PADI, the largest scuba diving training organization with over 136,000 members worldwide, is well known for embracing the latest technology within the diving industry. Products such as ScubaEarth and the PADI App pave the way for digital divers and support the core mission of helping people worldwide learn how to scuba dive.
PADI course materials have continually evolved with emerging technologies, and are developed with student divers’ learning and convenience in mind. Over the decades PADI has published a range of materials including face-to-face presentations, manuals, workbooks, CD-ROMS, DVDs, PADI eLearning and more.
“Mobile devices have had the most rapid acceptance of any technology in history and people expect to do everything — including learn to dive — with them.” – Drew Richardson, CEO and President, PADI Worldwide
Today, more and more consumers are using mobile devices to download, view and interact with content. iOS and Android tablets have become the new classroom and PADI’s move towards tablet-based training makes it easier than ever to reach student divers wherever they go.
“We have always been on the cutting edge with adapting technology to our educational system so creating an app was a natural next step for our materials”– Drew Richardson, CEO and President, PADI Worldwide
Continuing to innovate the way the world learns to dive, the revolutionary PADI Open Water Diver Touch™ is a tablet edition of the PADI Open Water Diver course. It combines cutting-edge software with expert instruction to bring the most popular scuba diving course in the world to the fingertips of aspiring underwater explorers.
With course content available offline without need for Wi-Fi access, the PADI Open Water Diver Touch is perfect for recapping dive theory in remote diving destinations or during flights. It supports educational studies which show that immersive, interactive material such as tablet content is more readily absorbed compared to traditional print materials.
Even PADI Instructors are noticing the benefit; many state how PADI Open Water Diver Touch students seem better prepared for practical sessions, undoubtedly a result of the accessible, hands-on and fun approach – the secret to successful learning.
“Students love the folio, and I think it was only available for about 10 minutes when instructors were calling me and telling me they love it too. The folio is education that entertains and holds people’s attention.” – Karl Shreeves, Technical Development Executive, PADI Worldwide
A student diver’s journey starts by downloading the free PADI Digital Library App (available from the iTunes App Store for iOS and Android Apps on Google Play) and registering for the PADI Open Water Diver Touch program via their local PADI Dive Center or Resort. When updates are available, the PADI Digital Library App will send a push notification to alert the user so they can stay up to date with the latest downloads.
The PADI Open Water Diver Touch uses the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) to integrate compelling text with fun videos, audio clips, animations, illustrations, quizzes, photos and other highly interactive elements. Supporting interactivity and gesture-led navigation, the use of Adobe DPS made it easy to deliver an intuitive, content-led learning experience to student diver, ensuring they access the right content at the right time in their training.
“We set out to invent the future of diver education. PADI Open Water Diver Touch is a fully interactive application that engages students with the materials. It combines the entertainment factor of video with the rich content of a book all rolled into one.” – Karl Shreeves, Technical Development Executive, PADI Worldwide
Countless students around the world have already fallen in love with the PADI Open Water Touch; the interactive, immersive experience brings diving alive in a way never seen before, giving them a view of underwater life before they even reach sand or sea.
But the PADI Open Water Diver Touch hasn’t just turned the heads of students and dive professionals; it’s caught the eye of software giant Adobe Systems, too. Adobe – the name behind global products such as Acrobat Reader, Photoshop and Flash Player – were so impressed with the inventive use of DPS in bringing scuba diver training to life that they’ve created an entire case study on how PADI have taken the DPS to new levels.
Visiting the PADI Americas regional headquarters in California, Adobe filmed one-one interviews with the PADI staff who held key roles in the creation of the PADI Open Water Diver Touch. View the resulting video below and the online case study document here.
“Throughout the development stages of the PADI Open Water Diver Touch, we knew we were creating a first-of-its kind technology for the industry, and ultimately changing the way people learn to dive. Leveraging Adobe’s DPS technology enabled PADI to achieve this goal with an amazing platform that pushes our content out across mobile channels. What we didn’t expect was to gain Adobe’s interest in learning more about our development of the program, and using it as a case study for DPS. We’re grateful to have developed a relationship with Adobe through this and look forward to leveraging its technology for future endeavors.” – Drew Richardson, CEO and President, PADI Worldwide.
The case study will be distributed by Adobe Systems to promote the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite to new and existing clients, but the resulting global exposure will benefit of PADI, PADI Members and the diving industry as a whole by opening doors to a wider audience of potential scuba divers.
By choosing the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, PADI development staff were able to create the PADI Open Water Diver Touch and PADI Digital Library App without the usual expense and time resources demanded by folio production. This has created opportunity for a series of PADI Touch programs to be rolled out in future, such as the newly-launched PADI Equipment Specialist Touch™ and PADI ReActivate Touch™. PADI Professionals who access the PADI Digital Library App can also download the “Win with PADI” folio which illustrates PADI’s unique value proposition.
Through Adobe Cloud, PADI have access to a built-in analytics dashboard, with insights that will prove invaluable to ensuring that student divers’ needs continue to be met and exceeded.
“We can learn how people are using and navigating through the folio and where they are spending their time. That helps us make the product better and continue to evolve it.” – Kristin Valette, Vice President Marketing and Communications, PADI Americas
Want to find out more about current PADI Touch products or what’s coming next? Visit www.padi.com/touch or speak to your local PADI Regional Manager or Sales Consultant.
PADI is the ‘Way the World Learns to Dive’ today, tomorrow and for the future. Join the PADI digital revolution now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVMxTpCJ5rs
