Teaching Open Water Without Tables
Technology has brought about dramatic improvements in the tools we use in everyday life.
Mapquest and GPS are widely used instead of maps.
More people write emails than letters.
Cell phones are replacing the need for a traditional phone,
and DVDs and DVRs have made VCRs obsolete.
More people write emails than letters.
Cell phones are replacing the need for a traditional phone,
and DVDs and DVRs have made VCRs obsolete.
When reliable, convenient alternatives appear, consumers make the change to better tools. We've seen a similar evolution in the dive industry.
PADI has just launched a dive computer option for the Open Water course. Students who choose this computer option may use a dive computer instead of a table or eRDP during their Open Water course.
(from the 3rd Quarter 2009 Undersea Journal)
A new training option for the PADI Open Water Diver course allows you to teach dive computer use instead of RDP use ...you've probably been teaching your entry-level divers to use their RDP's to plan dives and act as backup to the dive computers the actually use on their dives. You can continue to do this - teach both RDP and computer use - or you can teach computer use only.Whichever option you choose, student divers will continue to learn the basics of decompression theory, the importance of dive planning to keep nitrogen levels within acceptable limits, and how to monitor depth, bottom time and surface intervals as they always have by using the PADI Open Water Diver Manual, Multimedia, or PADI eLearning.
New and Updated Products for Open Water
Dive Computer option
Dive Computer option
New Products: available now
60335 - Open Water Computer Diving crewpak Includes: How to Use and Choose Dive Computers book, Open Water manual, student record file and blue logbook.
This crewpak is similar to 60300 and 60067 but with no table/eRDP and the computer book instead.
MSRP: $67.90
60347 Open Water Computer Diving crewpak
with multimedia DVD-ROM
Includes same items as 60335 above but with Multimedia DVD-ROM in lieu of Open Water Manual. Also includes How to Use and Choose Dive Computers book (included in crewpak).
This crewpak is the same as 60316 and 60328 but without the table or eRDP and a computer book instead.
MSRP: $91.40
Dive Simulator
The Dive Simulator is an electronic product the student (and instructor) can download from PADI. It's essentially a generic dive computer for training purposes only. Access information is included with the How to Use and Choose... book (page 17).
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Updated Products: Release Dates TBA
71023 - Open Water Quiz and Exam Booklet
In the meantime….
An errata for the OW exams is on the PADI Pros’ Site home page.
The OW exam has been revised to include a section for students completing the dive computer option. View a list of current PADI exam revision dates.
Knowledge Reviews: included in new crewpak
Computer students complete knowledge reviews 1-3 from the regular OW manual.
For knowledge reviews 4 & 5, computer students use a special version found in their How to Use and Choose Dive Computers book. Knowledge review answers are on the PADI Pros site homepage.
Open Water Prescriptive Lesson Guides
The new OW prescriptive lesson guides are now available.
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Not Updated:
The PADI Open Water Manual, Multimedia DVD-ROM and Open Water DVD remain the same.
Computer students will use these products in the same way as traditional learners. The only exception is: computer users have a special version of knowledge reviews 4 & 5 in their How to Use and Choose Dive Computers booklet.
Please read the 3rd Quarter 2009 Training Bulletin for more information on teaching this new option. We will not release a revised version of the Open Water Instructor Guide in 2009.
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PADI will continue to support an RDP table for both Open Water and Enriched Air. For instructors who prefer teaching with the eRDPML, all of our current eRDPML products will also remain available.
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7 comments:
I am looking forward to the day when we don't have to teach tables. We have the book on order.
This is one of the best changes I have seen in a long time. I love the ERDP ML and it is a great tool to plan a dive. But when I have a choice I would much rather use my computer. We have been offering computers in the class as an add on for years. Now we can just include it in the program, O life is getting better and diving is too.
I am not so sure I agree and I am not excited about not teaching tables. Tables give a reference point to time and depth much more than the eRDPML or a computer. The electronics are nice, I dive strictly on computers (two of them) and I cherish the tables I learned. Don't you feel the tables give a visual reference for time and depth? The electronics are nice, cozy and useful but they turn diving into a video game. I read about divers going deeper than they should be going all the time and I wonder if they get some false sense of security wearing a computer and lose the reference that depth is dangerous.
The flip side of this is nobody is taking tables with them on trips anymore. I have asked and they look at me like I am crazy. I have mine, Just in case. But divers today would be dead in the water, literally and figuratively if the batteries die.
Although I tech dive to my computer I still generate tables for backup (admittedly on a computer) and bailouts from rebreathers etc. are still neccessary. What will they do if their computer fails? I carry two computers for most dives, but most of my students (and fellow divers) cant afford even a relatively cheap Gekko or similar, and as our club runs basically at cost computers aren't going to be part of our hire gear for a while. I would love to use this option to teach as the tables are the most time consuming and frustrating part of any dive course, but I still feel there has to be some appreciation of the tables so a diver can calculate their pressure group even if their computer failed during the dive.
it's going to be particularly useful for Juniors, my 11 year old son has no problems with the practicalities of diving but he finds the tables difficult.
Interesting posts all. My experience is that the eRDP and eRDP ML retard the learning process for student divers. Yes, they are easier to use as tools, and assure less difficulty with the subject matter in class so as to facilitate passing the final exam. However, this is just an excuse for the students not working at understanding the concepts and is really a cop out. We should discontinue teaching math at school and pass out calculators to compute the answers to all the problems, right? The reason we do not teach math that way is to assure that students understand the concepts of the math they are learning. This also stimulates improvement. Giving the tool to make it easier to pass the course is really a poor lesson.
Also, in order to teach Enriched Air, the student divers need to know the tables anyway in order to calculate equivalent air depth, etc. The compensation for the course of enriched air is so significantly less than open water that it is hardly worth it, when you need to completely re-teach dive theory and then introduce the tables.
In practice I agree that virtually all divers now dive with a computer. I dive with two as a matter of course, and I have my tables available. As instructors our goal is to teach student divers not only the content of the required course, but also to promote safe diving practices all of the time. My experience is that when students rely only on the eRDP or a computer to calculate their dives, they miss out. I have tried just teaching the eRDP format, but have now returned to teach the tables as well in order to fill in this apparent gap. Some students actually prefer the tables over the eRDP, but they at least can you either method.
It is hard to see everything getting computerized and even more when it comes to safety.
- All divers should know the tables.
- All divers are using computers.
Those are 2 facts. So why not teach both?
A suggestion will be more to wait the advance paddy to get in the computer course to make sure the student will recognize the importance of using the tables first.
Hi Mercedes,
I've received a couple of emails from folks asking:
How can I teach both the computers and tables?
Will PADI be offering a crewpak with the computer book and table?
We don't have plans to offer a crewpak with both the computer book and table. So, for those instructors who want to teach both, I did the math and it's cheaper to buy the crewpak and add an ala carte table than it is to do the reverse.
Your suggestion to teach both computer and table makes a lot of sense - and many instructors I've spoken with who use the eRDP are doing this already. For example:
When the eRDP first came out, I had my students using the new product (saved me at least an hour in the classroom) but I'd demonstrate a couple of dive planning questions using the giant table. This way students could get a feel for what that little calculator is doing inside.
You could do the same thing when teaching the dive computer option in Open Water. In case it's helpful, the part number for the RDP table with instructions ala carte is 60099.
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