It has been great for me to walk through the details of my DIR/F class. Although I crack on SeaJay (many of us do...) for his long posts, I am surely guilty of that in this series. I was thinking about that last night, and you know, its like this. I don't post for the benefit of the board, or of the collective 
. I post for me. I do this so I do not forget. I do this so I can wrestle for clarity in front of a bunch of smart people. I do this so I can build a defensible take on a subject. So if my posts are too long, go away. Rock on SeaJay.
OK - final thoughts for the class, now that I've had another night to reflect and pour over my notes:
* I was fortunate to spend more time with MHK and Terry than anyone else in the class, simply because I not only roomed with the two, I was the last to leave. Solid citizens, excellent divers, knowledgeable divers, funny, sincere guys, great ambassadors for GUE and DIR.
* There are no sacred cows to this system. I like that. Sacred cows are the sure signs of hidden agendas. I found none. If you think something stinks, or are simply unable to make sense of something, ask. Several times our team engaged in healthy debate over specific issues - be it equipment config, gas blending, communications, training, team diving, etc. I honestly believe there isn't a question I can throw at these guys that will ever receive a "tow the company line, that's just how it is" type answer. There is a reason for everything that matters. Some things are simply "pimples on the butt of life" (MHKism #2) but all significant rules, practices and gear config have origins in trial, error, logic and experience.
* Aside from new skills, I learned some new dive planning methods. I'll be cautiously integrating them into my planning as my computer moves from primary source, to back up, to eBay. others include:
* Rock bottom gas supply based upon cylinder type
* Calculations for computing in my dome available time at average depth based upon a 32 and 36 EAN mix
* NDL diving incorporating the safety cushion of a continuous off-gassing ascent strategy (including deep stops and more frequent soft stops...as opposed to the traditional single hard stop)
* Surface Interval strategies to assure safe multiple dives (its more than looking at my computer and staying in the green...)
* Gas blending mathematics to achieve a 32 EAN mix no matter how much air is currently in the cylinder
* Team based OOA management - not all diving is done with just two people
* Team Resources (MHKism #7 "every piece of equipment is a team resource")
* Benefits of a horizontal ascent and descent
* Precision control. My helicopter turn should be a pivot over my center of gravity. Currently its more like the Curley Shuffle as I sort of plant one shoulder and flail my legs to do circles around the planted shoulder (fill in sound effects here...)
So much more. There's just so much. I'm still spinning. Take the class. Its not the dogmatic boot camp urban legend has made it out to be. I wasn't "ready" to take it, but I did and I got so much out of it. Take the class. I was probably better prepared than many are because I had outlined what I wanted to get out of it (MHKism #8: "got my head squared away there, chief...") and was determined to hold on to MHK's ankle until he gave me what I was looking for. He was cool with that. Take the class.
Memo to GUE - things that can be improved (some "pimples..." some a bit more urgent)
* Pre-trip communication was a little spotty and not very buttoned down. This is no doubt due to the heavy travel requirements of the presenter, who seems for the most part to be running their own shows. I'm confident this likely goes on for all the field presenters. These guys need better support from the home office - get their class schedules up earlier, secure the friggen venue, and have someone at the home office sweat the details. These guys are field ops, they need support.
* Class resources are thin. Its misleading to think the Fundy's book is text for the class, its simply not. Maybe half of the chapters even receive a cursory visit where part of their text is covered. Granted, its a 2.5 day class - but so much of the class is lecture and PowerPoint - there should be better materials. Geeze - for the lengths GUE has gone on their site to categorize their teaching, and for all the effort that's gone into preparing the "Classroom" section of the site, spend a little time and create some actual classroom worthy materials.
Send someone over from the GUE home office to audit a few classes and develop a set of logical, well crafted materials to support these guys. We'll pay a few more bucks for the class to support better take-aways. I'm not talking materials that will stifle the fluidity designed into the class (picture MHK reading and strictly teaching from a manual....it'll never happen. Next stop any agency USA) but there are some things that will always, always be covered. Get that stuff dialed in, man. If you're going to be a serious diving teaching agency, you need to get these together. How about a card with the kicks and drills I can slide into my wetnotes or a pocket? Put on the card the Basic 5. How about on the back of that card some of the formulas and calculations I addressed above? The SADDDD dive review.
