[JohnD]

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<font color='#F52887'>I didnt know where to put this thread, so this is as good a place as any. Has anyone done their Instructor foundation course and is there any advice for me? I take the course on 24th/25th January and do not not know quite what to expect. any pointers on the lecture I have to give would be helpful, too.

 

[722]

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John

I did mine just under a year ago. You will be given all the pointers you need on the first day. The lecture is 10mins. It will be based on part of a theory lesson. I had AAS's - Octo, pony, pros cons. It was all done on acetates, so I cant even send you a copy.

Advice - present as they teach, watch how THEY teach YOU.

Adrian

 

[Digger]

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<font color='#000080'>There's not a lot of preparation you can do really. If you're skills are a real mess in the pool, you'll look like an arse, and may make other people's lessons more difficult for them, but this can be a learning opportunity anyway.

Basically, you can't fail. With your knowledge of diving, and with some groundwork, you're sorted. You get out what you put in. I've just had a mate who's been on one, and he was very impressed. I was very impressed with mine, and it's the best course BSAC does that I've encountered.

Bear in mind you need to have your BSAC hat on, too. We all know there are times when it doesn't fit with our diving, or the way we think about things, but to criticise BSAC guidelines or procedures will make you unpopular, and these will be the same guys who examine your TIE and PIE eventually. Don't piss them off. Ask reasonable questions, don't pick holes.

Hope this helps. Ask on here when you get your subject, the same subjects come up, and you'll get good advice on how to do it well, and ideas you might not have come up with.

 

[Reeve]

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<font color='#000F22'>I did mine about six months ago. As Adrian says it's all done on the day. You'll spend the night doing your acetates, (I did mine at 6am due to evening in pub) deffinetly worth doing. I found it a constructive course and it helps you to look at your style of diving and correct some of your errors.

My presentation / lesson was buoyancy - practical & a lecture on wreck diving techniques, which I still have on Powerpoint.

gareth - enjoy it's fun

 

[Dr Stevil]

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I did mine... ooooo...dunno, about 1998, it's a v. good course, you get taught thoroughly how to present in a modern style, I felt it compared very favourably with similar teaching courses I attended in tertiary education. It's a tight schedule and a busy two days, plus you'll probably spend the Saturday evening prepping your lecture for the next day.

Practical pointers for the lecture:
1) keep it simple  
2) if you like the idea, use a watch with a countdown timer to stay on track  and stick to your alloted time (about 10mins)
3) obviously you'll need to be creative once you know what topic you've got, but /makebuild/design your own visual aids so that the lecture isn't just talking and pointing at the screen, if it's appropriate have the actual equipment to hand, eg a pony if you're lecturing about AAS.
4) use brief crib notes on small postcard sized card, but don't read off the cards completely
5) Don't pace about while lecturing (one guy on our course did this, no one likes it), make eye contact with your audience, check for "tranfer of knowledge" (you'll be taught on the course what that is all about)

HTH
Steve

 

[Paul Beal]

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The main points about the IFC are: a) it is teaching you to teach and b) you cannot fail. The worst case is that they will recommend you go away and work on certain things before you go for your TIE or the OWIC (which again you can't fail) then PIE if you are already a DL.

The lecture and pool session you have to lead are all planned with your instructors help and feedback during the saturday, you then teach them on the sunday. Again, the worst case scenario is them telling you that you may have been better doing this another way that is more effective.

The thing to remember with the BSAC teaching ethos is that as long as it is safe and effective (i.e. the student would learn something) it does not matter how you do it. There are certain recommendations and the odd rule (not donating from the mouth etc) but apart from that you are fairly free to be inventive.

HTH, enjoy it, that is what it is there for!

Paul

 

[Kate R]

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<font color='#000080'>did mine last week!

i'd echo what's been said above - it's a really good course and really very simple. one of the main things they teach is how to teach a subject by breaking it down and presenting it in little steps, and i'd say the instructors follow their own lessons very well!

definitely watch how they teach as well as what they teach, because you'll learn just as much that way.

and make sure you've got plenty of time to prepare on the saturday night, because it will probably take longer than you think. the better prepared you are for your lecture and pool session, the better it will go - simple really!

