"Great Instructor" Selection Criteria

[scubajcf]

Alrighty, trying to spark some life back into the AZ forum.

PLEASE READ THE OP CAREFULLY!!!!!

This thread is meant for new scuba divers or those who are considering being a new scuba diver. We are trying to help them identify a "Great Instructor". We are looking for input from experienced divers (people who've gone through the selection process before).

Please refrain from using any specific instructor or shop names in your post.
Please refrain from using or discussing agencies in the post. Minimum Instructor Cert Level is acceptable. OP reserves the right to alter rules

Answer the two following questions:

1. Objectively, what specific task, procedure, technique, qualification, habit, policy, standard or criteria does a "great instructor" have to utilize, demonstrate or possess?

2. Subjectively, what quality do you look for in a great instructor?

Thank you,

PS - If we get some good ideas, I will consolidate and post to the articles portion of Scubaboard.

 

[Walter]

I've addressed this issue once or twice before.

Take your time to research and find the best instructor in your area. Next, take time to complete the course. A good course will last several weeks. Don't rush this, it's something you can spend the rest of your life enjoying.

How do I find an above average course and how will I know I've found it?

Interview potential instructors. Most people never ask any questions beyond price. As the old saying goes, "You get what you pay for." Excellent instructors will usually have a higher priced class for a number of reasons. The instructor is dedicated toward providing you all the time you need to master necessary knowledge and skills. Extra pool time can be expensive. Keep in mind; the instructor is trying to make a living. His time is valuable.

Consider alternatives. While many instructors teach through dive shops, some of the best are independent instructors or affiliated with colleges, universities or YMCA's.

Questions to ask the instructors:

How long have you been teaching? Most instructors improve over time. They learn new techniques and get ideas from other instructors and through experience to improve their classes.

Do you certify all your students? Only instructors who are in a hurry and care nothing about your safety will answer yes. You want an instructor who will require you to be safe and knowledgeable before issuing a c-card. An excellent instructor might tell you that he is willing to keep working with a student until the student either qualifies or gives up.

What skin diving skills will I learn? While there is some disagreement on this point, many professionals believe a solid foundation in skin diving will not only make you a better SCUBA diver, it will make learning SCUBA easier.

Will I learn confidence-building skills? There are some skills which have no direct application to a typical dive, but which do build your confidence as well as your abilities. This, combined with an understanding of the panic cycle, will make you much less likely to panic.

Do you teach the panic cycle? Panic is the most dangerous aspect of diving. Many instructors do not understand panic and believe there is no way to combat it. In actuality, panic is understood. It is though learning the panic cycle and by increasing skill levels that panic is avoided.

Do your students swim with their hands? This will let you know if the instructor pays attention to details. Good divers do not use their hands for swimming.

Do you work on trim? Divers should usually be horizontal in the water. Good instructors will see that students are striving towards good trim. Poor instructors often neglect it.

Do you overweight your students? Many instructors overweight students. It is not a good practice.

What method do you use to correctly weight your students? Any answer that does not involve actually getting in the water means you want to avoid that instructor.

How many people will be in my class? Small classes are better. You'll have more individual attention. Unless the instructor is using certified assistants, more than four students are difficult to watch.

How many certified assistants will you be using? Unless the class is relatively large (more than 4 students) this should not be an issue. An instructor should have a certified Divemaster or Assistant Instructor for every two students over four. There are times when divers working on their Divemaster or Assistant Instructor certifications assist with a class. This is normal and not an issue, but they do not count toward the assistants an instructor should have when working with larger classes.

Will I be learning skills kneeling on the pool bottom or mid-water? This question is not critical, but will let you know if you've found an instructor who has a great deal on the ball. The over whelming majority of instructors (even good instructors) teach skills kneeling on the bottom. Don't eliminate instructors who do. Some instructors have realized your mask will flood while you are swimming, not when you are sitting on the bottom. You need to learn skills in the manner in which you'll be using them.

Do you dive for fun or just when you are teaching? Instructors who've stopped diving for fun are burned out.

Questions to ask yourself:

Is the instructor patient? While talking with your potential instructor, you should be getting a feel for his personality. Patience is an important quality for an instructor. You want to avoid instructors with a drill sergeant demeanor.

Would I be happier learning from a man or a woman? Only you can answer that question, but in general it is not usually a serious consideration. There are excellent instructors and there are poor instructors. Men and women fall into both groups.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Walter just said it all...again.

 

[cerich]

One thing I would like to add to Walters EXCELLENT post.

Good instructors will realize that each student has different learning styles, each instructor will have different teaching styles. Sometimes they just don't click. Ask if they have ever refered a student to an instructor they feel would be a better match. If they have it shows they are more concerned with you learning.

 

[scubajcf]

Hi Guys,

I've seen the post Walter put up several times as well. It's a very good set of questions. I've seen it posted on several other Web sites besides Scubaboard. However, the post doesn't really meet the criteria of the OP. Also, things like "Panic Cycle" and "trim" mean have little practical baseline from a which a person who hasn't dove before could measure. While, they are good questions,
to what extent are they important? What I was looking for was a list of objective and subjective qualifications and qualities that you believe a great instructor should possess.

For example: (Objective) Instructor is a full-time instructor. Instructor has certified over 100 divers. Instructor is a Cave Diver. Whatever.

(Subjective): Instructor is a parent, theoretically will have a better understanding of teaching children. Instructor doesn't smoke. Whatever.

Judging by current interest levels, maybe it is of no concern.

Oh well. And Walter, don't take my criticism as a lack of appreciation. I do enjoy that post. In fact, at one point, in the not distant past, I printed it off and used it as reference.

Thanks again,

jcf

 

[Walter]

the post doesn't really meet the criteria of the OP.

