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Scuba Diving International (SDI) Instructor Crossover

Scuba Diving International (SDI) Instructor Crossover

Written by Leisure Pro Staff
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Published on February 18, 2016

At Scuba.com, we believe that ultimately the quality of diving instruction comes down to the instructor more than the certification agencies. The following in no way endorses one agency over another, but simply shares the experience of one of our staff members crossing over to be an SDI instructor.

My Internal Fight with Elearning

I became a PADI professional many moons ago and have been quite happy with my time affiliated with that agency. Most of my teaching was at the university level where I had students for two lectures a week for an entire term. This was also before elearning became a reality.

When elearning came out, I was hesitant. I loved teaching in front of groups, fielding questions, making sure my students really understood everything. The way I was seeing elearning being implemented was as a way for instructors to skip out on a significant portion of their teaching duties.

My Interest in Technical Diving & Instruction

During this transition from lectures to elearning, I also became interested in technical diving. This interest started before PADI had their technical programs, so I investigated other training agencies. When I finally had the ability to pursue additional training in the form of my full cave certification, Technical Diving International (TDI) was highly recommended and appeared to be one of the most popular technical training agencies.

Now that I was “in” the technical world, I started considering my instructor capabilities from a technical perspective. Did I want to become a PADI technical instructor, write a distinctive specialty for cave diving, get it approved, then teach a course with little worldwide acceptance? Or did it make more sense to switch to an agency that already has a robust, globally recognized technical training department?

While PADI may be The Way The World Learns To Dive® recreationally, it appeared that TDI was the way to learn to tech dive.

DEMA Seminars That Spoke to Me

At the 2015 DEMA Show, I sat in on a seminar by International Training (SDI/TDI) discussing how elearning was failing the dive industry. As you just read above, this is a sentiment I shared, but was surprised to see covered by a training agency that has elearning. The emphasis from the seminar that elearning is a tool to facilitate more in-depth knowledge development and not a replacement for an instructor teaching really struck a chord with me.

Impressed by their earlier seminar, I attended another discussing reaching younger (millennial) divers. Having previously delivered my own seminars regarding generational differences in a previous life, as well as seeing a very real problem in our sport of younger people not engaging, I was intrigued. Again, I was impressed not only with the topics discussed, but also the way the International Training staff answered sometimes combative questions.

My Decision Process

Here’s how everything came together:

  • I want to be a technical instructor with an internationally recognized agency.
  • I was impressed with SDI/TDIs beliefs on elearning and reaching out to younger divers.
  • I was impressed with their progressive attitude towards training, including being the first to make online open water training mainstream, first to present online specialties such as wreck, computer nitrox, deep and navigation, first and only insured sport-level Solo Diver™ program, first to release kids’ diving programs, and first to permit students to learn to dive utilizing a dive computer.
  • I was impressed with some of the technology tools SDI/TDI are using to help instructors engage with divers throughout their education.
  • I appreciated that the SDI/TDI headquarters is a short drive from me (I’m a remote employee).
  • There was a crossover offered during my day off.

I signed up for the crossover.

I had many factors that helped me to determine crossing over was the right decision for me. If you are an instructor and are considering a crossover, I would encourage you to do your research and ask plenty of questions before doing so. What is a good fit for me based on my needs might not be the best fit for you.

The Crossover

The idea behind a crossover is that attendees are already instructors, so we don’t need to re-learn how to teach. We only need to learn the differences between our old agency and new agency. This makes a crossover relatively quick and painless.

One benefit of the crossover that either wasn’t promoted heavily enough or I’ve never noticed over the years is that the cost to crossover covers everything. Application fees, teaching materials, AND crossing over ALL of your existing instructor certifications.

So I didn’t get just one instructor card, I got 20! If you’ve considered a crossover, but haven’t been too keen on the price, it’s actually a great value when you consider everything that’s included.

TDI Nitrox Diver Instructor

After becoming an SDI Instructor, I was eligible to start work on my TDI instructor ratings. Since becoming a technical instructor has been a long put-aside goal of mine, I jumped at the opportunity to take the TDI Nitrox Diver Instructor course.

As a PADI Nitrox instructor, I felt a bit overwhelmed when auditing a TDI Advanced Nitrox course a while back, but the TDI Nitrox Diver course felt like a perfect in-between: great for those who’d like to learn a bit more about enriched air than the standards for the PADI course requires without being as in-depth and math-heavy as the TDI Advanced Nitrox course.

Going Forward

The unfortunate reality is that I won’t teach at the recreational level for a variety of reasons, including an incredibly packed work schedule as well as other, more personal reasons. But teaching at a technical level still excites me, and I’ve taken the incredibly important first step to continue that journey.

In my limited time as a SDI/TDI instructor, I’ve felt very welcome by the local community including headquarters. If you have any questions about crossing over or SDI courses in general, let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer or will refer you to someone who can.

I’d like to personally thank Brian Carney, Lauren Kieren, Shawn Harrison, and Jon Kieren for their presentations, ability to answer questions, teaching skills, and incredibly active presence in the local dive community.

Leisure Pro Staff

Leisure Pro Staff

Marketing Director for LeisurePro