 

[Kev W]

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The best advise I can give is enjoy the days.
The instructors will guide you through everything you need to do and know.
It's easy to say dont get too fazed out by it all (I did,and didn't get much sleep between days)
but this is only a practice for the real thing,you aren't expected to know it all and be brilliant.
The fact you are going for it means you probably have all the relevant knowledge, you just need to know how to tap into it in teaching mode.

 

[JohnD]

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<font color='#F52887'>Just got home from IFC (I live 5 minutes from the venue) and it was really good. hard work getting into teaching mode, and well worth it in the end. I now intend to do lots of diving in the club and finetune my skills in the pool and classroom. Thanks for all the advice

 

[John_McG]

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<font color='#810541'>Just to expand a bit on what everyone else has said - definately watch the HOW they teach and not WHAT. Remember, going for the instructor course they expect you to know the stuff they will give you on your presentation - none of them are difficult but it's the method you employ that gets you the credit.

Definately have the item or something that describes in pictures what you are making the presentation on. Ask them questions to get to your answers - student interaction gets you plus points.

Write your lesson out in full to start, read it out to someone - wife\girlfriend\parents\mate whatever and then cut the notes down to small easy to remember chunks. Standiing in front of people lecturing about something is the most nervewracking experience of the course - just be confident and if you start to falter - ask a question to buy yourself a few seconds to get back on track.

The practical sessions are the easiest part - just be confident and precise in everything you do.

I did mine in 1998 in Holland and found it to be a great course - it prompted me to get an instructional post with the raf for the last 5 years and believe it or not the 2 day BSAC course was actually every bit as good as, if not better than, the military instructors course.

Be yourself and you should do fine!

 

[John_McG]

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<font color='#810541'>oops - that was a wee bit late, obviously i didn't read your last post !!!!!  anyway, hope that this gen is useful to anyone else doing the course!

 

[jlwarlow]

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<font color='#008080'>Doing mine on the 6/7 March, my clubs Training manager has already put me down on her trainers list and is asking when I'll go the theory/practical!

I'm looking forward to the weekend except for the 10 minute presentation which we have to do, I don't really like public speaking as such! From what I've read here it should be a good day and a good course, fingers crossed!

 

[jlwarlow]

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<font color='#008080'>Just completed a weekend of long, hard but enjoyable IFC. All the trainees and the instructors were very friends and I'm prety sure everyone there had a good time. I enjoyed nearly all of it  

One bit of advice, if you get the chance do join the instructors on their meal out - they're a great buch and you'll learn a lot on the night; they have quite a few stories to tell and once they've sunk a few are eager to share them  

If you're thinking of doing the course, do it - you'll learn heaps or as one instructor said, you wont know what you've learned untill later when you'll see something being done/taught and think that's could be done better if...

 

[bang-on]

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<font color='#0000FF'>Just completed a weekend of long, hard but enjoyable IFC.

well done mate,good to hear you enjoyed it.
how did the 10 min talk go?

barrie

nb not a bsac member.

 

[jlwarlow]

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<font color='#008080'>It was a bit nerve wracking  

I had to talk about DSMB's, which was good as I've used them for a while now on nearly all sea dives; only come up the shot once or twice - every other dive I've mainly used a DSMB or my buddy has used a flag. Planned my slides, borrowed a DSMB and did the talk. Forgot to "Tell them what you're going to tell them" and just did the "tell them, then tell them what you told them"  

I overshot by 2 minutes and got a slide mixed up - in future I'll number them  

But it went well, the others in the group did 5,6 and 9 minutes. My pool demo was OK but I needed to slow down my signals and over emphasise them, which isn't easy when you're nervous.

I think in future I'd use powerpoint to present, there's less messing about with slides on the projector! But then if all four of us had presented the same way - it may have been boring, only one of us had a PC, and we all presented in a different way so it was good to see the different methods and get feedback on each.

I need to do a lot more diving before thinking about the Open Water Instructor Course, I've got to finish my Dive Leader first!