A few days ago I posted an entry about my initials thoughts about how to make the IDC (instructor development course) more relevant to the real world. In this continuing series, I would like to make some more observations on the IDC and give some suggestions for improvement.
The IDC curriculum is intended to expose the candidate instructor to a lot of information and hopefully he/she will come away with enough to make them good instructors. At times it seems like you are drinking information from a fire hose. There is a lot to absorb and for those who do the intense seven to ten day course will be able to identify with the fire hose analogy.
The main focus for the IDC is to develop and sharpen the candidates presentation skills. There are classroom, pool and open water presentations. Each type of presentation has its own set of challenges. For the most part, the pool and open water presentation training is good and equips the candidates well for the real world teaching situation.
The classroom presentation development however leaves a lot to be desired. The way that PADI teaches its instructors is to develop presentations following a set outline. The candidates are then judged (by course directors and sometimes staff instructors) on how closely they follow the outline. The problem is that the outline does not translate well to the real world teaching situation. I could go into details here, but the key point is that there is too much redundant information required in the various sections of the presentations that really to not add to the value of the information conveyed.
However, having said all that, in the next post, I will detail a method that you can follow that will ensure that you will consistently score 4.5 or better on your presentations. Unfortunately, the method feels a little rigid, but with practice you should be able to knock out one of these presentations in 10 minutes or less.
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