PADI eBusiness - Atomic Online - 800 Pound Gorilla in the Room

[Thalassamania]

I don't understand why it is necessary that the person who conducts the online portion (academics) can't also do the pool and the OW portions of the class.

If they did it might solve part of the problem, I assume that technology would smooth over the rest in time. But the reality of the industry is that it will not be done as an honest attempt to improve the quality of training (though that will be the window dressing and advert bumph). In reality, quality will take yet another hit. Past performance is the best predictor of future performance.

 

[scubaaaronh]

But I don't teach no stinkin' modules and I'd not send anyone I cared about to a course that did. But that's just the smallest part of the problem. See my earlier comments about retention and quality.

Do you use a book in your class?
Modules is how the online classes are set up. A module covers one chapter in the book, contains homework for the student, and provides a place for the students in the class to work together in learning. It also provides a place for discussion with students and the instructor for question and answer

Why do you think that retention and quality would be bad? I personally think it would be better. As a matter of fact i am in a very boring microsoft class right now. The classes I have taken online I have remembered the most information from. I guess that is just my experiences with online training. Also traditional classes don't seem to put the work load on the student as the online classes do.

 

[GrandpaScuba]

...
Online training is here. Stop whining about online certifications. Divers will still need instructors to get them through CW and OW. ...

TwoBit

The question that I have is: Did the PADI presentation cover how the CW/OW instructors will know for sure that the person presenting the on-line academic certificate is actually the person who completed the on-line class?

My day-job happens to be with a dot-com company. So, I am not e-phobic. But as a "professional" dot-commer, I know that there are lots of ways to "cheat". I once had a job interview with another e-business. The interview was a on-line questionaire. As I completed their questionaire, any question I didn't know the answer to, I simply opened a new window to Google and googled the answer up.

Sales on-line, I think is great. Learning to dive on-line, I think is a mistake.

my $0.02

 

[RJP]

Here is something related to gray market internet sales that is certainly going to be interesting to watch:

http://www.divenewswire.com/NewsITems.aspx?newsID=8367

A friend does IP law - doing cease and desist orders are fun especially because if it goes to court the loser pays all the bills so it gets expesive really fast.

That only works if the manufacturer actually wants to STOP grey market sales.

 

[RJP]

I don't understand why it is necessary that the person who conducts the online portion (academics) can't also do the pool and the OW portions of the class.

Because by definition, they would have to be local, in which case why not just go there? (Or they could be distant, and you could go there.)

Either way it would eliminate the ability to to do it "wherever, whenever."

 

[Swan1172]

The only thing that is changing is the medium for delivery of the information. Right now, you get the information out of a book. You register for the class, buy the learning materials and study at your own pace at home. In class, you review the key points of what you read and review the learning assessments that you completed. Moving forward, you are going to do the exact same thing, but you will do it online. The only change is in the delivery.

 

[RJP]

Moving forward, you are going to do the exact same thing, but you will do it online. The only change is in the delivery.

And a major reduction in foot traffic through LDSs. I don't know about anyone else, but I think I probably spent $100-$200 every time I went to the shop for each of the three classroom sessions of OW. (I probably need these gloves, and this hood, and a regulator bag, and this clip, and those things there...")

Look at retail pharmacy. Their adoption of online Rx system will probably prove to be their undoing. CVS built a huge bricks and mortar business on the ancillary and impulse purchases that prescription customers made when they came in to fill their Rxs. When people started filling Rxs on line - even at CVS.com - they stopped buying their milk, potato chips and mints at CVS.

Again, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't anyone think I'm saying "don't embrace the internet" because I'm not.

What I'm saying is that it's potentially dangerous to look at it as "just a delivery mechanism." Unless of course you're in the text book and c-card delivery business. Then it makes perfect sense. Hell, just eliminating the printing costs of materials is a huge win for PADI. But I rather doubt they will cut the cost of "course materials" for an on-line class, even though they will realize a substantial savings in the move to e-training. Smart business. For them.

 

[Swan1172]

What I'm saying is that it's potentially dangerous to look at it as "just a delivery mechanism." Unless of course you're in the text book and c-card delivery business. Then it makes perfect sense.

And, that is the point. PADI is the one proposing this, because it makes sense for them. I think they are ahead of the curve on this one and other agencies will follow suit shortly.

The nice thing about the dive industry is that it is not regulated externally. What this means is that just about anyone can create an agency and start issuing certifications. Just take a look at the plethora of agencies that are out there today. So, if enough LDS owners get upset about PADI going the online route, there is nothing to prevent them from banding together, creating their own agency and telling PADI to go pound salt.

 

[RJP]

So, if enough LDS owners get upset about PADI going the online route, there is nothing to prevent them from banding together, creating their own agency and telling PADI to go pound salt.

Yeah, cause dive shops are known for "banding together" throughout the years.



But that's besides the point.

Right now PADI is sort of the unifying force between the vast majority of LDSs. It probably has the greatest brand recognition in diving. In fact I would venture to say that the non-diving public probably thinks that PADI is "the company" and the shop that they drive by on the way home from work every day is a "PADI franchise."

 

[GrandpaScuba]

So, if enough LDS owners get upset about PADI going the online route, there is nothing to prevent them from banding together, creating their own agency and telling PADI to go pound salt.

The don't need to create their own agency. PADI may be the "biggest" but SSI is second biggest and SSI is adamant about supporting their dealers. This could be the best thing that has happened to SSI for years. There are already a steady stream of dealers and resorts abandoning PADI and going SSI. This will probably just increase the pace of defectors to SSI.