks you describe. I also agree that some search & recovery skills could be integrated into the navigation section, to provide a set of measurable challenges to overcome, if nothing else. Whats more, I think that the night dive should be made a requirement independent of region I think those skills would be good prep for a deep dive and instructive for all anyway (I certainly found them so). Theyd also provide a standard that would be more transportable after completion (Hes a Performance Diver, so we can expect him to have the basics down wherever he goes to do a non-technical dive.) The same portability argument could almost be made for a drysuit dive, but that may be impractical Im having a hard time envisioning a dive school in Bonaire or Palau laying in a stock of rental drysuits for this purpose only.
Maybe most of this, if portable enough to accomplish in sections, is just another way to lay out a specialty program that approximates a particular Master Scuba Diver curriculum, but I think the standardization is the primary benefit here. I actually sort of doubt that there are a lot of these folks around, but just reading the manual, it looks to me like a dedicated card chaser could conceivably get that designation by focusing on fish ID, boat diving, UW photography & videography, basket weaving, etc. That cheapens the designation, and makes it less useful than a clear set of competency standards.
I think a course with clear standards could be started by a diver without a lot of dives behind him, but it would be a mistake to say that it could be completed in a given number of dives, as anything more than an estimate. Bobs experience seems to confirm this (and his class sounds great wish I were in the PNW!) If it were completed only when the standards were met, the instruction would be less cursory and less by rote, and the designation would mean more, both to the student and to anyone he encountered later while carrying the card. It wouldnt replace experience, but it would provide that experience with good soil in which to take root, and would be an achievement worth working at.
