IDC Was: AI Course [Archive]

Atlaua

February 17th, 2006, 03:39 PM

Last night was night 1 of the IDC. Pretty simple, an intro and a discussion of proscriptive teaching and on the finer points of knowledge and confined water presentation.

Tonight, among other things I'll be presenting airway control. Tomorrow I'll be presenting finding a pressure group after 2 dives using.....the wheel.

James

nauifins73

February 17th, 2006, 10:45 PM

Good Luck! I admire you heading in the Profressional way. I still am trying to decide on doing the Dive Con.

Atlaua

February 17th, 2006, 11:36 PM

Well I got a 3.8, 3.8, and 4.0 (there are two people also training to become Course Directors) on my first presentation, out of 5. Would be good enough for an IE if I were doing one but I got a lot of pointers, next one should be better.

Tomorrow is knowledge presentation 2 and confined water presentation, etc.

James

juls64

February 17th, 2006, 11:57 PM

I know with me, it was just getting down how PADI wanted you to teach it. It took a couple of tries to get it all rolled into one. The value, objectives, etc.
It sounds like you are off to a real good start.

Keep posting the reports, and good luck!

Atlaua

February 18th, 2006, 07:27 PM

juls64

February 18th, 2006, 07:35 PM

Confined water presentation: 3.6...passing but I'm disappointed. Most mistakess were just nerves, the other was not knowing that stating the objective meant reading it verbatim.

Yes, just read it. We were told that as well.

Way to go on the 5!:D

One more day then.......YOU BUY THE PIZZA!

Atlaua

February 18th, 2006, 07:45 PM

YOU BUY THE PIZZA!

I could never replace Bob...

reefraff

February 18th, 2006, 09:11 PM

Day three...did my second knowledge presentation and learned from my mistakes: 5.0 :D.

Confined water presentation: 3.6...passing but I'm disappointed. Most mistakess were just nerves, the other was not knowing that stating the objective meant reading it verbatim.We got the same message beaten into us: don't reinvent the wheel. Remember that you have two objectives - to learn how to teach people to dive and to learn how to pass the exam. Best to let PADI be in charge of being creative and follow the program as closely as you can.

Like we tell OW students - the secret to mastering the course is to relax, pay attention and remember to have fun with it.

5.0, eh? Nobody in my IDC got a 5.0 on anything - way to go!

Atlaua

February 19th, 2006, 07:01 PM

Well it's finally over! I have a shiny new AI application in my hand, signed and ready to send.

Today wen't really well. Did my final presntation, I think I scored a 4.5, they didn't like my non-diving prop and I got dinged for not soundig fluid for the first time. It was on the eRDP so I didn't have any slides or anything so I'm happy with the score.

Passed all tests fine and did my two OW presentations. Course Director didn't give me a number but said I nailed them and that the only thing he dinged me for was that he couldn't get the students attention to give him a problem on one of the skills, i.e. I got dinged on problem solving because there wasn't a problem.

It's been a long 4 days but it's been a really rewarding experience. I took this course so I would be able to give out PADI O2 certs, but I got a lot more out of it than I expected. If I had any desire to instruct SCUBA I'd just continue on and finish. A lot of the stuff I learned will help me with my DAN classes.

I delayed taking this becaue of percieved philosophically differences with the CD but I decided to take it and keep my mouth shut. I was surprised to find out that we really are not very far off philosophically and it was easy to just nod when we were. The CD did an excellent job and I have no doubt that I would have no problems passing the IE after he was done with me.

James

juls64

February 19th, 2006, 08:00 PM

CONGRATULATIONS ! ! !

:2125:

nauifins73

February 19th, 2006, 10:08 PM

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

(can't top the dancing bananas) :D

Atlaua

February 19th, 2006, 11:14 PM

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

(can't top the dancing bananas) :D

Don't congratulate me yet....right now my mind is in in a scary place...at least fo rme. I've decided to finish the IDC. I've come so far, I hate to waste the time so I'm going to go for OWSI.

Thing is I know I can do it, getting there is not an issue, the issue for me is the responsibility that goes along....X students in bad vis....

Even if I do, It will be a long while before I take that responsibility....

James

P.S. Thanks for the congratz. Right now though I'm full of second thoughts....

nauifins73

February 19th, 2006, 11:26 PM

I can completely understand all the thoughts. We are hear to listen and encourage.

juls64

February 20th, 2006, 08:15 AM

Well, you did deserve the congrats. You accomplished a goal.

As for whats next, that is something else. I also have debated that. My problem is that so many people are encouraging me to become an instructor. I want to make sure I am doing it for the reasons that are right for me. Some reasons are that I feel confident I could be a good instructor and bring enthusiasm to diving. Sometimes when I am assisting, I wish I was an instructing because I find myself wanting to run the class, just a little differently. My husband and I will continue on together, and we work together well.

