I try to get my students to achieve this sort of proficiency (in terms of water comfort, without the whole knowledge or the team aspect). But the only way I can even come a bit close is to get them to dive with me after the course. I always keep teaching ... mentoring is what I would call it. I incorporate a lot of extra stuff, not as performance requirements, but as guidelines of things they should strive for. Modified frog and flutter, horizontal trim, good buoyancy control, buddy awareness. It is hard, because many people just ... don´t really care. But when I get students that want to continue improving, it is very rewarding. But then I don´t teach for a living, nor do I do more than 3 or 4 OW courses a month, so I can stretch the time I invest in them. It is definetively not a 10 day course by any stretch, it is actually a 4 day diving course, and maybe 3 or 4 days of theory.
The video gave some ideas of how to go about teaching more stuff in dry land (and since Im landlocked, it makes sense), getting students to understand some of the concepts outside of the water. I would love to teach a GUE Rec 1 course. But I would find very few takers at all. I find it hard to get people to take the extremely "friendly" PADI course. I can´t imagine anyone commiting to Rec 1 timeframe ... forget about the cost.
But it is all a learning experience for me, see how can I "push" to teach better scuba divers. Right now I am diving in Coz with 3 recently certified students. They have been improving day in and day out. Of course I mentor them every day, and I can clearly see the results. Today i will take my camera down and do a bit of video recording so they can see themselves in the afternoon. I think that video is a great educational tool that GUE encourages and other agencies should at least, suggest. GUE has so many things "right", but it feels so realistically outside of the scope of the truly commited. As an instructor, I feel I need to look up to agencies like GUE and try to reach their level of proficiency, by keeping the entry bar open to more people. I hope in time I can find a nice in between.
The video gave some ideas of how to go about teaching more stuff in dry land (and since Im landlocked, it makes sense), getting students to understand some of the concepts outside of the water. I would love to teach a GUE Rec 1 course. But I would find very few takers at all. I find it hard to get people to take the extremely "friendly" PADI course. I can´t imagine anyone commiting to Rec 1 timeframe ... forget about the cost.
But it is all a learning experience for me, see how can I "push" to teach better scuba divers. Right now I am diving in Coz with 3 recently certified students. They have been improving day in and day out. Of course I mentor them every day, and I can clearly see the results. Today i will take my camera down and do a bit of video recording so they can see themselves in the afternoon. I think that video is a great educational tool that GUE encourages and other agencies should at least, suggest. GUE has so many things "right", but it feels so realistically outside of the scope of the truly commited. As an instructor, I feel I need to look up to agencies like GUE and try to reach their level of proficiency, by keeping the entry bar open to more people. I hope in time I can find a nice in between.