NetDoc:
I opt for more time in the water, and less time in the classroom. You can't teach trim and buoyancy in the classroom.
That part I agree with. I just think that there is too much "either/or" anymore rather than "both". As I said, I am not a full fledged instructor. I DO teach information technologies as a collateral duty at work and teach reactor operations on submarines. I am not thrilled with the trend toward online training in some cases. Without the re-inforcement of the instructor, students can get wrong ideas and not realize it.
Yes, I learned a great deal from homework and actually very little in my classroom on OW (I had already memorized the books and video when I bought them a month before the class, LOL). What I did learn were the "experience" lessons that my instructor brought to the table. We primarily used our classroom to get gear set up for the pool and learn nitrox (our shop teaches a nitrox cert as part of OW. It really drives home some of the issues with diving deep, too
Our students understand Dalton's Law about as much as Boyle's Law.). On the constrast, I just got done watching what I thought was the best OW class that I have seen with the exception of our LDS owner (a former school teacher). The thing of it is that her students were excellent OW divers, but didn't have the specialty skills that I would think of when I say AOW.
When I mentioned it to our instructors, the answer was rightfully... "She's teaching a college class. She doesn't have the economic pressures of a shop over her. You try teaching that kind of class for profit and you won't be able to make it." The problem is that the comment was right on the money. In the real world, we don't have three months to teach an OW class anymore and that is a shame.
I guess that is part of my disillusionment with the industry. I understand economic pressure, but wish that we could actually take time with the students instead of worrying about these kind of choices.