Some cons are the associated cost goes up, insurance, liabilty, etc. Also, I don't want to jump in too far to quick and risk burn out.

James, I am sure you are weighing your own pros and cons. I know you will make the decision that is right for you. (You will make a good instructor;))

Just remember to enjoy the journey. Diving is supposed to be fun!

M&P+4

February 20th, 2006, 11:59 AM

Personally I think being an instructor would be a great accomplishment.

One of the very few downsides to SCUBA is you can't (technically - another debate) just bring along a buddy. It is very rewarding to be able to teach someone something that you love to do - and in this case do it responsibly.

Congratulations - and keep it up! Education is something you can't lose once you have it.

juls64

February 20th, 2006, 10:19 PM

Congratulations - and keep it up! Education is something you can't lose once you have it.

"The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you."

B.B. King

Atlaua

February 20th, 2006, 10:31 PM

theskull

February 20th, 2006, 11:22 PM

Another pool night tonight. Easy going, just a confined water presentation: remove & replace bcd at depth.

I forgot the value in the briefing but otherwise it was fine. And now (yea) I get to relaxe and just prep 3 more knowledge presentations. No more class until Friday.

James

I see value in R & R BC. But I have definitely forgotten the value of being able to use "The Wheel"! Also not too clear on the value of being able to hover in a seated position. Now the fin pivot has some real value--you can anchor your fins in the coral while getting a nice photo of that Moray Eel. LOL

Just havin' some fun with ya. Congrats on completing your AI. And when you finish your Instructor course, I'll DM for ya any time.

theskull

scubajoe

February 21st, 2006, 12:39 AM

I think you'll make a great instructor. Good luck and have a great time in your class.

Joe

Atlaua

February 24th, 2006, 11:22 PM

And the IDC continues...

More knowedge reviews tonight and had to do an AOW presentation. Got a 5 (yea).

Tomorrow is rescue & dm presentations plus rescue confined water.

James

Atlaua

February 25th, 2006, 05:39 PM

Two knowledge presentations today (4.5 an 5.0) and a rescue confined water presentatoin (5.0). This is definatly starting to get repetative, but I get the point....get it down cold for the IE. One more day and I'm done, save some practicing to make sure I'm solid in March.

James

theskull

February 25th, 2006, 07:36 PM

Repetition is the name of the game in education, and in skill acquisition.

You'll have no problem in March. Don't sweat it.

theskull

Atlaua

February 25th, 2006, 08:19 PM

You'll have no problem in March. Don't sweat it.

I'm not. Mike did a great job with this class, I've learned a lot. I also credit the fact that we had two people training to take the Course Director course. I learned a lot and if I could go tomorrow to take the IE, I know I'd ace it. My only concern is to keep the knowledge and not get too rusty in the month I have to wait for the IE.

James

Atlaua

February 26th, 2006, 06:00 PM

Yea! It's over, and I'm beat. Time to wait for the IE.

James

DeepDiverBob

February 28th, 2006, 08:04 AM

One of the problems I have with the IDC class, and this is just from talking to a lot of people that went though it, is that all it does is teach you to pass the IE, it doesnt do anything to help prepare you to teach a class. And from seeing parts of a few presentations, I dont think that is doing anybody any favors.

Atlaua

February 28th, 2006, 08:52 AM

Atlaua

March 26th, 2006, 11:16 PM

Well it's offical, pased my IE today. I'm now an OWSI. 14 hour day yesterday, 4 hour day today plus one fun dive and a 7 (out of 12) hour drive....I'll post more later now I just want to pass out...

James

theskull

March 26th, 2006, 11:30 PM

Congratulations! I know it was alot of work. Just hope the brain-washing didn't hurt too much. ;)

Hope to dive with ya soon, if you're not too busy with OW classes.

theskull

nauifins73

March 27th, 2006, 09:03 AM

Congrats! You will be a great Instructor!

DeepDiverBob

March 27th, 2006, 10:37 AM

Congrats...looks like our LDS is running low on DMs..everybody is going instructor. Looks like I will be a very busy DM this year.

How did Don the Legend do?

scubajoe

March 27th, 2006, 12:34 PM

Way cool!
I think you'll be a great instructor. Welcome to the fold.

Joe

Atlaua

March 27th, 2006, 02:05 PM

Congrats...looks like our LDS is running low on DMs..everybody is going instructor. Looks like I will be a very busy DM this year.

How did Don the Legend do?

Nah, I'll still be DM'ing for the classes I've signed up for. Don did really well. So that's two new for the shop.

DeepDiverBob

March 27th, 2006, 02:19 PM

I saw you are scheduled to DM a rescue class with Mike at the end of June, I think you might be able to teach that class, because Mike signed up for the wrecks and reefs trip.

Atlaua

March 27th, 2006, 06:46 PM

Ok, I'm still beat, but here's a brief recap of the IE.

