As you are no doubt aware, there have been a few changes to the Discover Scuba Diving course during the last year or so. It is important to understand how to run the new program whilst ensuring that customers enjoy the experience and dive centre scheduling isn't affected. The suggestions below will help you achieve this but please refer to the instructor guide for the full outline. If you haven't got it yet, the 2010 Instructor Manual is free to download from the new PADI Pros' site www.padimembers.com .
What has changed?In the 1st Quarter 2009 Inflate and deflate a BCD at the surface
became a mandatory skill for all DSDs.Rationale: although the instructor or DSD Leader is responsible for controlling participant's buoyancy underwater, having participants practice BCD inflation and deflation at
the surface gives them experience of inflating the BCD themselves should they need to secure buoyancy on the surface.
In the 4th Quarter 2009:
Effective Immediately
Added: When the Discover Scuba Diving experience is conducted in confined open water:
Skill performance requirements are conducted in shallow water before moving to water too deep in which to stand;
You may not engage in any other activities, such as taking photographs or video, while supervising participants.
Rationale: Provides additional preparation and heightened supervision for participants in confined open water.Added: Have participants complete and sign the Discover Scuba Diving Knowledge and Safety Review.Rationale: Helps to ensure participants understand and accept basic dive safety principles.
NOTE: This review is located in the revised Discover Scuba Diving brochure.
Why have PADI made these changes?Discover Scuba Diving participants have the least experience and least training of all our course participants. The goal of the DSD is to introduce them to the underwater world in a safe and enjoyable format. These new standards check student understanding of basic dive safety and ensure increased participant skill at pool and confined water level. Increased knowledge and ability increases legal protection for you and gives your students greater confidence which leads to greater enjoyment and increased likelihood of them continuing diving.
How can we implement the new DSD?
DON'T PANIC – you already do most of this anyway
Have students complete the pre-course paperwork in the DSD brochure as usual. The briefing can be done either at the dive centre or at the dive site. Just follow the DSD flip chart or cue card and explain the basic dive safety principles to them and how they will be applied to the DSD they are doing. Then ask the students to complete the Knowledge Review - it takes just a couple of minutes and serves to address any misunderstandings prior to getting in the water.
OK – so now you may be wondering how you get through all these extra skills? Have a quick look down the list below:
Have participants practice the following skills in shallow water:
Exception: Only BCD inflation/deflation required for pool-only experience.
Breathing underwater
Regulator clearing
Regulator recovery
Mask clearing
Equalization techniques
Inflate and deflate a BCD at the surface
The skills in red are something that divers do as part of any dive – you probably do all these skills on every DSD without even thinking about them as skills! Don't forget you have already covered the theory of these skills in the briefing.
So that leaves three additional skills. They do not need to be mastered, only practised. Try not to think about them in terms of teaching an Open Water Diver course but rather as an introduction to the skill. You will have explained how these skills are done during the briefing so you can demonstrate each skill underwater and get participants to practice. Note that the mask clearing does not say that they need to have a specific amount of water in their mask so you can just get them to practice the technique for clearing their masks of any water that seeps in during the dive.These skills must be practiced before taking divers into water too deep to stand up in but as they don't have to be mastered to the same degree as an Open Water Diver - even a student who hasn't perfected the skill can still proceed to the next step. It's up to you to use your professional judgement to then determine whether they are comfortable enough to move into deeper water.
