Concerned with my Instructors Methods/OW certification class

[sealsix14]

Hello everyone,

I am currently taking an OW certification class through my University and I find it fun and am so excited to continue my diving education way beyond basic OW but I have some concerns that maybe some of you veterans can help me out with. Currently I am taking and SSI OW class and my instructor is very nice but is quite laid back, but i'm not sure if this is a good thing, just to let you guys know this is how a normal class goes, and to let you know we are in the pool at 13 feet for average of 40 minutes a week.

Class begins with set up of equipment, the first week we learned how to use the equipment, then we proceed through our pre-dive checks and buddy checks for safety which is all good and very important. Once we are cleared and are sure we are ready to enter the water, we enter and then proceed to go down to 13 feet. But this is where the problems come with this class. For the past two weeks (two classes, one each friday) we have done nothing but sit at the bottom...and this concerns me. I know that I need great buoyancy control, proper weighting, and breathing yet we have not practiced anything or even been taught this stuff yet ( I have completed all the book work though). I'm sure he might bring it up eventually but when we enter the water the assistant instructors which are just students are down there just watching us.

I would think we should be doing drills and practicing neutral buoyancy yet I feel like I am personally not getting the proper training. We are going down to Ginnie Springs florida for our OW certification dives on April 26-28 and when I go I wish to be fully prepared for anything and would like to know that I can handle whatever happens, and not just rely on the Instructor being there for "safety".

I could be jumping the gun and he could bring this up sooner or later; but i feel my time spent in the pool each week should be spent wisely and not on wasting it just sitting at the bottom of the pool. If you guys have any suggestions of something I should tell the Instructor or should be doing on my own in the pool to make better use of our pool time I would appreciate the guidance.

Thanks everyone!

 

[ajduplessis]

Speak to your instructor. He/she will not know how you feel if you don't communicate. The instructor might have a very specific way in going through the course. You will not know until you ask.

 

[tstormdiver]

I agree. It may just be the way the instructor goes through this particular course. Ask. Although (personally) it seems strange to just have people sitting at the bottom, doing nothing for 2 long sessions, he may be allowing others to acclimate to breathing underwater or something I can not even guess. I personally drill my students through skills multiple times during the course,... but that is (MY) style. Our shop teaches at a local university. The course is much longer than out typical courses (normally 4-5 sessions compared to nearly 10 for the university course), so skills are taught at a much slower rate & drilled time & again. I would ask the instructor when he plans on teaching underwater skills.

 

[DevonDiver]

As others have said, it's worth chatting with the instructor to ascertain what his reasoning is. I can't see any logic for having 'acclimatization' lasting more than one session.

In the best instance, it may be that he's creating a very solid foundation and comfort level in the students - working to the pace of the slowest and setting a pace for very gradual, yet ingrained capability. If you're down there for long enough to start feeling bored - then you've obviously adjusted your comfort zone.

In the worst instance, he might be getting paid by the university to run a course over X weeks or Y sessions... and is hopelessly diluting the course to fill that pre-set schedule in fulfillment of a contract.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I agree with the comments above. In addition, when an open water class is done as a college ( or high school) class, there often is more time in the water than in a typical dive shop class. For that reason, skills presentation and exercise may be more drawn out. However, at some point it would seem appropriate to get moving on those things. Talk to the instructor. If you are a little timid, tell him about scubaboard, and then direct him to this thread.
DivemasterDennis

 

[beaverdivers]

I taught SCUBA at CSU. We had 15 weeks of pool. We had to be creative to keep the students interest.

Our students were almost "divemaster" ready as far as skills.

The one rule we had: " If you turn your buddies air off, you fail the course. "

You only have 4 or 5 session left, so I would hope the pace increases.

Does the instructor get in the water with you?

 

[drbill]

Since this is a University class rather than a standard OW cert class conducted by a dive shop, the pace of instruction may differ substantially. If the course is long (say 10-13 weeks), taking time to get people comfortable underwater may be a good thing since the other skills can be handled in later sessions. Dive shop certs tend to be very brief classes, perhaps only two days. Their instructors must proceed at a much faster pace to cover the necessary stuff.

I applaud your desire to gain competency with buoyancy. Many newly OW certified divers lack this and need additional training (such as peak buoyancy) to acquire it after OW certification.

 

[Lead_carrier]

Did I misread/misinterpet your post in that you get 40 minutes of water time per week??? That seems a bit on the shy side to me, even if it is a 12 week course. Like the others have said, ask questions, if your instructor doesn't give you a satifactory answer, be nice but let him know you don't feel comfortable and you'd like more time and more education. As a student, that is your perogitive. Keep us informed as to how it's going.

 

[sealsix14]

Thanks for your feedback everyone!

I have to do a make up class this week before our usual class so when my Instructor calls I will talk to him and let him know how i feel.

And to answer your question he usually does get in the water and go through regulator replacement and mask clearing. but the last session we had, or I had before I missed one for a conference, he told us to figure out how much weight we needed but was not in the water to help; I assume this was because we had our "midterm" that day but the assistant instructors didn't help they just watched as we tried to figure it out. Also our class is 1 hour and 40 minutes, but by the time everyone gets to the pool, gets ready and gets their equipment all set up, we usually have 1 hour at the most or 40 minutes which is what I said before.

Just again thanks for the feedback and I will let you know what he says.

 

[Islandheart]

Interesting, I do know that SSI has a schedule in their Instructor Manual for a College course. Sorry, it's been a couple of years since I looked at it as I'm now PADI and NASE.

40 minutes a week, over 7-8-9 + weeks, what ever it is, is a lot of pool work. I know skills on this college schedule are dribbled out, but can't see why the pool sessions can't be constructive. Just sitting on the pool bottom is a waste.

It's hard for us to know his mind set from just the post but let him know you're bored.