Have you heard of this?

[John_B]

If you take a class from me, or any of the instructors in my dive center, you must bring your book to class. We reference the material during the lecture part of the class. If you have the CD Rom version, you must bring the printed pages with the KR complete. I also require students to write in the book. I encourage the students to do the quick quizes and highlighter throughout the book too. Call me a hard-ass but it is one way I know the students have read the materials and understand the KR. Most students comply happily.

Because we only realized afterward that you were having us kill the resale value of the book...

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Because we only realized afterward that you were having us kill the resale value of the book...

Now that's funny!
But oh so true unless some idiot buys it and shows the teacher look I did my highliter like a good boy and stayed in the lines and did all my quick quizzes! Can I get a star for my forehead. Cliff's note's for divers. I love it!

 

[oly5050user]

Now that's funny!
But oh so true unless some idiot buys it and shows the teacher look I did my highliter like a good boy and stayed in the lines and did all my quick quizzes! Can I get a star for my forehead. Cliff's note's for divers. I love it!

We require the student to have a book and RDP..If a family ,then sharing is allowed.As to knowledge reviews , we have an online kr on our site that the student can do the kr at home,submit it, the kr is then returned to the student electronically all corrected.The student then prints it out and hands it in during acad session.
I also ask them to do the kr in the text,as that is what I go over in class, being that the electonic one has already been corrected online.Gives me a chance to elaborate over material and ensure that they understand. The student keeps the kr that is in the text book.I am teaching them at that time and I am not concerned about "resale" value of the book.Thats just plain silly.If so concerned about costs of the materials it takes to learn to dive then get into golf or something and don't get into scuba.

 

[John_B]

Now that's funny!
But oh so true unless some idiot buys it and shows the teacher look I did my highliter like a good boy and stayed in the lines and did all my quick quizzes! Can I get a star for my forehead. Cliff's note's for divers. I love it!

Laugh all you want. I imagine its hilarious to instructors to sell each new "rube" another copy of a book that they'll never use again. If it were Graver's book or Clay Coleman's, that would be one thing, but the PADI OW book is pedantically awful. If instructors actually believed that material was ever going be referenced again they'd insist their students would have the KRs to review for a later time. So, yeah, go ahead and continue to "require" the KRs to be torn out and handed in, just don't pretend its for the student's benefit.

 

[bfw]

If you take a class from me, or any of the instructors in my dive center, you must bring your book to class.

Which is why I wouldn't take a class from you. There are plenty of shops out there.

I also require students to write in the book.

Which technically is a standards violation. You're not allowed to condition passing on anything the standards don't require. If the student wants to do all their writing in a separate notebook, that's their choice.

Call me a hard-ass but it is one way I know the students have read the materials and understand the KR. Most students comply happily.

Not a hard ass, just a control freak. K-12 is full of them, which is why our educational system is in the toilet. The way to make sure the students REALLY read and understand is to engage them. I've seen plenty of people who can please a Prussian style instructor like you by reading and regurgitating on KR's, who don't retain squat 20 minutes after they get their card. If you weren't so fixated on making them deface their books, you might be able to see how to really evaluate more than lemming compliance.

I have been an instructor for 6 years and I still use my PADI open water manual for reference.

Which is a stunning example of what I'm talking about. If you can get through 6 years as an instructor and still need your entry level text, what have you really learned? That's like a lawyer needing to reference his third grade social studies text.

There is a lot of discussion on this board about taking short cuts with the CW and open water sessions. Making sure each student has his/her own materials

...has nothing to do with that. It's merely a way to sell books.

Of course, it's nothing new. For years college textbooks have been a racket, where professors agree to require each others' overpriced texts to scratch each others' financial backs. Sometimes they even require their own books. The only time I've ever seen that involve a book of any value was when the professor, to prove he was requiring his book on its merits, refunded his royalty to each student who bought his book for his class.

 

[Sideband]

AFAIK.There is a PADI guidline saying that every diver must own his/her own manual,UNLESS they are in the same family.Consulted some other instructors and they all agree.
Can't look it up at this moment thouhg.

That doesn't make sense unless by "diver" you mean "student". If a PADI diver burns, misplaces or gives away his book does his certification expire?

 

[300bar]

indeed every student.
my bad.

 

[LarryHinDC]

And just how many OW divers ever look at the manual again once they are certed.

As a vacation diver, I actually take my manual with me on the plane and reread most of it on the way to a dive location. Since it's usually been a while since my last trip, it helps me refresh.

 

[Lead_carrier]

.
Originally Posted by PinkPADIgal View Post
I have been an instructor for 6 years and I still use my PADI open water manual for reference.

Which is a stunning example of what I'm talking about. If you can get through 6 years as an instructor and still need your entry level text, what have you really learned? That's like a lawyer needing to reference his third grade social studies text.


.

Lets see, teaching OW, consulting OW manual. Gee, sounds like a novel concept. Unless you have the manual memorized and can quote exactly where the student can find the statement in their manual.

I've known instructors that have been instructors for a lot more than 6 years that still consult and refer to the OW manual, and not just PADI. Sounds like a solid approach if you ask me.

 

[Pearldiver07]

Lets see, teaching OW, consulting OW manual. Gee, sounds like a novel concept. Unless you have the manual memorized and can quote exactly where the student can find the statement in their manual.

I've known instructors that have been instructors for a lot more than 6 years that still consult and refer to the OW manual, and not just PADI. Sounds like a solid approach if you ask me.

I still use my OW manual when teaching. Yes, I can PROBABLY quote most of it, but that doesn't replace using it when you're discussing questions in the class.

Through this discussion, I didn't see one thing ever come up. Although it is copyright infringement to photocopy a page (and yes, it is wrong even if no one sees you do it), no where does it actually stipulate that the questions have to be on the page the students turn in with the answers.

I have had many students turn in the answers written on blank paper to keep the original book clean and complete. A side benefit is that the book could be reused by a family member in another class.

I will agree that during a class when families would share a book it sometimes really showed who was and who was not spending enough time with the book.

There's two sides to this one. I think that any step that reinforces a bit more solid of an approach to instruction is fine. But I have to say that I've seen more than my share of CHEAP divers. I've never heard my skiing buddies whine about equipment and instruction prices like divers do.

If someone does their OW and then another 2,000 dives without additional instruction, more power to them. And if another person likes the guided aspect of scuba instruction, great for them too.

Anyway, I'm down off of the old soap box now.

Next person???