UTD INSTRUCTOR
CROSSOVERS –
by Jeff Seckendorf
Teaching Correlation / Teaching Thinking
When you join us for an Instructor Development Course, whether you are a new
divemaster or a seasoned instructor, we don’t expect to teach you how to dive –
you are supposed to know that coming in. Our goal is
to show you
how we teach.
There are four levels of learning that we are concerned with during any UTD leadership class.
They are:
• Rote Learning
• Understanding
• Application
• Correlation
Let’s look at each one.
Rote learning is the ability to perform a skill by
memorizing the steps – describe how to do something, then
expect your student to do it without knowing why. Diving has a strong
foundation in rote learning, as this is the step where we develop muscle memory.
In other words, you tell your student to point the regulator mouthpiece down
when removing the second stage from his/her mouth. Not why, just how.
Understanding takes it to the next level. Understanding means the student
knows ‘why.’ This connects the skill to a reason and provides ownership for
the skill, i.e. “Do it like this because it is safer/faster/easier”etc. In our example
UTD Instructor Trainer Jeff Seckendorf teaching an IDC
on the MV Tala in the Red Sea, Egypt.