Online certification??

[mle_osu]

Seems like it would be nice and convienent for the class room work, but are these real? Can one trust getting their certification thru an online class? granted, the pool work and open water dives are not online and are done thru the LDS... but I cant seem to find the actual Agency that certifies the divers... just says "accepted everywhere" and "Our certification is RSTC certified and credited."

See:
http://www.scuba-training.net
http://www.blueseaadventures.com/scubacertification/training.html
http://www.wrstc.com/agency.php?country=usa

The reason I ask is I have a friend who wants to get certified so she can go diving with me. She has done a discover scuba class, and knows she likes it and is comfrotable with diving, but schedules dont really work out so she can take the classroom work... for now anyway. (would be nice if she could get certified by August as she might be able to go on a trip with my family.

 

[triton94949]

There is plenty of time to take an O/W class at a local dive store and get certified and AOW as well by August. Have her tell the instructor that she wants nitrox to be one of her AOW topics. Then you can both dive nitrox together.

Forget the internet.

The best thing is to sign up for the class ASAP and get the materials and read the book starting now. If you help her solve some of the problems in the book, she would have a head start. And it would be good practice for you too.

 

[KeyLargoBrent]

Seems like it would be nice and convienent for the class room work, but are these real? Can one trust getting their certification thru an online class? granted, the pool work and open water dives are not online and are done thru the LDS... but I cant seem to find the actual Agency that certifies the divers... just says "accepted everywhere" and "Our certification is RSTC certified and credited."

See:
http://www.scuba-training.net
http://www.blueseaadventures.com/scubacertification/training.html
http://www.wrstc.com/agency.php?country=usa

The reason I ask is I have a friend who wants to get certified so she can go diving with me. She has done a discover scuba class, and knows she likes it and is comfrotable with diving, but schedules dont really work out so she can take the classroom work... for now anyway. (would be nice if she could get certified by August as she might be able to go on a trip with my family.

The SDI certification is widely recognized, and is in fact quite thorough. Check out the SDI website via www.tdisdi.com

If there is an SDI affiliate in the area where you'll be vacationing, your friend could do her pool and open water work during the first two days you'll be there! Besides online academics, the biggest difference in SDI and other agencies is that SDI teaches the use of electronic dive computers (rather than dive tables) for planning and executing safe dives.

 

[spectrum]

Another hybrid that I've seen is DVD based. You sign up, they send you home with the materials. You do the reading and homework at your own pace. When you're ready you schedule a session where the instructor reviews critical concepts and you are tested on that body of learning. Then it's off to pool/confined water then open water checkout. The times I've seen this it has been for 1 on 1 lessons and if her schedule is that rough 1 on 1 may be worth considering albeit for more $$.

As is always said here the first step is to find an instructor that she is comforatable with, then find out what options they offer to accomodate her needs.

Pete

 

[ScubaSarus]

Keeps you out of the dive shop and away from the rhetoric of pushy sales like my shop was like. Saves on trave time. You can take the course at your leisure. Sit back and learn in the confort of your own home.

Drawbacks some one can help you cheat on the test eventhough you pass the pool skills and you may overlook an important item that could be needed on a future dive. (Not realizinz Boyles law etc)

Provided you take it honestly and be honest with yourself, I like the idea.

Chris

 

[ScubaFreak]

At the end of the day, there's no substitute for closed book exams.

Online training is definitly convenient for various topics. For the likes of Scuba education, I wouldn't have a problem with the online training guide, but in my mind it would only be beneficial if the quizzes and final exam were done in the presence of an instructor. I believe (and I hope I'm not alone in this) that the purpose of exams and quizzes are to verify the students knowledge.
As an Instructor, I wouldn't be happy with a students level of knowledge if they completed the exams / quizzes online.

Scubafreak

 

[scubatoys]

Those are SDI classes... and as far as accepted anywhere... might be a slight overstatement. SDI has some interesting ideas... and maybe they've changed in the last year or so, but when checking it out once, they made me a SDI instructor... No charge, no test, no time in the pool... Just sign here. That had me a bit nervous...

And they were doing a class with no dive table theory or planning. Their idea was tables were what we used to dive with... no we use computers so don't worry about them. When I have SDI open water students taking my nitrox class... I get a "deer in the headlights" look when we get to table problems.

I guess on line is really not any different than a book... We do our classes as a take home book, dvd, audio CD's, workbook, tables, etc. It's the Naui Scuba Diver Kit, then they come hit our pool for 1 weekend, or with a private class... anytime they want. But during that time, we go over the academics, grade the test, answer any questions on the academics, etc. Then we can go out to the lake for a weekend of fish chasing, or sign off a referral to send them to the islands. We will not accept the SDI courses as credit toward certification as it does not meet our training standards.... But I guess other SDI shops would.

 

[Gary D.]

IMHO online has it's place and SCUBA needs that one on one training. They have broken up the training enough.

It would be ok if all you were going to do was cyber diving.

Run Forest, Run.

Gary D.

 

[jonnythan]

I wish I could have done my classroom portion online. There was so little information actually presented in the 20 or so hours of classroom time that I could have doubtless covered it all in 3 or 4.

 

[domskynetlabs]

These online courses terrify me