FREE PROFESSIONAL AND DIVE CENTRE MEMBERSHIP EXTENSION WITH RAID Re-Set

RAID again provides massive support to all members.

To aid our loyal dive centres and professional members, we have extended membership benefits immediately prolonging their current membership, ending 30^th September 2020, to the 31^st December 2020 at no additional cost.

This initiative is much needed and will be welcomed by all our stores and professionals. The renewal extension also gives us time to continue appraising how the pandemic affects our industry.

This continues RAID’s theme of releasing highly innovative initiatives which help RAID businesses around the world every day. These include FREe-Learning, REMOTe-Training, The Virtual Nitrox Analyzer App and The Edge dive magazine and newsletter.

RAID’s Membership fees haven’t changed in six years and now you will receive an extra 3 months of membership on us – not just words but real support. If you are a RAID member, you will see that your membership has already been extended.

In order to make this seamless and easy to understand, let’s take a moment to answer these FAQ’s:

Should I renew?

Take advantage of the membership extension and monitor RAID updates regularly.

If I have took advantage recently of early renewal, when is my expiry date?

All recently renewed memberships will extend to an expiry date of the 31^st of December 2021 rather than the usual expiry date of the 30^th September 2021.

Because all current memberships will now default to an expiry date of the 31^st of December 2020, will my membership auto extend until the 30^th of September 2021 if I have already renewed for the 2020/2021 renewal period?

No, it will now auto extend to the 31^st of December 2021.

What will RAID do to help expired members?

We want to welcome you back, some retraining maybe required if you’ve out of teaching status for a while. Please contact your local Regional Office or drop us a line on info@diveraid.com

The world of diving has changed, let’s help you adapt and succeed. Re-Set with RAID – Dive Training in a Class of its Own. 

FREE-LEARNING

In a response to the current environment, and in an endeavour to engage divers and allow them to continue studying and learning, even when locked down, we have released FREe-Learning. It is unique because it allows a free preview of all our online academics and quizzes. It is designed to keep Divers diving even when they are unable to attend a formal course at a dive centre. This could be due to a seasonal restriction (winter), travel Restrictions or temporary financial restrictions.

Divers accessing the FREe-Learning platform can complete all the associated quizzes (for free) but to certify, they must purchase the full course, including the certification, choose a dive centre and begin the formal training as required. All quizzes completed while participating in FREe-Learning will be retained by the system for when the diver chooses to proceed and seek certification. Once the diver has registered and logged in, the list of course previews available will be displayed on a smart list.

The list shows every course that hasn’t already been taken.

REMOTE-TRAINING

Since RAID started, all academic
presentations and most practical dry workshops can be conducted remotely. Being an entirely digital agency means that there are no textbooks to deliver by hand; our course content, quizzes, and Exams are online; we have a dynamic online audit trail; and tools that maximize Productivity during the face-to-face time in the classroom. RAID courses are tailored to each particular student’s needs rather than a one-size-fitsall Prescription. RAID has modified standards and materials to allow its Instructors to conduct virtual classroom sessions in lieu of traditional classroom sessions, resulting in certification for several of its courses. RAID Instructors can use their choice of online tools, including Skype, Zoom, GoToMeeting, RingCentral, WhatsApp, etc. As long as they have met all RAID Standards, the only stipulations are that students and Instructors must have two-way communication and screen-sharing ability.
As with all things at RAID, we are not releasing REMOTe-Training as a pandemiconly option. Rather, this will become another cornerstone of RAID training as we move forward, alongside initiatives like RAID’s FREe-Learning. By combining these, we can all benefit by continuing to deliver effective training toward earning certification.

Courses now open for REMOTe-TRAINING
certification:

• Nitrox (see above)
• Equipment
• Core Rebreather Knowledge
• Eco Diver
• Ecological Non-Diver

Most importantly, we have opened REMOTe-Training not only to our diver levels, but also to our Instructor levels.

