I just became aware of this thread and will try to jump in all at once on several points.
The aforementioned PADI article has actually not been published yet--it is scheduled for the next edition of the
Undersea Journal. They just asked me for high res versions of some photos we sent in with the article, so I guess you will get a glimpse of things as well.
When I posed for the pictures, I had to do some of the skills on my knees for the comparison photos, something I had not done in several years. I was shocked by how much more weight I needed, how awkward I felt, and how much harder the skills were to perform.
mh -- one of the real issues with this, at least with PADI, is that almost all, if not all, of the video presentations show everything being done "on the knees" whether in the pool OR in "open water."
I think people in PADI HQ have at least heard and I think it will be researched and consideration given to progress in that direction.
Peter pointed this out to me when we were drafting the article, and I mentioned it when I first submitted the first draft to the training department. The reply was essentially, "Holy Cow! You're right." They said they would start making new videos.
The overall reaction from the training department was extremely positive.
As for the research, there was a lot of stuff in the first draft. It was taken out because of length and the fact that once it gets published in the official journal, it will have the obvious blessing of PADI and the justification will not be needed.
I wonder if that is partly because then it's easier for the student to see what is being demonstrated when the instructor is on his knees. Do you have clips of PADI skills being demo'd in a prone position?
Part of our research (also omitted in the final draft) indicates nothing of the sort. Dive historian Dr. Sam Miller was especially helpful in this. Apparently instruction of skills began on the knees in the early days because before BCDs that was really the only way to do it. Even when the horse collar was introduced, that had to be orally inflated, and it put people in an upright position.
Essentially, the reason it has been done on the knees is because that's the way it had to be done in the past for practical reasons that no longer exist. Like so many things in life, traditions die hard, even when the original reason for them is lost in time.