PADI Certifications - Couple of questions...

[BadaBing]

My son is 17 years old and very interested in getting certified. He is a HS junior, very bright (much smarter than his dad), and in very good physical condition. Don't want to invite debate, but my certification is PADI and I want his OW certification to be PADI too.

My son does not have much free time between school, extra-curriculars and a p/t job. Only one LDS in our area that does PADI certifications, and their schedule just doesn't work. I checked the PADI web site and saw they offer an online program which allows you to complete the classroom work ahead of time, and just do the in-water portion with instructors.....

My questions:
1. Anyone have experience doing this online, and is the training adequate for someone who's a quick study?
2. When I certified back in the stone ages, "in-water" consisted of pool work and then the 4 OW dives. From what I could read, you go straight from the online course to the 4 OW dives (maybe they use those to cover the pool skills?)
3. If he goes the online route, are we going to run into instructors who will give him a hard time because he didn't complete the academic portion in a classroom?
4. I have a PADI OW certification. I have 75-80 dives under my belt, most of them in the 70-110 ft. range. Split about 50/50 between anchor and drift dives. I have taken the classroom portion of SSI deep diver, planning to complete the dives some time this summer. I have no intention of ever doing night/cave/ice dives. Is there any compelling reason for me to think about taking PADI AOW? I don't get out diving every week, and I really hate the thought of using a weekend's worth of dives on compulsories when I could be spearfishing instead, but would consider it with a good reason.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[fisheater]

1. You can either do the academics (a) online, (b) home study with a DVD or (c) traditional classroom. Options (a) & (b) appear to be the most common as of late. (And for the reasons raised by your son. Time commitments.) That said, to be successful the student has to take on the heady responsibility to really read and understand the material. As if your life depended upon it. Because it does!

2. The pool work is still required.

3. Someone's likely to give him a hard time for something. (Not the right color or shape fins. Hose length. Snorkel type. Etc.) I don't think any of his instructors will give him any grief for having done an online or home study program.

4. Unless there's a dive you want to do and the dive op requires you to do AOW, if don't see a "need." However, you really should go through a Rescue Diver course, especially as you'll be diving with your son. When he's ready, he should take the course, too. The life he saves may be yours!

 

[knotical]

You might want to ask the PADI shop, or instructor with whom your son will be doing pool sessions, how they handle e-learners. Some shops have very few e-learners. Of those shops, some do a better job than others of integrating e-learners with traditional students.

 

[A2K]

My wife did the e-learning and the pool sessions locally then the OW dives in St. Thomas. This worked well for us. Your son could do something similar. After completing the home learning, you just contact the shop about completing the rest. Usually they will add the person in to an existing class going on and it's no big deal, but if your son has schedule conflicts you may end up having to pay a little more for a private session.

 

[A2K]

About your AOW class, depending on where you go, you need to have experience in the type of diving you will be doing. Sounds like you have some pretty good experience in your log book, but some operators want to see a certification. I would consult with the operator regarding that. To comment on fisheater's suggestion of taking a Rescue course, I firmly believe that is a course everyone who is diving should take. I, myself, have had to put those skills to use in real life and it is not fun, but I was prepared and new what to do. I feel that the Rescue class helps you become a more aware diver. Meaning, you're aware of others and things that may be wrong and not just of yourself. Not too long ago, PADI required you to have AOW before taking a Rescue course. That is not the case anymore. You only need to be an Adventure Diver, which is 3 dives in different specialties, instead of 5 like the AOW. However, if you're going to do the 3, you might as well do the 5 and try something new. You don't have to do night or cave or ice diving. You can try your hand at photography, do a drift dive, learn a little more about sealife with Underwater Naturalist dive. There are all sorts of other dives you can do. Two of those dives do, however have to be Deep and Navigation. Which I think is understandable if you want to consider yourself an "advanced diver". Hope this all helps.

 

[BadaBing]

Thanks guys for the good info, that sets my mind at ease a bit about having him take the online. I'll look into the rescue course for myself as well. A2K, if you're still in Afghanistan, please stay safe. If you're back, thank you for helping secure our freedom.

 

[mddyver]

E-learning was not enthusiastically embraced initially by the Raleigh area LDSs. However, the shop I teach for has two seasons of experience with distance learning. Based on the success of e-learning, the LDS now dedicates the monthly weekday evening courses for e-learners. My discussions with most shop owners and remote resorts report similar satisfaction with the program.

The e-learner students are well prepared with respect to academics. Generally all that is needed is some remediation on equipment familiarization. Distance learning has proven effective and is here to stay, IMO.

Confined water training (pool sessions) and open water training are identical to traditional classes.

If your son has spare time this summer, he could probably get certified before school resumes in August.

In a private course, with an effective instructor, you and your son could take rescue together before the end of the summer as well. Your son would need to complete his OW certification (7-10 days), then complete 3 of 5 dives required for AOW (1-2 days), earn his CPR/First Aid certification (1 Day). He then would have the prerequisites for Rescue (3-5 days). You and he could take the CPR/First Aid and Rescue together. Add two more dives off the coast to experience boat, deep and wreck diving and he'd have completed the entire suite of recreational core diving courses generally available. Your son would have a very strong foundation for a novice diver.

If you are interested in a referral on a local LDS or independent private instruction, send me a PM.

Mike

 

[Dragon Eye]

I did the e-learning, but there was one person in my class that opted for the book, so the rest of us got to sit through a review as well. Took more time, but the added review is always worth it. Anyone who is a quick study will be just fine. In fact I sat down one day and did the entire e-learning due to time constraints.

Yes you do pool and 4 OW dives.

Find the good instructor first- I will always say they are the golden ticket. Many student aged people now do a lot of e-learning, online test taking, etc. so it's more "normal" than it would be to someone who isn't as exposed.

AOW for me was a fun class- you do one night dive, a navigation course, a buoyancy (which you'll learn more about your personal adjustment needs and other fun information), you get to recover something, and you get to do a deep dive. It's up to you to determine if that would be of interest, but I will tell you the things you learn in AOW are another foundation block for Rescue. Also, some dive sites require the AOW certification... food for thought.

 

[luckim]

I don't know if you made a decision yet, but here is my experience. My brother and I did OW certs last summer with e-learning. I was a bit concerned about my brother's retention because he was 13 and ADHD. We opted to do e-learning for the convenience of doing all of our wet work on-site in Mexico. I was very surprised at how well my brother did with the book work and remembered his stuff. I think that the ability to go at his own pace and him recognizing the importance of what he was learning contributed a lot to his retention. We did go through the pool work, but we did it as we went through our 4 OW dives (we would do the skills work first and then go do a dive to apply those skills). The quality of our instructor also went a long, long way to making ours a good experience. I hope this helps.

 

[BLUESEASONBALI]

Hi Joe,

The Padi E learning is a great way to get around the complications of scheduling as it offers so much more freedom. All your son will need to complete before going to the PADI Diveshop will be the online version of the PADI OW manual and DVDs, once your son has completed all 5 sections, there are small quizzes at the end of each section to show the students mastery of the required knowledge. To ensure that all the students have independently completed the KDs a review check will be given out by the instructor taking on the referral. As soon as this is completed they will jump straight in the pool and complete CW dives 1 - 5 and then OW dives 1 - 4.

Hope this helps

Diving Bali | Dive Courses Bali

BSB