I’m one week into my Instructor Development Course (IDC), and thought it would be good to give my personal perspective on what I think so far.
Firstly, if you are thinking to do the IDC to primarily become a better diver, it’s probably time to rethink. Why is that? The IDC is all about learning to teach in the PADI system, not about improving your dive skills. Whilst I’m sure there are lots of similarities with other certification agencies, the IDC is very much about learning to teach the various PADI courses, from Discover Scuba Diving right up to Divemaster. Because of this, you are already expected to have very good dive skills by the time you arrive at the IDC. As an example, we spent only a couple of hours going through the skills circuit (the same one you do during the DM course), and so long as I could prove I could do the skills to the required standard, it was ticked off. The next time I did any skill demonstration was during actual Confined Water presentation practice.
Secondly, there is a very clear process to follow for the three teaching portions; Knowledge Development, Confined Water, and Open Water. Whatever you do, make sure you follow the mark schemes which you will be assessed against. If you do that, there is nothing difficult, per se, however it does take some effort and organization to make sure you have everything covered.
Finally, do your homework. I’ve heard that many people find the Dive Theory and Dive Standards Exams the most difficult portion of the IDC. Whilst your Course Director is there to help you, it would be very difficult to learn everything you need to know to pass the exam using just the spare time you have during the IDC. Therefore, make sure you do the work beforehand. I found the Dive Theory eLearning very useful, as I found the Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving very dry. Yes, it has all the information in it, but trying to read through hundreds of pages was rather daunting.
I feel like I’m making progress, and now starting to look towards the IE (which starts in 5 days!)