Sport Chalet Instruction...new rules

[neil]

Is it waterproof at all? (certainly it probably can't be dived with, but can it get soaked?)

I don't think it's completely waterproof. It's not meant to be dived: it isn't a dive computer, just a calculator. It would make more sense for PADI to market a true DC at a decent price.

 

[Jorbar1551]

i was reading some dive magazine and there was an ad for online scuba classes, but you still had to do the checkout dives and the ocean dives to get the cert. we promote the home study type of classes, because even though im only aow, i feel people learn more at home when they arent bored out of their mind listening to an instructor talk about dive physics.

our padi instructor at sc IS a nuclear physicist or scientist

 

[neil]

i was reading some dive magazine and there was an ad for online scuba classes, but you still had to do the checkout dives and the ocean dives to get the cert. we promote the home study type of classes, because even though im only aow, i feel people learn more at home when they arent bored out of their mind listening to an instructor talk about dive physics.

IMNSHO, the knowledge gained from the PADI materials in a home study course is inadequate, and only a handful of students really grasp it all on their own. If an instructor can impress on his pupils the importance of the knowledge and put on a good show, it shouldn't be boring. People are boring, not knowledge.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

IMNSHO, the knowledge gained from the PADI materials in a home study course is inadequate, and only a handful of students really grasp it all on their own. If an instructor can impress on his pupils the importance of the knowledge and put on a good show, it shouldn't be boring. People are boring, not knowledge.

I did the stuff at-home and have done quite well. I passed the tests with a pretty high grade (missed one or two questions I think). I passed them all before the first pool time too. At that pool session, the instructor told the other people in the class (two girls) that they might need to help me get the equipment set up...I had mine up and ready before they had their tanks on their BC and I helped THEM get set up. They had done the at-the-shop class kind of thing. I used less air, did all the skills without problems the first time (they had to redo several of them) and did better on quizzes than they did.


Then again, I love diving and have read many books on it before the class stuff. I did everything they told me to, every single question in the book was answered and i highlighted on almost every page. I still pull otu the manual to reread sections when I'm bored. I'm not your typical student. For me, at home stuff works just fine, if not better than in class. For exmaple, in my chem class last year, we had an incompetant foreign teacher for half the year before switching to a better teacher for the last half. A few weeks in, I realized that I would do better than everyone if, instead of listening to the teacher talk about hobbits (with her accent, orbits sounded like hobbits. half of one class day was spent trying to figure that one out.) , I'd just read the book. By the end of the year I was almsot a week ahead of everyone consistently and spent alot of time on the phone helping people with chem problems near finals. All because I didn't ever listen in class, I read ahead and worked litereally every problem in the book, even the unassigned ones. The teacher saw that I did better when not paying attention so she let me get away with it. I did nearly the same thing in scuba class.

 

[The Chairman]

I have the same experience with my students, Jah Jah. Those who do the online study seem way motivated and quite prepared. I love it!

 

[Scott in AK]

Woooaahhh, for a minute their I thought maybe PADI was involved in saying students didn't need to learn the tables. That would be downright crazy.
Is Sports Chalet a big sporting goods store or a chain dive shop??? I never heard of them.

When I bought my class material last Aug. my pack came with tables.
I studied the hole book and the tables for 6 weeks. when I started the OW classes the first of Oct. I was the only one out of 12 that had tables. the new study guide
( from PADI) did not have RDP's they did have eRDP.

I learned use the tables and I am glad I did, it gives ME more knowlage and a better chance if the electronics fail.

 

[D_B]

I don't think it's completely waterproof. It's not meant to be dived: it isn't a dive computer, just a calculator. It would make more sense for PADI to market a true DC at a decent price.

Finally! .. The eRDP is a calculator, just like the RDP is a calculator, and used the same way, to plan your dives ... It is not a dive computer ... are you and Netdoc the only ones to make that distinction?

 

[Jorbar1551]

IMNSHO, the knowledge gained from the PADI materials in a home study course is inadequate, and only a handful of students really grasp it all on their own. If an instructor can impress on his pupils the importance of the knowledge and put on a good show, it shouldn't be boring. People are boring, not knowledge.

*** is IMNSHO?

 

[rakkis]

Finally! .. The eRDP is a calculator, just like the RDP is a calculator, and used the same way, to plan your dives ... It is not a dive computer ... are you and Netdoc the only ones to make that distinction?

That assertion was done in post 13

 

[JahJahwarrior]

*** is IMNSHO?

Probably the newest PADI table/erdp/NDL calculator.