Stuff like this will elevate the agency / organization (whatever your branding/objective is or is going to be) but more importantly, it will drive retention in your students. MHK provided a printout of the .PPT presentation. That helped a lot with keeping me personally focused, but it was the sole class-provided take away. That and my notes are all I got. I expected more. A lot more.
* I filled out 6 pages of forms on the GUE site to become a "GUE student". What's the deal there? It was like an application process, complete with great details about my dive history, objectives, fitness, etc. It had all my personal information, the release, etc. Where does that stuff go? When I filled it out before the class, I received an error message that Andrew's mailbox was full and it rejected. OK - I want to know who has all of this information, am I gonna get spammed, will there be follow up, or did I simply waste 40 minutes completing the barrage of on-line forms? Why can't I go onto GUE and edit / remove my form? Where is this stuff kept and who's looking at it? I have never received any contact from GUE since I sent in the forms.
* Why didn't the home office prepare a student kit for MHK so he knew at least a little about us (presuming everyone else was honest about their forms...) going in? Again, the whole process needs refinement, and it seems to me that the field instructors aren't receiving the support they need.
GUE can one day be a formidable teaching agency if they, operationally, get their collective stuff together. There is no evidence from this class that teaching at this level is in their long term strategic planning. They come off as an agency not focused on DIR/F level teaching in the field. I think that's sad, because this class is likely a prerequisite for most of their more advanced courses - clearly their true love. That will probably change when this becomes a cert course in Summer. It will have to change.
I understand they probably don't want to "get big" and have to answer to share-holders, stake holders, shop owners, investors, etc, etc. Maybe they're happy being a boutique agency in FL. by profession, I'm a professional trainer, in addition to marketing and communications - so this stuff just stands out and is so obvious to me. My take, after seeing the operational side of the class is this: if it wasn't for committed people like MHK and Terry, these DIR/F classes would likely fall off the corporate map.
That said. Take the class.
Many thanks to MHK, Terry and the other students that made up the Mighty Flailing Avalon 5.
Ken
. I post for me. I do this so I do not forget. I do this so I can wrestle for clarity in front of a bunch of smart people. I do this so I can build a defensible take on a subject. So if my posts are too long, go away. Rock on SeaJay.OK - final thoughts for the class, now that I've had another night to reflect and pour over my notes:
* I was fortunate to spend more time with MHK and Terry than anyone else in the class, simply because I not only roomed with the two, I was the last to leave. Solid citizens, excellent divers, knowledgeable divers, funny, sincere guys, great ambassadors for GUE and DIR.
* There are no sacred cows to this system. I like that. Sacred cows are the sure signs of hidden agendas. I found none. If you think something stinks, or are simply unable to make sense of something, ask. Several times our team engaged in healthy debate over specific issues - be it equipment config, gas blending, communications, training, team diving, etc. I honestly believe there isn't a question I can throw at these guys that will ever receive a "tow the company line, that's just how it is" type answer. There is a reason for everything that matters. Some things are simply "pimples on the butt of life" (MHKism #2) but all significant rules, practices and gear config have origins in trial, error, logic and experience.
* Aside from new skills, I learned some new dive planning methods. I'll be cautiously integrating them into my planning as my computer moves from primary source, to back up, to eBay. others include:
* Rock bottom gas supply based upon cylinder type
* Calculations for computing in my dome available time at average depth based upon a 32 and 36 EAN mix
* NDL diving incorporating the safety cushion of a continuous off-gassing ascent strategy (including deep stops and more frequent soft stops...as opposed to the traditional single hard stop)
* Surface Interval strategies to assure safe multiple dives (its more than looking at my computer and staying in the green...)
* Gas blending mathematics to achieve a 32 EAN mix no matter how much air is currently in the cylinder
* Team based OOA management - not all diving is done with just two people
* Team Resources (MHKism #7 "every piece of equipment is a team resource")
* Benefits of a horizontal ascent and descent
* Precision control. My helicopter turn should be a pivot over my center of gravity. Currently its more like the Curley Shuffle as I sort of plant one shoulder and flail my legs to do circles around the planted shoulder (fill in sound effects here...)
