Newbie here. OW March 06, AOW and Computer Nitrox Diver June 06. Very interesting topic. It has made me think back to my recent three courses, with three different instructors.
OW = Decided to do the classwork on CD at home on my computer. This was a real help for my learning style as I like to read everthing two to three times. I learn by repetition. I could watch the videos again if I missed anything. I took written notes on each chapter and saved them in a binder. I then hired an instructor, in a tropical (read warm water) setting, for private confined water and open water dives, which were done in a bay and off the shore in the ocean. I was lucky that the instructor (whom I picked off the internet and talked to via phone a couple of times before we met for the classes) and I clicked. He couldn't have been better. Luck of the draw, I guess. He taught by repetition - gear donning and removal, techinques to learn how to accomplish the skills that are required. He had the patience of a skilled teacher and a deep love of diving . And he also made the learning interesting with information regarding the fish and critters we might see during our open water dives. He was a task master, and that made me feel like I was really getting the education I was craving. He didn't breeze over any of the material from the course work and actually added to the knowledge I had gained from the class work.
AOW & CND = I took both of these courses while on a weeklong ( 5 1/2 day) live aboard trip 90 days after my OW certification. This was a very good opportunity to continue on the OW learning I had just completed. My AOW instructor handed me the big thick book and told me which chapters I had to read, and to pick three additional areas to work on. I know I needed additional guidance with bouyancy control and I wanted to do the navigation course too, so I did those and also boat diving, deep diver and night diver. My instructor mostly left me to reading the chapters and taking the quizzes then reviewing them with me. She was not what I would call "as attentive to adding verbal detail" as my OW instructor had been. But I just assumed she figured I knew everything from reading. She always asked if I had any questions. I really appreciated learning the navigation portion, and just bought myself a compass today!
In addition to AOW, I kind of got talked into doing the Computer Nitrox Diver class. This was because the other divers on the trip were all Nitrox certified or taking the CND class on this trip. I would have been the only non-Nitrox diver on board all week. So I agreed to take that course too. The reading material was for the most part pretty dry. I did not enjoy it, and had to reread some chapters two or three times just to obsorb it. I'm not of a science or math mind, so it was just more difficult for me to grasp. The instructor for this class did answer my questions as I was working through the reading. It kind of all came together for me while we were reviewing the material with the other five students.
I think that combining the OW and AOW curriculum into one class would be difficult, and I am glad it isn't offered as one class. Even though I am very comfortable in the ocean, the physical demands of OW were tough enough for me starting out. It would have been overwhelming with AOW added to it at the same time. Doing the AOW and CND during the same 5 1/2 days, along with 19 dives stretched me pretty thin. I read over 350 pages of material, some pretty technical. I will not combine this much work in that short of time again.
Just my 2 cents,
mjarens
Edited by mjarens, 12 July 2006 - 04:31 PM.
