PADI not teaching dive tables anymore?

[boulderjohn]

I took my PADI OW course online and of course I had some questions about the dive tables so when I went to the instructor to review all my materials, I was told not to worry about the dive tables and just to skip over those questions on the test because we use computers. No lie.

Did you report this standards violation?

 

[drrich2]

I've been thinking over this thread. If you want to introduce deco. issues to people in a way that grips them with its practical relevance, there's an additional method that could be added onto whatever else you use.

Think like a business marketer or politician and make it personal; give it a human face.

On this forum, you can search and find some real world decompression illness examples. One that involved diving well outside standard rec. limits in Cozumel done by some people (Opal, a guy named Gaby, and I think Heath?) left her in dire straights for days (and then she died) and Gaby was paraplegic for at least awhile. Granted, that was a very deep dive past rec. limits, and it's suspected nitrogen narcosis was an issue.

TS&M has explained elsewhere that she herself ran into narcosis more shallowly than many people do, if memory serves. Susceptibility varies, and until you do several deep dives, you don't know if you're going to be more sensitive than most.

My point is, you can talk about this or that # of tissue compartments, this or that pressure group or residual nitrogen at such & such hours...and then you point out somebody in a wheel chair, or dead, or who got disoriented and 'loopy' from narcosis, got a huge chamber ride bill, etc...

Richard.

 

[seattlepaul1975]

I just wrapped up my SSI OW.....and we did tables and computer...yes I will buy a computer but I think it is good to understand the tables as you now have a basic understanding of what the computer is telling you. Also had to answer table questions on the test.

 

[EasyDayDiveCharters]

I still teach with tables, but do an overview ofcomputers. I have heard PADI will stop selling the dive tables, but every timeI order more crew packs I still get the dive table option and haven’t had anyissues, yet.

Capt. Brandon

 

[gekodivebali]

Did you report this standards violation?

Not a standard violation if option chosen was computer. Then again, it is just plain lazy to not explain the tables if your student is expressing desire in learning them.

 

[boulderjohn]

Not a standard violation if option chosen was computer. Then again, it is just plain lazy to not explain the tables if your student is expressing desire in learning them.

Perhaps I misunderstood him. He wrote:

"I took my PADI OW course online and of course I had some questions about the dive tables so when I went to the instructor to review all my materials, I was told not to worry about the dive tables and just to skip over those questions on the test because we use computers. No lie."

I assume he meant that he should just skip that part of the test. I did not see any indication that there as any substitution. If the student is taking the computer course, then the student answers a different set of questions. Questions 40-50 in the computer course are different from questions 40-50 in the table course. You don't just skip the questions.

 

[Hawkwood]

With regards to the eLearning course, we have been told buy our PADI office that when students come in for the confined water portion and do the Quick Review test they can ignore the RDP questions on the Quick Review if they selected the computer option.

 

[TUTs_mama]

I was first OW certified with PADI in 2004. Computers were briefly touched upon and table calculations were heavy. I re-certified in 2012 and while we did focus a lot more on computers, my instructor also covered the tables. We weren't tested on them, but he made sure that we understood how to use them.

 

[wizbangdoodle]

The tables may be "old fashioned" to use, but I think it is still good knowledge to have. A couple hundred years ago, when I was studying electronics, we had to learn a lot of math, algebra etc to understand what was going on. I never used those skills and formulas in my troubleshooting, but it sure made it easier to understand why things operate they way they do. Same with tables. If you had a computer failure, hopefully you could calculate where you were at in your dive. Of course the smart thing to do would be to abort the dive and get your computer fixed.

 

[mizzie]

I haven't taken my class yet, but I have the materials to study and the book still has a (fairly large) section on dive tables and the packet came with a table. When I purchased the PADI material packet, I was told to complete all the review sections, with no mention of skipping the dive table section. There is also a section on using computers. So I would assume we are going to cover both, which is a good idea in my opinion.