12/26/11

Online SCUBA Class - Free from MIT

scuba_class_online_free

An online SCUBA class is available for free from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  The class consists of videos of SCUBA lectures and videos of in-water SCUBA techniques(The Real Media Player software may be needed to watch these SCUBA class videos.)

To become a diver, you would need hands-on and in-water SCUBA training yourself.  But this online class provides a good beginner’s intro to SCUBA or a refresher for those returning to SCUBA diving.

The class teacher is a certified SCUBA instructor and emphasizes that much of the class is drawn from his own extensive diving experience.  The MIT SCUBA lecture topics include:

  1. SCUBA Intro  (history, equalization, snorkels)
  2. Diving Physics A  (tanks, regulators, gas laws, humidity, air consumption rate, hand signals)
  3. Diving Physics B  (suits and weight belts, pressure, oxygen toxicity)
  4. SCUBA Planning  (decompression, in/outgassing, dive tables)
  5. Advanced SCUBA  (altitude diving, flying, diving computers, dive planning)
  6. The Ocean  (rescues, compass, water flow, marine life)

This MIT online SCUBA diving class recommends the following reading:

  1. NAUI, 2004, NAUI Scuba Diver. Tampa: NAUI Worldwide.
  2. NAUI, 2004, NAUI Advanced SCUBA Diver. Tampa: NAUI Worldwide.
  3. NAUI, 2004, NAUI Dive Tables. Tampa: NAUI Worldwide.
  4. Joiner, James T., 2001, NOAA Diving Manual: Diving for Science and Technology. Flagstaff, AZ: Best Publishing.

MIT offers this class for free as part of their MIT OpenCourseWare program.  They do accept donations, but it is not required.

Thanks to MIT for the free online SCUBA class videos.