One Instructor Guide

Summary

The instructor guide becomes the place you work from. Each document still lives in one place.

Where an instructor looks today

Training StandardsSeparate course; rules for one program are spread over several sections

Instructor manualPro view of the course

Student manualStudent view of the course

Cue cardsPrinted or PDF; outside the course

PEGMySSI download area

Final exam PDFs and keyMySSI download area

Training record formsMySSI or the training center

Three changes to each course

Standards. A new instructor-only section that embeds the live standards elements for that program.
Cue cards. New pages under the existing Practical Application section, one per pool session and training dive.
Documents. A new instructor-only section holding Exams (both PDF versions, answer sheet, key), the current PEG with its last-updated date, and the program’s Forms.

The principle that makes this acceptableThe standards say the online English-metric standards are the default global standards. So nothing here copies them. Every standards item in a course is the same record shown in a second place, and every file is a link to the current file. When SSI edits the source, every course shows the change.

The system

A course is one container, not a path between documents

Below, the current chart and the proposed system side by side in time: first the path, then the same pieces as nested boxes. Items tagged New are proposed.

Today

Teaching to standard means opening seven places, in an app that can only show some of them

The current Total Teaching System chart is a path between separate documents. Each box is a different place to open, and the arrows are the order you move between them. On deck, between sessions, or with students waiting, an instructor does not have time to walk that path. In practice they teach from memory and from whatever copy they printed last. That is how training drifts away from the current standard without anyone intending it.

1The rules for one course are scattered

Dry Suit Diving is governed from eight pages of the Training Standards, not just its program page. Nothing in the course tells the instructor the other seven exist.

Fixed by: the Standards section, one page per course

2Checking a rule means leaving the course

The Training Standards are a separate course in the app. Switching away mid-session, finding the section, and getting back to the right lesson is slow, so the check gets skipped.

Fixed by: standards embedded inside each course

3Exams, PEGs and forms can’t be opened from the app

The Open Water Diver, Navigation and Dry Suit courses do not link a single downloadable file. The paper exams, the key, the PEG and the forms sit in the MySSI download area, out of reach on a phone or tablet at the training site.

Fixed by: the Documents section, with each file linked in the course

4The cue card and the manual can disagree

For Dry Suit, Night and Perfect Buoyancy, the training-dive skill sequence exists only on the printed cue card. The Dry Suit open water dives page lists no skills at all and points to the cue cards. When the manual changes, nothing updates the card.

Fixed by: cue card pages under Practical Application

5Nobody can see what changed or how old it is

Standards change every year and PEGs are updated on their own schedule. An instructor has no way to tell, from inside the course, that the copy they are using is out of date.

Fixed by: last-updated dates on the program standard and the PEG

6Copies replace the source

Because the current text is hard to reach, instructors keep their own printouts and notes. Those copies go stale, and the stale copy becomes what gets taught.

Fixed by: one source, shown in place, never copied

Current Total Teaching System Flow chart: Standards leads to Digital Learning Materials and the Instructor Manual; the Instructor Manual leads to PEGs and Cue Cards; PEGs lead to the Final Exam; Cue Cards lead to Water Skills and then the Logbook; Digital Learning, PEGs, Final Exam and Water Skills all point to the Training Record.

Why this matters for divers

Standards protect students only when they are followed, and they are followed when the right rule is one tap away at the moment it is needed. Putting every rule, file and sequence inside the course an instructor already has open makes the correct answer the fastest answer. That is how more instructors teach to the current standard, more consistently, and how more students come out of training as safe, confident divers.

Proposed

One container, with every piece inside the course

The same pieces, nested inside one course. Each color is one container, so you can see what sits inside what. Nothing moves out of its source; the course shows it in place.

Digital courseStudent viewInstructor viewInstructor manualPractical ApplicationCue cardsStandardsDocumentsExamsPEGFormsNew proposed

Digital courseOne TYPO3 course tree per program, for example Dry Suit Diving

Student viewPro switch off

Student manualDigital learning

Review questionsPer section

Digital final examTwo online attempts

MySSI LogbookApp and print

Instructor viewPro switch on; instructor-only pages

Instructor manualThe instructor-only sections of the course tree

Instructor content and academic sessionsExists today

Practical ApplicationExists today

Skill descriptionsExists today

Cue cardsNewPages

One per pool session or training dive

Print and wetnotesGenerated from the page

Open water training divesExists today

Certification and final reviewExists today

StandardsNewSection

Program standardWhole page, embedded

Cross-referencesElements from other sections

General standardsLinked

DocumentsNewSection

ExamsNew

PDF version 1

PDF version 2

Answer sheet

Key

PEGNew

Current PEGLink

Last updatedFrom the file date

FormsNew

Completion record

Medical and release forms

Validity rulesEmbedded

SOURCE · EMBEDDED, NOT COPIEDScuba Training StandardsStays the single official text. Courses show its records in place.