Got to Destin around 1:00PM on Friday. Tried to meet up with the local CD but she was off finishing up an IDC. Drove to the location of the IE to make sure we knew where it was. Went to a different shop to browse and met several people doing the IE. Had dinner with an instructor from our shop that happened to be in the area.

Saturday morning headed off to the IE. Got an introduction and our skills... I wish I could have seen the look on my face when I opened the envelope and saw I had all surface skills! I had hit the skills lottery.

First surprise of the day was that we were not going to go in the typical order. We were to head strait to the pool for skills and confined water presentations and then come back to do exams and knowledge presentations. I headed out to the car and looked up the question for the knowledge. Occationally I have trouble coming up with a non-diving contact and often have trouble with a non-diving training aid but this one clicked immediatly, I needed a simple training aid which I easly picked up from Wallgreens on the way back from the pool.

Since there were 11 of us we divided into two teams (the young and the old, me being in the latter). The youngster's went first which was nice because I got to spy on them :). When it was our turn we did our skill circuit first. I blew the CESA. My buddy who went down with me was in front of me and he is the slowest (good thing) demo'er I've seen. When he went up was kind of day dreaming and seconds later the guy next to me was punching my arm to get in position....The slowest demo'er in the world just took off and did it. In the rush to get in position I fogot to get neutral and being properly overweighted I couldn't keep up off the bottom. No big deal, I had to repeat it and rememberd to add some air first :).

I'm happy to say that was my only hiccup in the entire program. I did my confined water presentation and got a 4.6/5. Waiting for the first group I had prepaired my knowledge presentation and we picked up some training aids on the way back so I had some time to relax before the exams.

I missed 3 out of 110 on the exams. Unlike other programs they don't go over what you missed so I have no idea. 1 was standards and 2 were RDP (probably the wheel, they are so finiky). Went to relax while others finished (there is a 3 hour time limit and some used it all). Then came the second surprise of the day...another group had the room at 5 so the local CD had to scramble to find a place for us to do our knowledge presentations. She cam up with a place and we packed up and moved.

I was hoping Don and I would both do our presentations early so we could split and eat and prepair for Sunday. When he called for volunteers I was beat to the punch by one of the youngsters. Much to my surprise he had the exact same topic as myself. When he called for a second volunteer I said that I would but I had the same topic so it would seem redundant. The Examiner said no problem so I went. I'm not an examiner but I feel like I did way better. I had a much different approach and the examiner stopped the first guy saying "if I let you go on we'd be here another 20 minutes". Got a 4.8/5 on that one.

Thankfully Don stepped up to go next, knocked out a kick butt presentation and we split and had a great dinner at an Irish Pub. I've never been to an Irish Pub that didn't serve Guiness but their "bar brew" stout was a close second so I didn't complain. I've seen places with dollar bills pasted to the bar, this place had them pasted to the bar, walls, railing, and hanging from the ceiling. $10k would be a conservative guess.

Back to the hotel room to knock out our open water presentations and to bed early, we were exhausted and a few beers didn't help.

Sunday went without surprises. We did our briefings and then the examiner took the "youngsters" while we went with the CD to do rescues. Don and I both knocked them out great just like in the IDC, even though I was a bad victim for Don and forgot to unbuckle some stuff for him. Didn't phase him and he was much kinder to me.

Then it was time to do our open water skills and we all knocked them out great. I caught all of my "sutdent's" mistakes early, almost preventing one completely but they were zealous and continued after I said "stop". We descended and everyone else did their skills and the examiner shook all of our hands. I took that to mean "you can't screw up your debreifing enough to fail this", so I was feeling confident.

The younguns did their debriefing first and our group was pretty loose at that point. We popped the balloon (my non diving training aid) and I jokingly started my debrifing (not in front of the examiner) in a helium voice. Got a big laugh which was a sure sign they were all feeling confident.

We did our debreifing and got scored (5/5 on both). One person had to retake a test and one had to redo a knowledge presentation and they both passed so the examiner handed out certificates....11 in all. My CD tells me that with a group that size it is rare that all pass.

Everyone was happy and hugged and said goodbye and left the spring completely empty for Don and I to do a fun dive. Nice site (beats the heck out of anything here on clarity and warmth!) but not much there. There is a hole that goes down to about 70' where the spring flows in. That's about as far as I got. I brought a light in case I needed it as a training aid but it wasn't charged and I didn't have a reel with me so I didn't venture into the cavern zone. The site itself is great:

1) it's free
2) it's clear (40+ feet)
3) it's warm (67deg, warmer over the spring)
4) it has a huge platform
5) it has bathrooms and a (cold) shower
6) it's free!

Not much to see but you could easily run classes there, OW, AOW, Rescue, etc. My shop does some in Vortex during the winter but I think Morrisons would be better if it's not flooded cause, let's face it free is better than $25 any day of the week.

We made it back past Nashville last night and were ready to drop. Got in around 11:30 today.

James

Ok...so it was a not so brief recap...