What makes an instructor or class excellent?

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Instructors that follow standards and REQUIRE MASTERY LEARNING.

 

[mcohen1021]

Telling a story how they screwed something up, especially if it was similar to your screwup.

I agree with this... I haven't worked a scuba class since 2000, but I currently put on safety clinics and driver clinics for USA water ski. A huge part of the clinics I teach I incorporate personal stories of experience both failure and success.

If I am coaching someone who is learning competitive water skiing, I also employ similar tactics to show them proper technique, form, body positioning etc

 

[sea_ledford]

Both stories illustrate examples of teachers using standard instructional practices and failing, and then succeeding with different approaches. It is not that those different approaches are not known--it's just that they are not the ones typically taught to teachers.

Related to that, I've found a few things were a simple shift in point of view was all it took to make things click.

In doubles, I used to struggle with getting people to catch on to trim and buoyancy in an inherently over weighted system. Telling them to imagine they are the cockpit hanging from a blimp rather than a person wearing a backpack made an almost instantaneous difference.

And in my DM classes, I used to spend a long time trying to get the candidates to transition from doing a great job at a skill to doing a demonstration quality skill. Once I started telling them that they were completely different skills, they were able to pick up on it much faster. A good demo of a mask remove and replace is just a different skill than a mask remove and replace. They stopped trying to modify how they did it and just learned it as a new skill.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

The instructors I had that I considered excellent ALWAYS went above and beyond standards. Standards are a minimum level of competence and are highly subjective because they leave much to the instructor to determine a minimum level of proficiency.
When I started teaching I took what I believed to be those traits that produced a skilled, competent, and independent diver right out of the open water class and then added additional materials, skills, and practice.
I was first a YMCA Silver Instructor and the YMCA Open Water class had minimum standards for areas of study as well as times in the classroom and pool. They required 12 in each and recommended 16 and I usually ended up somewhere in the middle in my classes.
It was in my own YMCA and NAUI instruction when I crossed over from PADI at the DM level that I saw buoyancy and trim from day one in the open water classes I was assisting with.
In the classroom students were encouraged to ask questions and were questioned themselves to make sure they understood the materials and weren't just parroting answers from the books.
In the pool we always had time at the end for practice and for them to just swim around and even play with torpedoes, hoops, weights, etc.
I carried this into the classes I taught.
We never took a student into open water that wasn't ready. Every student was expected to be able to assist their buddy and even the instructor if the instructor had a medical issue. Rescue skills were part of the OW class.
There were minimum requirements to even start advanced and specialty classes and I saw my YMCA/NAUI instructor tell more than one person they needed to practice more and get more dives in shallow water before he would take them into an advanced class.
I had minimum requirements to start my own advanced class when I taught and required a checkout dive in the pool or local quarry if I didn't train them previously.
At the same time, they and I offered informal pool sessions or a day of diving to work on those skills they needed before starting a class.
And no instructor of mine ever gave me a card I didn't earn.
That's why I was so proud of that YMCA Instructor card. The exam was 3 days from 8 am until 10 at night and an 8am to 4pm on the 4th day.
The open water portion done on a rainy 58 degree day in 50 degree water in drysuits.

 

[sea_ledford]

Instructors that follow standards and REQUIRE MASTERY LEARNING.

How do you get them from where they are to mastery? Is it just straight repetition with feedback?

 

[rhwestfall]

Did you learn something? I have had (and would still use) an instructor seek feedback, and offer to refund my class costs if I didn't find value in what I received....

A good instructor?

Passionate,
Knowledgeable
Provides value
Adapts to needs of whom they are teaching
Actively does (and believes in) what they are teaching
Teaches to impart learning more than "checking boxes"...
Maybe learns along with you (no hubris)...

I have had brutally intense (both mental and physical) sessions. They weren't torture.....

I've also had a lot of fun in the same classes...

 

[rhwestfall]

Telling a story how they screwed something up, especially if it was similar to your screwup.

A different instructor:

Day 1 of my NAUI Rescue Class was started with a picture of a helicopter air lifting a diver off a boat. My class instructor calmly said, "That is me, I hope to help you learn to never be in that position, but if you are, I also hope I have provided you the tools to successfully handle the situation."

 

[rhwestfall]

Above and beyond "checking the boxes"...

 

[The Chairman]

Lord Baden Powell created Scouts in England as "A game with a purpose". Who doesn't love a good game? Keep things fun, relevant, and moving. Don't waste my time.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

How do you get them from where they are to mastery? Is it just straight repetition with feedback?

Yea, pretty much. Practice, practice, practice until the skill is embedded into muscle memory.