SOURCE · LINKEDMySSI file libraryExams, keys, PEGs and forms stay as files. Courses link the current version.

OUTPUTSigned training recordStill where the course ends: academics, in-water sessions and the exam are signed off from one place.

Change 1 · Standards

Every course gets an instructor-only Standards section

The rules for one program are not all on its program page. For the 11 courses we track, the table counts the program standard plus the elements elsewhere in the Scuba Training Standards that name the program. Element IDs are TYPO3 content IDs, ready to use in Insert Records.

How it is built

A new top-level section in the course page tree, restricted to the instructor group like Practical Application. Exact pages are in the TYPO3 change map below.
The program standard is embedded as a whole page using TYPO3’s “show content from page” option.
Rules from other sections are Insert Records elements that point at the live content IDs listed below.

Worked example · Dry Suit

The Dry Suit page is 42 elements. Seven other pages add 14 more: the professional 10-dive recommendation, the Dry Suits block under Specialized Equipment, the cold-water rule, the Specialty Program General Standards line, the Specialty Instructor row, and the instructor requirement repeated in the Scuba Diver and Open Water Diver standards. The enrolled-or-certified rule appears in three of them in slightly different words.

Linked for every course

Assessing Knowledge and Skill 74262463
Recreational Scuba Programs equipment 74262460
Supervision, Using Certified Assistants, Program Duration
Specialty Program General Standards 74262488, for specialties

Course	Program standard	Page	Elements	Elsewhere	Last edited

Risk to plan forIf SSI editors replace a paragraph during the annual update instead of editing it, its content ID changes and an element-level embed goes blank. Whole-page embeds are safer. For shared rules such as the Dry Suits block, the fix is to move them onto their own small standards page and embed that page.

Change 2 · Cue cards

Cue cards become pages under Practical Application

The ITC describes a cue card as a suggested sequence for the required skills in each session. Open Water Diver prints that sequence on each session page, and Navigation lists each dive’s skills as student objectives. Several specialties do neither, so their sequence exists only on the card.

Course	Skill sequence blocks	Session or dive pages	Today

What changes

One Cue Card page per pool session and per training dive, listed under Practical Application.
Each page holds the skill sequence and the card’s quick-reference notes, and links each skill to its description page.
The printed card and the wetnotes are produced from that page, so the card and the course cannot disagree.

Why keep a physical card

A cue card works on deck and underwater, where a phone does not. The proposal changes where the card’s content is written, not whether instructors carry one.

We did not capture the cue cards themselves. One printed card per program should be compared with its course before SSI builds the pages.

Change 3 · Documents

One Documents section holds the exam set, the PEG and the forms

These three are files that live in the MySSI library today. Grouping them keeps the left menu short: Standards, Practical Application, Documents.

Documents › Exams

The paper exam set, with the rules for giving it

Each course already has a student-facing digital final exam, and it stays where it is. The written version, its alternate, the answer sheet and the key are in the MySSI download area, outside the course.

What goes in the Exam page

Final exam, version 1 (PDF)
Final exam, version 2 (PDF). The Dry Suit manual says a student who fails takes an alternate version.
Final exam answer sheet. The Student Training Records page requires it whenever the paper exam is used 37418419–37418420.
Answer key, on an instructor-only page so students cannot reach it.
The Final Exam rules from Assessing Knowledge and Skill, embedded: supervision, approved materials, pass marks, oral administration 37418723–37418737.

Dry Suit Diving · Instructor view

StandardsProgram standardCross-referencesDocumentsExamsPEGFormsPractical ApplicationPutting on a Dry Suit…

Documents › Exams

Final exam · version 1PDF

Final exam · version 2PDF

Answer sheetPDF

Answer keyInstructor only

Embedded below: Final Exam rules from the Training Standards.

To confirm with SSIWe could not see the download area from the course data, so the proposal assumes each specialty has two versions, an answer sheet and a key. SSI should confirm the set for each program.

Documents › PEG

The current PEG, and how long ago it changed

Every course names the PEG as part of the Total Teaching System, but none links to it. A PEG that is a year older than its standards is easy to miss.

The PEG page

A PEG page inside the Documents section, instructor only.
One link to the current PEG file in the MySSI library.
A line generated from the file’s date: “Updated 3 months ago · 14 July 2026.”
The same line for the program standard, so an instructor can see when the PEG predates the rules.