So much more. There's just so much. I'm still spinning. Take the class. Its not the dogmatic boot camp urban legend has made it out to be. I wasn't "ready" to take it, but I did and I got so much out of it. Take the class. I was probably better prepared than many are because I had outlined what I wanted to get out of it (MHKism #8: "got my head squared away there, chief...") and was determined to hold on to MHK's ankle until he gave me what I was looking for. He was cool with that. Take the class.
Memo to GUE - things that can be improved (some "pimples..." some a bit more urgent)
* Pre-trip communication was a little spotty and not very buttoned down. This is no doubt due to the heavy travel requirements of the presenter, who seems for the most part to be running their own shows. I'm confident this likely goes on for all the field presenters. These guys need better support from the home office - get their class schedules up earlier, secure the friggen venue, and have someone at the home office sweat the details. These guys are field ops, they need support.
* Class resources are thin. Its misleading to think the Fundy's book is text for the class, its simply not. Maybe half of the chapters even receive a cursory visit where part of their text is covered. Granted, its a 2.5 day class - but so much of the class is lecture and PowerPoint - there should be better materials. Geeze - for the lengths GUE has gone on their site to categorize their teaching, and for all the effort that's gone into preparing the "Classroom" section of the site, spend a little time and create some actual classroom worthy materials.
Send someone over from the GUE home office to audit a few classes and develop a set of logical, well crafted materials to support these guys. We'll pay a few more bucks for the class to support better take-aways. I'm not talking materials that will stifle the fluidity designed into the class (picture MHK reading and strictly teaching from a manual....it'll never happen. Next stop any agency USA) but there are some things that will always, always be covered. Get that stuff dialed in, man. If you're going to be a serious diving teaching agency, you need to get these together. How about a card with the kicks and drills I can slide into my wetnotes or a pocket? Put on the card the Basic 5. How about on the back of that card some of the formulas and calculations I addressed above? The SADDDD dive review.
Stuff like this will elevate the agency / organization (whatever your branding/objective is or is going to be) but more importantly, it will drive retention in your students. MHK provided a printout of the .PPT presentation. That helped a lot with keeping me personally focused, but it was the sole class-provided take away. That and my notes are all I got. I expected more. A lot more.
* I filled out 6 pages of forms on the GUE site to become a "GUE student". What's the deal there? It was like an application process, complete with great details about my dive history, objectives, fitness, etc. It had all my personal information, the release, etc. Where does that stuff go? When I filled it out before the class, I received an error message that Andrew's mailbox was full and it rejected. OK - I want to know who has all of this information, am I gonna get spammed, will there be follow up, or did I simply waste 40 minutes completing the barrage of on-line forms? Why can't I go onto GUE and edit / remove my form? Where is this stuff kept and who's looking at it? I have never received any contact from GUE since I sent in the forms.
* Why didn't the home office prepare a student kit for MHK so he knew at least a little about us (presuming everyone else was honest about their forms...) going in? Again, the whole process needs refinement, and it seems to me that the field instructors aren't receiving the support they need.
GUE can one day be a formidable teaching agency if they, operationally, get their collective stuff together. There is no evidence from this class that teaching at this level is in their long term strategic planning. They come off as an agency not focused on DIR/F level teaching in the field. I think that's sad, because this class is likely a prerequisite for most of their more advanced courses - clearly their true love. That will probably change when this becomes a cert course in Summer. It will have to change.
I understand they probably don't want to "get big" and have to answer to share-holders, stake holders, shop owners, investors, etc, etc. Maybe they're happy being a boutique agency in FL. by profession, I'm a professional trainer, in addition to marketing and communications - so this stuff just stands out and is so obvious to me. My take, after seeing the operational side of the class is this: if it wasn't for committed people like MHK and Terry, these DIR/F classes would likely fall off the corporate map.
That said. Take the class.
Many thanks to MHK, Terry and the other students that made up the Mighty Flailing Avalon 5.
Ken
