What is typical in an open water course these days?

[Germie]

I have looked for an instructor that did the confined water in open water, so I did not need to count tiles in a pool. Most divecenters used a pool but I found one that agreed with my question.
But ok, I have to say that I had done some dives when I was a child, so I was waterfree and knew already what diving is.

 

[Alex (Watertown MA)]

Basic navigation / compass skills was one item. We had an open soccer field outside the school pool we used. I would have students drape their reg set (with console compass) over their shoulders, drop a marker in the grass, put the towel over their heads so that they couldn't see which direction they were walking, then have them walk 50 paces then do a basic reciprocal back to the marker using their compass. Same thing with more complex nav courses in the advanced courses.

Yep, another factor is OW in colder climates. You have to do your OW skills with gloves and hood on. Practicing manual inflation with gloves on before getting in the water made a big difference. Practicing regulator retrieval. Practicing weight removal and replacement. Practicing out of gas buddy breathing. Yes, you could technically do these in the shallow end standing (and should), but as someone else brought up pool time costs money and these skills could be practiced before even going to the pool. I found a lot of the pool time was just repeating these basic skills over and over for a couple people who were less comfortable when it could have been used to work on time spent underwater and more difficult skills. Most days we weren't even to half tank before it was "time up."

 

[Alex (Watertown MA)]

Absolutely

That's unusual, but it is something I've used after taking GUE fundies

I only started teaching in 2015 and in my area, pool time was very expensive. I cannot speak about how it was in the past.

However, there is no defined time for courses. There are minimums for open water dives in terms of time, depth (well, minimum and maximum), and number. But it is all dependent on the student (how quickly they pick things up/master) and the instructor (how good are they at getting the material/skills across).

What is it you are actually looking for? Now what many of us have discovered is that it takes less time to teach neutrally buoyant and trimmed. The front loading of getting students neutrally buoyant and trimmed pays off big time as the other skills go more smoothly. Remember having a student spend their time waiting to perform a skill to be floating in the water column is far more beneficial than sitting on their knees.

So while you didn't ask for recommendations, the number 1 criteria is does the instructor teach the entire course, confined water included, fully neutrally buoyant and trimmed. You might be interested in my 3-part blog series on the SDI log.

The quality of courses varies dramatically, which you already know. I would hope that you are seeking solid training and are meaning to ask what amount of pool time should a good class have. Is this correct?

But that's my point. Pool time is expensive so I found it strange how much of it was spent teaching skills for the first time in the pool and needing to repeat again and again for some students that didn't need to happen if they were practiced and explained before entering the water. I think a lot of experienced divers forget just how disorienting doing skills underwater actually is for some divers and if skills can be practiced in a more comfortable classroom setting there are several that come to mind that would fit that e.g. weight removal and replace, regulator retrieval, buddy breathing, orientation with a compass. This might seem silly to many here, but that's what is bugging me, it makes a lot of sense from a beginner perspective to do this things before entering the water. I am OW certified and am going to continue my training, but was more asking to confirm my suspicion that in the past I had a rare excellent instructor who understood my point, but this is far from the norm and perhaps never was.