Bob DBF
Contributor
So without classifying an incident into something other than 'human error' we miss all of the solutions to potentially fix the problem.
There are ways to differentiate human error rather than to say it is not human error. Somehow in a kinder gentler world, no one has to have any fault. Maybe I'm just old, taking responsibility for your f'ups didn't mean you were a bad person, you just f'd up, learn from it and carry on.
Fair enough, Bob. Obviously courses that are too short are a problem. You're right about that. The main thing is that courses are not SUPPOSED to be time driven at all. All agencies in scuba diving write their standards from a fundamental philosophy of "performance based learning".
What "performance based learning" means is this: contrary to a traditional course like we all had at school, time is not fixed. At school, courses took X amount of time and you get a grade at the end of time allotted. In a performance based, system, however, competency is not variable. There is a definition of mastery and everyone should be taught to master everything. In diving courses that means that we don't stop until the student can perform every skill to the agency's definition of mastery and they understand the theory to 100% comprehension.
The problem with performance based learning is that a "good enough" attitude on the part of an instructor can make a really fast, substandard class. The OW old school class I went through gave time to get all but one up to standard to complete the class, he moved on to the next class to complete. The "extra time" in the class was used to catch up slower students, practice skills, and discuss diving and teach "advanced" diving skills. A longer class does not have to be dull and boring.
As for "At school, courses took X amount of time and you get a grade at the end of time allotted", because I had been diving for years, I was told that I had to complete the course better than, and be a role model for the other students or I would not be certified. This was a NAUI/PADI class in 1980.
As an example, I took a class more recently and I did not complete it as well as I should have. I finally had to insist, over the instructors evaluation that it was "good enough", that I needed to repeat the dive. To his credit he did run me through the exercise again and it was completed properly, however if I was another diver I would have believed that the original dive was mastered.
Bob