PADI Advanced Open Water: Did you learn anything new?

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First off I apologize if I’m uploading in wrong forum or something that’s been discussed in the past. I searched the forums but didn’t find anything that answered my questions... Still new to ScubaBoard...

I’m in middle of aow certification. Just finished deep dive, navigation and a night dive. My concern/question is whether I’m supposed to learn anything (new skills) from these dives? Are these 5-dives supposed to be just basically an experience in new dive situation under instructor supervision?

I don’t think I learned anything I didn’t already learn through experience of diving more often. The more often you dive, it seems you naturally learn by trial and error yourself (ie buoyancy control on deep dives and ascents, natural navigation) and common sense and logic (ie flashlights and backups in the dark).

Compass navigation was new to me, so that was a new skill. But for most divers I think they learn it in ow certification? And others could easily learn it from an experienced diver friend. It was like a 5-minute review of what I read in the aow manual, but to actually use it to find that coral, rock, and ascent line was a bit of challenge and quite fun!

Am I supposed to go through any classroom time learning any kind of scuba science or whatever like I did in ow certification (ie Boyle’s Law)?

I’m wondering if mine is similar experience as others in aow certification or am I missing out on anything?

Thank you in advance.
For navigation in a ow course a simple out and back is required. Nothing is done for methods of measuring distance as it should be in advance. Should now apply navigation skills during night dive and every dive you do.
 
sounds like a major standards violation for your instructor if it went down like that.....

Making a complaint about violation standards does not get you your money back, nor more/better instruction to make up the difference...it may cause the certification you paid for to be nullified...but I am not sure if PADI has a history of doing that.

The course was run by someone I know specifically because I asked for the course for myself and my daughters. The 3 of us agreed that instructor should do something else with his life and that we did not get much out of it that we did not previously get through other training, under other instructors, under other agencies.

I have gone through PADI for Rescue Diver and Divemaster, and I have reviewed the reading material for a handful of other courses in the PADI catalog of offerings. I can state that from my experience I am not impressed at all with the content of PADI courses.

That being said, I have seen crappy instructors from SSI, NAUI, CMAS, LIFRAS, etc. as well...so this is not something that is unique to PADI...but PADI is the largest and most globally known of the organizations out there, there is no reason why they are not setting a higher standard (at least for recreational level instruction).

-Z
 
...so this is not something that is unique to PADI...but PADI is the largest and most globally known of the organizations out there, there is no reason why they are not setting a higher standard (at least for recreational level instruction).
Definitely not just PADI. And when it comes to looking the other way for serious standards violations, I have a couple second hand accounts from friends whom I trust where agencies other than PADI didn’t do anything.

Why do agencies often look the other way? Money (as long as they don’t get sued). Hey, one instructor in my area has had two student fatalities, but he wasn’t booted by PADI (reason I guess is that he didn’t violate standards other than not keeping track of students).

Zero to hero instructors who are in it for the short term (a year) fill up a lot of positions worldwide. You need to keep standards low in order feed the demand of low cost instructors.
 
TDI is a heck of a lot more respected than PADI “tec,”

Depends on where you are from, in Europe TDI had a number of ooopsieees. A instructor who kicked the bucket the same way a number of his students did years before that, a certain dive center selling full trimix and cave certs and the people complaining about that getting their certs revoked...

Funny thing is that most of the Padi materials are stolen from TDI who has stolen them from IANTD...

I would not say that TecRec is superior to TDI, or vice versa, but going trough both curriculums made me a better diver then just sticking to one.
 
Back when I finally got certified in the 60s, my L.A. County cert covered much of AOW and Rescue. Too bad more young PADI instructors don't understand that cert. Got tired of doing check out dives so I finally got PADI AOW and Rescue.
 
Being old, I will always favour paper and manuals. Having said that, my last 2 of the 4 years I assisted on OW courses it SEEMED that the students were a bit better prepared for the pool having done the e learning. Though I haven't even viewed the OW e learning course (wasn't sure how I could), I have been in favor of that sort of thing as far back as when I was a teacher in the '80s (when it didn't exist for another 25 years)--learn at your own speed, etc.
As far as AOW goes, I really don't think it matters which way you do it. There just isn't that much academia to absorb--it's mostly listening to the instructor then doing the dives (plus the "knowledge reviews" and basic reading of course).
 
Being old, I will always favour paper and manuals. Having said that, my last 2 of the 4 years I assisted on OW courses it SEEMED that the students were a bit better prepared for the pool having done the e learning. Though I haven't even viewed the OW e learning course (wasn't sure how I could), I have been in favor of that sort of thing as far back as when I was a teacher in the '80s (when it didn't exist for another 25 years)--learn at your own speed, etc.
As far as AOW goes, I really don't think it matters which way you do it. There just isn't that much academia to absorb--it's mostly listening to the instructor then doing the dives (plus the "knowledge reviews" and basic reading of course).

As I mentioned in another thread, I know instructors who prefer e-learning because they know students will have done the bookwork before coming to class. In the days before e-learning, it wasn’t uncommon for students to come to class not having done any of the bookwork.
 
I review (skim) a page or 2 of one of my many PADI manuals daily, though I probably need not do that at this point, especially considering the benign type of diving I do. I also review a page of my original EFR book from 2006. Yes they go out of date, but they change little things so much it is pointless to buy the latest manual. But, someone mentioned that the e learning material is yours to keep and you can always review it (does that mean for all specialty sections of AOW, like the old "Adventures in Diving" manual?).
I'm also wondering if PADI has anything to say to individual shops as to which version of courses (or both) they must offer.
It seemed to me most or all OW courses at the shop where I DMd seemed to be doing e learning every weekend course.
 
TDI is a heck of a lot more respected than PADI “tec,” .

Perhaps in the US, huge world out there, with many different flavours of courses god and bad.


Are you serious? PADI materials from a Tec40 class a friend took in 2016 still show divers in drysuits kneeling on the bottom of a pool trying to do a valve drill upright. Saw it with my own eyes. Talk about dated materials!

Yes the DSAT PADI book could be better but then again.

If a student learns the mechanics of the skill whilst stationary and perfects that, before transitioning to being NB in a pool, what’s the issue. As log as by the end of CW the student is carrying out the skills NB.

Bite size chunks, always bite sized chunks
 
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