TYPO3 already stores a last-changed time on every content element. The dates in the Standards table above come from that field.

Dry Suit Diving · Instructor view

Practical Application…StandardsDocumentsExamsPEGForms

Documents › PEG

Dry Suit Diving PEGDate from file

Program standardUpdated recently

Ages are computed when the page is viewed. The PEG date would come from the file record.

Documents › Forms

The program’s forms, with their validity rules beside them

The standards already list which forms each student needs and how long each stays valid. The proposal links each form’s current file from the course and embeds its rule.

Form	When it is needed	Valid for	Standards element
Registration Form	Before training	Permanent, unless the student moves training center	37418396–37418397
SSI Responsible Diver Code	Before training	Permanent within a category	37418398–37418400
Privacy Policy	Optional	Permanent, unless withdrawn	37418401–37418402
Diver Medical Participant Questionnaire	Before in-water training	One year, or until the condition changes	37418404–37418407
Physician’s Approval to Dive	When the questionnaire requires it	One year	37418408–37418411
Assumption of Risk, Liability Release and Hold Harmless	Before training, where required	One year; not valid in the EU	37418412–37418413
Youth Addendum	Students under 18	One year; parent or guardian signs	37418414–37418415
Program-specific Completion Record	Every program	Per program	37418417–37418418
Final Exam Answer Sheet	When the paper exam is used	Per program	37418419–37418420

Rules the Forms page carries

Student programs may complete everything except the completion record digitally in MySSI; minors cannot sign digital documents.
Professional candidates complete everything digitally.
Records are valid only with the training center that started them.

Training Records and Privacy Forms · 74262443

Also linked

Voluntary General Release Forms: aquatic facility, boat, event and travel releases 74262448
Professional Training Records, for the ITC and Divemaster courses 74262447

TYPO3 change map · Dry Suit Diving

Exactly what gets added to the course tree

Page IDs, access groups and section order are from the published Dry Suit course (root page 1705). In these courses, group 32 is instructor only, 77 is enrolled students and 31 is the free preview. Every other course follows the same pattern with its own IDs.

1705Dry Suit Divingcourse root

21971082Preface31

1714–1756Sections 1–6 (student manual)31

52960403Dry Suit Diving Digital Final Exam77

8604Practical Application32

8605Instructor Content32

newCue Card · Pool/Confined Water Session32

8628…Dive Planning, Putting on a Dry Suit, and the other skill pages32

8626Open Water Training Dives32

newCue Card · Open Water Training Dive 132

newCue Card · Open Water Training Dive 232

8647Certification And Final Review32

newStandards32

newProgram Standard32

newCross-References32

newGeneral Standards32

newDocuments32

newExams32

newPEG32

newForms32

New item	Where	Page settings	Content elements
Standards section	Child of 1705, after Certification And Final Review (8647)	Page type Shortcut (doktype 4) to its first subpage, the same type as every existing section. Access group 32.	None
Program Standard	First child of Standards	Standard page (doktype 1), group 32. Show content from page (content_from_pid) set to 74262511, the Dry Suit Diving standard.	None needed; the page renders the standard’s 42 elements
Cross-References	Second child of Standards	Standard page, group 32	One Insert Records element (CType shortcut) listing tt_content 37418658, 37418761–37418768, 37418845, 37419334, 36776071, 37419099 and 37419168
General Standards	Third child of Standards	Standard page, group 32	A page-links menu to 74262463 (Assessing Knowledge and Skill), 74262460 (equipment), 74262468 (Supervision), 74262467 (Certified Assistants), 74262464 (Duration), 74262488 (Specialty General)
Cue Card · Pool/Confined Water Session	Child of 8604, after Instructor Content (8605)	Standard page, group 32	Skill sequence text, each skill linking to its existing page (8610, 8611, 11010, 8612 …); a file link to the printable card
Cue Card · Open Water Training Dive 1 and 2	Children of 8626, before Debriefing And Record Keeping	Standard pages, group 32	Same as the pool card
Documents section	Child of 1705, after Standards	Shortcut (doktype 4), group 32	None
Exams	First child of Documents	Standard page, group 32	File links element (CType uploads) with sys_file_reference rows to the version 1 and 2 PDFs, the answer sheet and the key; one Insert Records element for tt_content 37418723–37418737 (Final Exam rules) and 37418419–37418420 (answer sheet rule)
PEG	Second child of Documents	Standard page, group 32	File links element for the current PEG; the “updated” line is rendered from the file’s modification date in sys_file
Forms	Third child of Documents	Standard page, group 32	File links element for each form; Insert Records for tt_content 37418395–37418420 (form validity) and 37418290–37418295 (digital or print rules)

What does not change

The student manual sections (1714–1756) and the student digital exam (52960403).
Every existing Practical Application and training dive page.
The Scuba Training Standards course and the MySSI file library. They stay the only place the text and files are edited.

