UTD and Learning/Teaching Behaviors

I have recently moved out of the corporate world and into academia. When I became a college teacher, I did a lot of research on learning styles, learning behaviors, the psychology of learning, etc. This knowledge really helped me structure courses in different ways to maximize student learning. This information has also allowed me to structure my scuba classes better. Teaching has become much more rewarding than corporate babysitting, BTW. :)

This is a question more geared towards AG and the others who started UTD. There are other agencies whose course structure is more determined by marketing rather than learning. Other agencies, it seems, have structured their classes in a way that the creators learned, not the way the general public may learn. To better understand the differences between UTD and the other training agencies, what considerations did the founders use when determining how the UTD classes are taught? I'm not asking about determining course content, but rather the teaching style that UTD has created. I know that each UTD instructor will have his/her own distinct teaching style, but the underlying foundation is mostly the same (UTD mission, philosophy, etc.). With this in mind, how does UTD ensure maximum learning?

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Georgitsis on February 2, 2009 at 9:53am

Daune

Excellent question.

We started out by developing the highest set of standards in the
industry "Bar None". We then decided to build the largest resource of
information for students and instructors alike, so they could prepare,
develop and learn the knowledge and skills needed to be the best
divers and instructors. We then broke the overall learning process
into three major parts, 1) Skills Development , 2) Brain Development,
3) Experience Development. These three will make a diver more
competent, confident and comfortable. Ultimately they will be having
FUN. So we then developed a course structure that meets these needs.

By using a building block method we develop the personal skills and team
skills in classes like Essentials and Intro to Tech, where students can
truly develop the needed skills. That meets Skills Development. We then
developed classes that use critical skills training and drills that
then develop the brain so the divers become thinking divers. These
classes are Rec 3, Tech 1 and Tech 2, Overhead Protocols and so on. We then
build on top of that a series of classes that develop experience in the
environments and develop ones ability to apply the skills and the brain in
true environments. These class are Trimix 1 and 2, Cave 2 and 3 and Wreck 2 and 3
and so on. Ultimately the diver becomes and holds an expedition diver
card and will be able to dive any environment or condition or
exploration project tin the world.

What makes UTD unique is that we provide the pre, during and post
learning materials online (Online classroom) from Rec 1 to Rec 3, Intro
to Tech to Trimix 2, Overhead Protocols to Wreck 3 and Cave 3, scooter,
and so on for students and instructors to pre learn and reference
after the class, to ensure they understand the knowledge base long
before and after they attend a UTD (or any other agency’s class for
that matter) This ensures that all students and instructors are
starting from a UNIFIED base. For the in-water class or portion we then
have the highest quality and trained instructors who must attend a 10
day crossover - yes 10 days - to be retrained as an UTD Instructor.
These instructors not only attend an IDC but afterwards will spend
countless hours training and learning how to teach and what to teach,
ensuring that all UTD instructors are on the same page. Through the
resources on our website "Instructor Resource," instructors have
everything from a Procedures and Policies manual to a "Play Book"
detailing out how to teach each skill and evaluate the skill, along with hours
of video on how to teach the dry runs
correctly. Ultimately UTD provides a quality control system that
asks each student to submit a quality control evaluation that is
reviewed - if any issues arise they are dealt with immediately.

This is just a small glimpse at what it takes but hopefully you get
the idea

Andrew

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Permalink Reply by Maciej Arkuszewski on February 2, 2009 at 10:00am

Hi Duane.

I can only speak for myself, but most important aspect of how UTD is teaching in is that it all is shaped to teach exactly the way I dive and believe to be most optimal. It is also strongly centered around community and from what I see around, even most educated and qualified diver will not dive if there's no community he/she can fit in and dive with. This starts with such simple aspects like being able to split cost of the boat charter, creating demand in local dive shops to stock standard gases and ends with all aspects of truly unified team in water. That ties to UTD course structure being inclusive rather than "big boys club only" - we recognize skill regardless of label it is coming from. We are also only agency out there openly encouraging other instructors to use our materials. At the end we get more divers diving same style and that's what dive communities need to thrive.

I also believe that our materials (presentations and videos) are excellent and I don't think any other agency comes close with way content is presented to students before the class even starts. Thanks to that, in actual classroom we have less confusion about the content and we can spend more time to refine skills and explore things in depth, at the end creating more educated divers. We are not trying to keep knowledge away from our students and in a future, if technology allows us to put more on a web, we will do it.

I'm not sure if that's the answer you expected, but above things are key differentiators between UTD and others that I perceive important.

Maciek

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Permalink Reply by James Mott on February 2, 2009 at 9:18pm

The online resources that are available through UTD are an asset that benefits instructors and students alike. Don’t confuse the online classroom with taking the place of the instructor, like it is with other agencies’ online classes. The tools the student has in preparation for a UTD course allows them to come to the first day of classroom already understanding the materials, able to ask logical questions, have a basis to correlate information to practical diving experiences and truly get the most out of the time they have face to face with the instructor. Post-class these resources are still there for them to internalize the information and review it again and again, getting the most value possible for your educational dollar.
Understanding how students learn, why students learn, when students learn, etc. was also a big part of our Instructor Crossover. It wasn’t 3 days of learning how to fill out agency paperwork, it was 10 days (very long 12hr+ days) of not only understanding the classes and the information necessary to teach the classes, that goes without saying, but breaking down the student, the learning process, each other, our own teaching styles and everyday patterns just as much as you break down a mask clear. It was about understanding your students as much as you understand yourself, how do they learn the most and how do I successfully teach them the most.