I'm sorry, I thought it did. The questions will direct one to specific qualifications and qualities (which is what I thought you asked for) -
1. Someone who has been teaching several years
2. Someone who doesn't pass everyone
3. Teaches Skin diving to all students
4. Includes skills such as Doff & don and Bailout
5. Teaches the panic cycle
This list continues...........

Also, things like "Panic Cycle" and "trim" mean have little practical baseline from a which a person who hasn't dove before could measure.

Substitute "teaching divers to avoid panic" and "body positioning" if you don't understand the other terms.

While, they are good questions, to what extent are they important?

They are critical. They are the difference between producing a safe diver and one who's a half a breath from panic leading to possible injury or death.

1. Objectively, what specific task, procedure, technique, qualification, habit, policy, standard or criteria does a "great instructor" have to utilize, demonstrate or possess?

There's quite a long list you can find in the previous post.

2. Subjectively, what quality do you look for in a great instructor?

Patience, concern for students and still diving for fun, also listed in the previous post.

Oh well. And Walter, don't take my criticism as a lack of appreciation.

I don't. I see it as a lack of understanding. I fell short in making myself clear. I'll try to do better in the future.

 

[shark.byte.usa]

Ya I've been thinking about it and it's a hard question to answer from an OW perspective, at least for me. For continuing training I could answer better maybe, but to be honest some of the qualifications I've come up for that, my current instructor doesn't even meet

I goobered up the whole OW interview/investigation thing. I had wanted to dive most of my life and just never got around to it for one reason or another. Once the thought popped in my head at the right time under the right circumstances, I jumped on it before I put it off again or forgot about it. Didn't really think about much beforehand, visited a WEB SITE of a shop I had seen in passing over the years, read over the info, called and signed up over the phone, my whole "process" lasted no more than an hour, I never left my desk, I was an easy sale. I never stepped foot in the shop until my 1st day of class. I was very fortunate to (eventually) land a good OW Instructor and OW course, hindsight being 20/20 and all. If I got saddled with a new "Zero to Hero" I may not be here today. I also found SB after my 1st class which helped in sorting through some of the LDS BS and keeping the fire lit through OW and beyond.

Hmmm...

Okay how about

Objective: Not a NEW "Zero to Hero", been an active diver for the last 5 years, an active instructor for the last 2, experienced with mulitple environments and conditions. Dives, not necessarily teaches, in environments you may want to someday (caves, wrecks, deep, etc.), Small class sizes, Dives regularly for fun or is it just a job?

Subjective: Not a drill instructor, I've already been there done that. Patient, thorough, non-scuba teaching experience can be a plus. Somebody who you could see being a friend, buddy, mentor beyond the Instructor/Student dynamic. Does he/she dive outside of their class with past/present students?

-Garrett

 

[ItsBruce]

I've had three instructors for OW, AOW and RESCUE. They were all superb beyond belief. The one quality they all had in common was that scuba diving did not provide their primary or even significant source of income. They taught because they loved diving and teaching ... as proved by the fact that the pay was an insignificant part of their income.

 

[tnfireman]

I talked with two instructors this past summer when I began my scuba career, The first gave me the impression of a drill srg. during the time I talked with him. The second made me feel at ease discussing what I wanted to do and the different options I could take to get there. during our talk I asked
1. how long he had been diving
2.what types of diving he teaches and does on his own time
3. what size are the classes
4. how does he feel about different gear configs.
5. what kind of gear does he use
6. where does he dive during classes and on his own

I was happy with all of the answers he gave ,he also invited me to come watch a class. When it was time to talk money for classes and gear I told him how much I was willing to spend at first (I have now spent much more with the shop now...LOL) we sat down and started crunching numbers coming up with several different ways to go about getting classes and gear that I wanted (I was told I might want to use rental gear for OW class, I declined and got my own)
I hope this is what you were asking for.
Ray

 

[Dive-aholic]

I did much the same as Garrett when I decided to get certified. Except I left my desk. I found a coupon in the Entertainment coupon book for 2 for 1. We checked out the only other shop in town and decided to go with the 2 for 1. I don't remember exactly why. Price was a factor, but there were other factors as well. We liked the presentation of the website of the LDS we chose better than the other LDS. We went in, asked a lot of questions, but definitely not the right ones. We ended up signing up and the first day of class we were told about the medical release form. My wife has asthma. Fortunately, she works in a hospital and was able to get it signed off in time for the next session 2 days later. Now this was after spending about 3 hours in the LDS talking to the manager of the shop! Why weren't we told 1.5 months before the class when we were there?

Anyway, we ended up having 4 different instructors during our OW. The manager started the class, but the shop had a sidewalk sale that Saturday and she had to be in the shop, so we got another instructor. Then we had 2 instructors during our 8 student OW dives.

So what's the point of this? Well, if we had known better, we would have asked a lot of Walter's questions. But we didn't know about diving and we didn't know about ScubaBoard or Walter. We continued with our advanced training much the same way. We did go to NJ for our wreck diving training, and we chose our instructor based on the information we got when we called the LDS v. what we got from the other LDSs.

Our cave instructor was a completely different story. We sent out e-mails to every NACD instructor in the N. Florida area to check availability. We then sent out many of the same types of questions Walter lists. We wanted an instructor who dives when he's not teaching, one who doesn't pass everyone, one who teaches the student to be prepared. I don't remember all the questions we asked, but we got the right responses back from the instructor we chose. And we ended up being very pleased with the decision we made.

Okay, so this doesn't really answer the OP, either. I would have to second Garrett's post with the exception of the length of time. Some people can gain a lot of experience in a relatively short period of time. I've seen instructors fresh out of the IE that do a much better job than instructors who have been around the block a few times. Maybe it's the fresh perspective or the newness or motivation that comes with being a new instructor. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.