SANTI DRYSUIT COURSE

Earlier this month, we announced the beginning of a working relationship with one of the best-known drysuit manufacturers. We are proud to announce RAID’s partnership with Santi Diving to produce a cutting-edge, brand-specific drysuit training programme. Santi Diving offers a range of premium, handcrafted drysuits, undersuits and heating apparel to extend the possibilities and the joy that diving brings. RAID offers a complete range of online academic programmes married to technologically advanced, hand’s-on diver training that is high quality, safe and inclusive. Both organisations share a passion for creating new benchmarks of excellence within the diving industry. Drysuit diving is becoming more and more common, and drysuits are being used in more diverse environments. Gone are the days when drysuit diving was only for the hardcore enthusiast wanting to brave icy waters. Today, good drysuits offer advanced base layer designs and increased buoyancy control, making them suitable for temperate and even tropical waters. This course has been written specifically for divers who will learn using Santi gear. The training course is a collaboration between the RAID and Santi teams, and the manuals contain generic information pertaining to safe drysuit diving, as well as specific information regarding Santi suits, materials, designs and undersuits. The Santi Drysuit Course supplements RAID’s existing and popular drysuit course. Like all RAID courses, it can be previewed online through RAID’s innovative FREe-Learning platform. The Santi Drysuit Course will operate much like our Rebreather Specialty courses, wherein RAID designs a specific manual for each rebreather on offer. Our partnership with Santi is the first in an ongoing process of developing brand-specific programmes for more mainstream scuba products.

“Here at Santi Diving, we believe that sharing knowledge and cross-collaboration with leading training organisations and other top equipment suppliers, is key to elevating diving’s profile to potential customers and the sports and recreational community in general,” explained Agnieszka Hrynkiewicz, COO and Managing Director at Santi Diving. “We teamed up with RAID as one of the leaders in modern approach to diving training, and, together, we have created an updated drysuit course manual for those who are looking for great skills development and extending the limits of their diving – which is exactly what a drysuit is for.”
She added: “The Santi drysuit manual combines RAID’s knowledge of the theory and practice of diving a drysuit, with information from us covering Santi-specific features. The course guides students to understand how to choose the best drysuit, and how to use it properly for the maximum comfort and benefit. It took hours of discussions and knowledgesharing and now I strongly believe the course will be a great tool for Instructors to teach and for divers to learn the Santi Drysuit-specific RAID course. I hope this input will serve well the RAID and Santi Diving community.”

As a RAID Drysuit Instructor, you are certified to teach the Santi programme with no further training. The generic knowledge, quizzes, exams and all skills in the Santi programme are identical to those in the generic RAID Drysuit course. Because of this design, divers that certify as Santi Drysuit divers will not need to certify again for a generic drysuit course.

NITROX INSTRUCTOR

The Nitrox Instructor guide has also been completely rewritten. Part of this was driven by the changes we made to standards to accommodate for the launch of FREe-Learning and REMOTe-Teaching (two other innovative RAID initiatives we created in the past few months). Like all the Instructor materials being produced now, you should find it easier than ever to use because it’s designed to make the nitrox course delivery standardised and straight-forward.

WORLD’S FIRST NITROX VIRTUAL ANALYZER APP

A bonus to the new Nitrox IG is something that truly shook the industry up. In May – at the same time as the launch of REMOTEe-Training – we released the world’s first Nitrox Virtual Analyzer App. It became obvious to us that what was standing in the way of being able to certify a nitrox diver remotely was that the student needs to show their understanding of analyzer use. As a result, we created the world’s first Nitrox Virtual Analyzer App. Under the Instructor’s guidance, this app provides the student with the skills needed to operate an analyzer safely. This app may be used by all RAID Nitrox Divers and Instructors immediately. Instructors will demonstrate using a real cylinder and analyzer. Non-RAID Instructors and divers are welcome to use the app, but please check with your agency that you are working within their training standards.

Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ds.VAnalyzer

Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nitrox-virtual-analyzer/id1505174941?mt=8

NEW INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (IDP)

The new IDP manual and support materials have been totally revamped. Some of it will be very familiar, and some is entirely new. Aside from looking better, we have made explanation and coaching advice clearer for instructors. The main changes that instructors and trainers need to be aware of are detailed below. The diving industry has used prescriptive teaching (presenting only the information that a student has missed) as a teaching method for many years now. However, the format that most instructor candidates are still taught to use in an Instructor Development Programme (IDP) to deliver these presentations, is based on a time when slide presentations were used in all academic teaching. This time has passed, and since online training has become common place in our industry, we knew it was time to develop something new. During an IDP, candidates are asked to develop and deliver a presentation on a missed quiz or exam questions. For a candidate, and their Instructor Trainer, this is one of the most stressful portions of an IDP, but why? The answer is simple – the candidate not only has to deliver the presentation, but also add in information regarding continuing education, equipment ownership, travel and local diving. We interviewed hundreds of Instructors and Instructor Trainers and understood that this was causing way too much stress, and it had even stopped Divemasters from entering an IDP. The biggest surprise was that it made Instructor Trainer candidates nervous as well. The question we got asked most was ‘how can I sell equipment, travel and continuing education easily, when I’m being asked to present on physiology or physics?’ As an agile, dynamic agency, we listened to our members and we’ve made changes. In the new IDP academic section, you will see that we do not ask our candidates to present anything more than the missed information. No continuing education, travel or equipment being forced into a presentation. But we all know that these additions are vital, as they provide customised information that training materials simply cannot. We also had another dilemma – what does an Instructor present if a student scores 100 percent in all quizzes and the exam? With all that in mind, we put our thinking caps on and Developed three workshops that cover this material. These three workshops are focused on Con-Ed, Dive Travel, and Equipment Sales.

