Given I was that instructor and it was MY choice, it's a mute point (rant)
If you could change one thing about dive training...
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At one time this time frame was the norm. When I first became a DM many years ago and when I did my OW it took 10 days. One day a week was reviewing the chapters and homework from the book and then one day a week in the pool mirroring what we went over in the book this went on for 4 weeks. Then we went to the ocean for 2 days and did the 4 OW dives so 10 days total. Now the students do the class work online with nobody around to ask questions then show up at the shop review the question and take the final then suit up and get in the pool for the next 6-8 hours? So the class portion went from 8 days to 1 how is that conducive to learning not everybody can learn at that pace. Also we use to have one instructor that did the entire class from beginning to end so you learned the students now it's very common to get one instructor in the pool and a different instructor at the ocean. This is the main reason I haven't worked an OW class in awhile.
halocline
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I believe that the big problem with dive education quality in the current 'dive shop-as-training-facility' model is that dive training in this setting exists primarily to create a market for gear sales. In other words, it's basically a sales strategy, often a 'loss leader'. This means that the goal of training divers for the shop is to sell them stuff. Otherwise they lose money on the whole deal.
If the training facilities were not selling any gear, and the only product that they were selling was dive training, then they would likely do a better job of it, because it would be the sole focus of the facility, not a means to the larger goal of selling gear. Dive training would likely be more expensive as well.
Of course, existing dive shops vary wildly in their commitment to quality dive training vs gear sales, depending on the culture of the shop and the people involved. It is certainly possible to get good OW training at a dive shop and not feel pressured to buy a load of gear at the conclusion of the course. But the model itself does nothing to prevent shops from prioritizing gear sales over training quality.
This is one reason that technical diving agencies often provide more in depth, comprehensive, and higher standards training than PADI OW courses taught at a dive shop. Of course the technical agencies have a great advantage in that the quality of students that opt for that kind of training are, as a group, much more likely to be committed students with an inherent interest in rigorous training, and are willing to spend accordingly.
There's no real easy answer here, and the bottom line is that recreational scuba diving as it exists is quite safe statistically, so I'm not sure what the actual 'problem' is. Maybe one jarring failure is the very poor retention rate of OW classes. The vast majority of students completing OW classes do not continue to dive; other than maybe very briefly after the class is completed. I'm not sure the industry sees this as a problem either, but if I were involved in the industry, I would.
If the training facilities were not selling any gear, and the only product that they were selling was dive training, then they would likely do a better job of it, because it would be the sole focus of the facility, not a means to the larger goal of selling gear. Dive training would likely be more expensive as well.
Of course, existing dive shops vary wildly in their commitment to quality dive training vs gear sales, depending on the culture of the shop and the people involved. It is certainly possible to get good OW training at a dive shop and not feel pressured to buy a load of gear at the conclusion of the course. But the model itself does nothing to prevent shops from prioritizing gear sales over training quality.
This is one reason that technical diving agencies often provide more in depth, comprehensive, and higher standards training than PADI OW courses taught at a dive shop. Of course the technical agencies have a great advantage in that the quality of students that opt for that kind of training are, as a group, much more likely to be committed students with an inherent interest in rigorous training, and are willing to spend accordingly.
There's no real easy answer here, and the bottom line is that recreational scuba diving as it exists is quite safe statistically, so I'm not sure what the actual 'problem' is. Maybe one jarring failure is the very poor retention rate of OW classes. The vast majority of students completing OW classes do not continue to dive; other than maybe very briefly after the class is completed. I'm not sure the industry sees this as a problem either, but if I were involved in the industry, I would.
Sorry, but cannot agree with this. Have been teaching scuba for 50 years now and initially had doubts about on line academic training . All that has changed as I find students better prepared for class and they consistently get better grades on final exam. Online eLearning fills gaps that may be caused by poorly done instructor led presentations. Any questions student has can be addressed at any time or during review of quick review exam.
Wookie
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As a student finishing up another degree, I agree wholeheartedly. I chose the online method this time so I didn't have to wait for the guy or gal who just couldn't get derivation or integration. My capstone class (which is over in 3 days) is a team class, and waiting for the others to finish is torture.
I will agree it is a good tool but not for all in my experience it works well for the younger tech savvy group that has grown up in the online world. The group I see more at our dive shop is the older group that now has some disposable income to travel with not so much. My point was not really aimed at the online portion but doing the review and pool work all in one day and then think the students are ready for the ocean that is questionable.
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I agree. My shop certainly doesn't have instructors just there to give out the test and take unprepared students into the water. SSI students all do e-learning before arriving in-person, then we actually go over all of the same things that they should have already learned to make sure any and all questions are raised and answered. And if the instructor was allowed to skip teaching anything and just hand out the final exam, if that wasn't sufficient, the students would fail the final and not be able to proceed anyway.
We have two different models for classes: the weekend warrior on Friday night, all day Saturday, and all day Sunday, with 10 hours each in the classroom and the pool; the weeknight program is 6 sessions, 2 nights a week for 3 weeks, two hours in class, two hours in the pool each session. Having students come to class having already done the e-learning makes the classroom instruction more efficient and better for discussion.
One other huge advantage of e-learning is that it standardizes things across instructors. You still get a lot of leeway in how you teach, but all the students get the same academic material no matter who their instructor is, so two years down the road you don't meet up with somebody who trained at the same time as you with the same agency, but got much better theory instruction that you never saw.
No gear sales along with service performed for gear sold means the store goes out of business which means less existing stores, higher prices for goods and services longer drive times to any existing stores for something as simple as an air fill.
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We could get into a whole other discussion about how every business needs to add value to the customer with every segment of their business model, and that there should be no loss leaders. But that horse is well beaten.
Someone will always find it cheaper elsewhere. When my wife was an equipment tech in the keys, the customers would bring the most disgusting pawn shop junk. There was plenty of it. She would spend hours trying to disassemble and cure gear that I wouldn't use as an anchor. All at the same price as servicing a year old set of gear. I finally told her that she had to charge for her time, and make it clear to her customers that the kits cost $x, and labor was $XX an hour, and if it took 6 hours to determine that the gear couldn't be safely rebuilt, then the clients would learn to stop bringing junk in for a $129 rebuild (and resale on eBay).
The shop owner wouldn't listen. Of course, the shop owner wasn't paying her hourly, but straight commission.
Personally I think the standards are fine. They just aren't consistently followed. I think the one thing that needs to be changed is that agencies need to actively oversee their representatives (instructors). Might be as simple as unannounced spot-checks of every instructor on a regular basis, maybe something more rigorous.
Currently the industry relies on students reporting problems to the agency, but often students don't even know there is a problem because they are students.
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