Feedback about PADI on-line elearning diver certification

[teejeeweejee]

Hi all,

Thank you for having me here in your forum. I am a writer, doing a story on PADI elearning. I wanted some objective feedback from those who have ever taken their Open Water Diver Certification course. I am reviewing the course, and how beneficial it is for someone first learning scuba, to start through an on-line course. I invite you to give your feedback ESPECIALLY if you have taken the course. It seems, thus far, to be in tandem with on-site training, but I really want good, objective feedback. I also appreciate anyone's input who has not done the course, but may have heard about it, what you've heard, or what your thoughts are. I want this piece to really give newcomers to diving a thorough understanding of whether this is a good option for them. Many, many thanks!

---------- Post added August 2nd, 2013 at 06:25 PM ----------

I'd so appreciate feedback!

 

[West.Coast.Diver]

I just completed the PADI OWD course, and did the eLearning followed by the course. I actually ended up sitting through the classroom sessions anyway, so it was interesting. I found I got way more out of the eLearning than just out of the knowledge reviews in the classroom. My instructor was a good guy, but what we covered was pretty straight forward. The obligation was definitely on the individual to do the reading. That being a given, I found that the eLearning was a good way of getting what amounted to on-line lectures. The eLearning was pretty useful, and I found the online quizzes were pretty good at giving me an idea as to where I needed to go back and review. The quizzes are the same in the text, but it's harder to cheat yourself online versus the text, where the answers are right below the questions in small print.

I thought it was a good system. A little too much "Check with your PADI Dive Shop or PADI Instructor" for my taste, but it's a private outfit, so I was hardly shocked to see it, but when it's every other slide, it's a bit much.

 

[RJP]

I wanted some objective feedback from those who have ever taken their Open Water Diver Certification course.

...I really want good, objective feedback.

You do know that there's no such thing as "objective" feedback, righ?

:d

 

[drbill]

I was a classroom teacher for a number of years. Based on that experience, I'm not a big fan on elearning. I found that many students just could not assimilate and retain the information based on reading alone and needed the classroom situation to really figure things out. And that was just in academic classes where a failure to understand only earned you a lower grade, not the possibility of injury or even death.

 

[nimoh]

You do know that there's no such thing as "objective" feedback, righ?

:d

"objective feedback" is very subjective

 

[genxweb]

I have not used the elearning for the OWD. I have used it for my IDC. The thing is everyone learns differently and when you learn to be a instructor PADI emphasis this to you. They have several learning methods each geared to get the student in the water as safe and fast as possible. The elearning was designed to make the instructors time in the class room shorter allowing time to be spent more on the actual diving. This is the same as their philosophy on watching the DVD for EFR and other classes. To put the responsibility for learning on the student and allow the instructor to hone the students skills mastery.

I found the IDC elearning to be informative but it lacked the personal touch. From other instructors I have spoken to they had hit or miss with elearning. The biggest issue is that the students just click through it and don't actually pay attention. There is no penalty for getting the answers wrong and going back and putting the correct ones in after the system tells you the correct answer. So some students do that. Others need discipline and direct supervision / interaction to learn, so allowing them to study when ever they want through elearning may not suit their studying needs. I have heard from some of the instructors that they feel those that did the class room seem more knowledgeable and better prepared then those that did elearning. There is a review given by the instructor prior to the pool and the students still need to score a 75% or better on the final so there is a system of checks in place to help educate them.

Within the next month I will have my first students going through their owd some are doing the elearning and some chose the class room. So hopefully after this month I will have a better idea which works better for my style of teaching.

 

[TMHeimer]

To be honest, I'm not really familiar with the e learning process. I did the classroom thing before e learning came about. As a former teacher, I often thought that ("back in the day") if all students had VHS tapes to watch at home for subjects like math, science, etc., it would save a lot of wasted time in the classroom (ei. you understand everything but have to wait for the some others to get it--OR, most of the class gets it but you don't and need more time--so you watch the tape 50 times at home). I do think there are some aspects of scuba that may better be taught in a classroom setting--the pool sessions (unless private) involve many student divers and questions and other things come up. I do know that there is some classroom review after the e learning--how much time is devoted to this I don't know, and imagine it varies. Some of both e learning and classroom would seem the best way. I can say that pretty much all of the students I've talked to at the pool seem to feel that e learning is quite efficient.

 

[synewave]

I'm currently using the OWD eLearning course. Classes don't start for a few weeks so it's great to feel like I'm actually doing something while I'm waiting. I borrowed my friend's OWD Handbook and that was pretty good too. I think I'll end up getting my own copy at some stage. The content of the eLearning seems very similar, if not identical to the book (certainly a good thing). I like the sound of the woman's voice who reads the slides.

On the downside, I haven't been able to work out how to make the slides appear full screen on my PC, nor have have been able to make the videos appear full screen. Perhaps it's an issue with my PC or it may just be me being a noob. On the other hand, it could be that PADI didn't produce as polished a version of their eLearning course as they could have...Great content, average presentation.

 

[WimW]

I have done the elearning for my OWD. I found it to be the perfect means of preparing for the confined and OW dives we did on holiday later on. As was said above, different students will certainly need different ways of learning. I love to learn new stuff and also the theory and rules behind it, so I made sure I understood everything before taking the tests. The advantage was that I could do it on my own pace, whenever I had time.
Because of the lack of supervision, I can indeed imagine that other students would just 'click through' to the tests, and then use trial and error to pass. But I guess they would be caught with the test you have to take anyway with your instructor when you start the confined water dives.

 

[mselenaous]

I now only teach using e-learning which the student must complete before the course begins. This gives me more time for concepts review and Q&A with the student, as well as more in-water time. It doesn't replace what I teach, it is a tool. And I can verify that the student has completed it. With textbooks, many times the students were reading along and completing their homework as I was trying to teach, so they had not gotten the basics for me to expand upon.

Yes I have had students just click through until they pass, but they are shocked when I print out every question they answered incorrectly and make them explain it to me and initial it.

And when I take a class, I like e-learning or at a minimum of PDF format books.