On all courses, RAID Instructors must now deliver these three workshops to all students, no matter what course is being taught. Furthermore, the workshops rely heavily on ‘role playing’ and interactive teaching. You will enjoy delivering them, and students will benefit from them. The other major change we made is the use of training aids. In times gone past, Instructors were asked to use slides, whiteboards and even ‘imaginative aids’. Candidates could only earn a point in this area if they used multiple aids. But how does this fit in with learning and teaching in this day and age? Well, it doesn’t. RAID has never demanded a classroom, so where would an Instructor find these aids in a real-life teaching situation. The answer is –  they wouldn’t. Therefore, we have removed these styles of aids from our evaluation process. Instead, to earn this point, candidates must use the RAID training manuals. This seems so obvious since they can be found on the website, mobile site and also the App. We know Instructors and Instructor Trainers will love this new IDP format. The new IDP must be implemented by Instructor Trainers by 1 October 2020. We will be conducting a series of update webinars for Instructors and Instructor Trainers in the coming weeks. Dates will be announced in the Edge Newsletter. As always, if you have any queries, please contact your local regional office.

NEW INSTRUCTOR TRAINER
PROGRAMME (ITP)

In tandem with the IDP, we’ve also made radical changes to the ITP. It’s been completely rewritten and is now entirely focused on ITP tasks rather than being an Instructor Trainer version of the IDP manual. The contents speak directly to Instructor Trainers and advise how to run an ITP – the IDP process, running an instructor crossover, scheduling suggestions, a breakdown of the workshops that now make up a core part of the programme, and an extensive section on the art of teaching. Instructor Trainers will find the new manual simpler to use, easier to follow and tracking what has to be completed during an IDP is obvious.
Along with the new IDP, the ITP must also be implemented from 1 October 2020. And again, we will be conducting a series of update webinars for Instructor Trainers in the coming weeks. Dates will be announced in the Edge Newsletter. As always, if you have any queries, please contact your local regional office.

There have been some obvious changes to many of the procedures we took as “normal” because of the pandemic, and we were quick to make changes to standards to accommodate for these changes. The most critical were modifications made to AIR SHARING (OOA drills), and the S-DRILL.

AIR SHARING DRILL: DONATING THE LONG HOSE

Widespread concerns surrounding Coronavirus and COVID-19 infection, have demanded we make changes to some of the procedures we use when teaching RAID programs. None is more pressing than the sharing “air,” drill that instructors and students demonstrate during confined skills training, and during open-water certification dives.

In simplified terms, this drill involves several related skills: buoyancy control, buddy awareness, responding quickly to a demand, and the skills involved in getting a known working source of “air” to a distressed diver. The classic procedure is that one diver plays the role of an OOA diver and gives her buddy an out of air (OOA) hand signal, her buddy donates his spare regulator second stage, and the diver simulating OOA pops it into her mouth and breaths from it.

Under present circumstances, this method presents a real opportunity for cross-infection, even in chlorinated swimming pool water, and certainly in freshwater or the open ocean.

In the interests of diver and instructor safety, and until further notice, RAID is asking its members to follow this revised protocol for S-Drills and in-situ OOA simulations.

• Drill Begins
• Diver one simulating OOA signals her/his buddy “Out of Air!”
• Dive two presents an alternate second-stage regulator
• Diver one takes the offered alternate, switches from his/her primary regulator to his/her backup second stage, while gently purging the donated second stage to check it is working. N.B. she does not put the donated second stage in her mouth at any time, but simply holds it.
• When the drill is completed (after horizontal swim, ascent, etc.) Diver one returns the donated regulator to his/her buddy

This method adequately demonstrates all the component skills of an OOA/air sharing drill including having the OOA diver switching regulators without exposing either diver to elevated risk of cross-contamination.

In addition, a new Diver Medical Participant Questionnaire that takes COVID19 into consideration has been released. It was created by the Diver Medical Screen Committee in association with the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society, DAN (US), DAN Europe, and the Hyperbaric Medical Division, University of California, San Diego, and has recently been formally adopted by DAN, WRSTC, RSTC, RSTC Europe and the Undersea Hyperbaric Medical Society.

The form can be found in your “My Documents” section on the RAID website and is presently being prepared for the website where it will form part of RAID’s paper free initiative.