Just because a lot of people are social distancing doesn’t mean dive students can’t get their certification, and the folks at RAID International have come up with a solution.
RAID’s REMOTe-Training platform has been designed to keep divers and instructors professionally active.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, RAID has modified its standards to allow instructors to conduct virtual classroom sessions in lieu of traditional classroom sessions, resulting in certification for several of its courses, including Nitrox, Equipment Core Rebreather Knowledge, Eco Diver and Ecological Non-Diver.
For the Nitrox course, RAID has developed a specific Virtual Analyzer app — available on the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store — that provides the student with the skills needed to operate a Nitrox analyzer safely.
RAID instructors can use their choice of online tools, including Skype, Zoom, GoToMeeting, RingCentral, WhatsApp, and more. 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.
Don’t expect this new certification method to go away once COVID-19 is no more, according to RAID:
“As with all things at RAID, we are not releasing REMOTe-Training as a pandemic-only 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.”
RAID has also opened REMOTe-Training to both diver levels and instructor levels with their Instructor Crossover Program:
“We have designed a peer-led review instructor crossover program that will allow instructors wishing to crossover to our agency the ability to do so without reducing the level of quality that is included in all RAID training.”
For more details, go to diveRAID.com.