Repeat per course

Open Water Diver: root 4279, Practical Application 21268262, which already has Pool/Confined Water Sessions (21268268) and Open Water Training Dives (21268278) subsections for the cue card pages.
Program standard page IDs for all 11 courses are in the Standards table.
Professional courses such as the ITC use their own instructor-only group; SSI should apply that group instead of 32.

Inconsistency tracker

Where SSI’s own sources disagree

Each entry puts the sources next to each other, with the course page and content element ID so SSI can open the exact record. Text is quoted from the published courses. Entries marked open need an SSI editorial decision; the proposal’s single-source design stops new ones from appearing.

Conflict4sources give different instructions

Duplicated2one rule kept in several records

Corrected6our earlier claims, now fixed

Unverified3inferred, not stated by SSI

Conflicts between SSI sources

Gas consumption formula · Open Water Diver

ConflictOpen

Section 4 · Calculating Gas Consumption And Time At Depth · page 4351 · element 47304

SAC = (PC / RP) x V / (t x P)

Variables are defined (47305) and a worked example gives 0.5 cu ft per minute (47306).

Skill sheet · Gas Consumption Rate Check · page 21268343 · element 11480601

SAC = [( PSI / T ) * 33] / D + 33

The variable list under it (11480602–11480605) defines AC, V, T and P. The formula uses PSI, T and D, so D is never defined and AC, V and P are never used.

Why it matters. The two formulas return different units, cubic feet against psi per minute. As printed, the skill sheet adds 33 after dividing by depth, so it does not compute a surface rate.

Deepwater Exit written twice · Open Water Diver

ConflictOpen

In-Water Skills · Deepwater Exit · page 21268309 · Pool/Confined Water Session 1

Six key points. Goes from “only remove the equipment necessary” straight to “Stay clear of the immediate area behind an exiting diver.”

In-Water Skills · Deepwater Exit · page 21268324 · Pool/Confined Water Session 3

Seven key points. Adds “Exit the water and immediately clear the exit area” between those two steps.

Why it matters. Same skill title under the same parent page, with a different step list. An instructor briefing from Session 1 leaves out clearing the exit area.

Dry Suit eligibility and pool session order

ConflictOpen

Specialized Equipment · page 74262465 · elements 37418767–37418768

Entry-level: be enrolled in the Dry Suit specialty, and its pool/confined water session must be completed before any open water training. Specialty programs: five logged dry suit dives outside training, same pool rule.

Environmental Definitions · Cold Water · page 74262470 · element 37418845

Student must hold Dry Suit certification “or equivalent”, or be enrolled in the Dry Suit program. Same pool rule. No mention of the five logged dives.

Dry Suit Diving standard · page 74262511 · elements 37420224–37420225

When combined with Open Water Diver, the student completes one pool session and two open water dives from the Open Water Diver program in a dry suit, after OWD Pool Sessions 2 and 3.

Why it matters. Three pages, three readings. One requires the Dry Suit pool session, one uses Open Water Diver sessions instead, and only one accepts an equivalent certification.

Emergency Buoyant Ascent location

ConflictOpen

Open Water Diver · Emergency Buoyant Ascent · page 21268337 · element 11480423

“This skill must only be performed in a pool or in confined water conditions.”

Scuba Training Standards · Emergency Ascent Skills · elements 37418810–37418814

Lists the Emergency Buoyant Ascent and allows simulated emergency ascents on open water training dives from 30 feet or less, with physical contact before the ascent.

Why it matters. An instructor reading only the standards would believe an open water EBA is allowed. The manual is stricter and is not linked from the standard.

One rule kept in several records

Dry Suit instructor requirement · five records

DuplicatedOpen

Specialized Equipment · 37418762

All in-water scuba training needs an active Dry Suit Diving Specialty Instructor.

Scuba Diver · 37419099 and Open Water Diver · 37419168

Identical text: if dry suits are used, the Open Water Instructor must also be an active Dry Suit Specialty Instructor.

Dry Suit Diving standard · 37420190 and 37420226

Stated twice on the same page, once as minimum rating and once for the training dives.

Why it matters. The wording already differs between “all in-water training” and “the training dives.” Each edit has to be made five times. With Insert Records, one element would show in every place.

Pool session before open water · three records

DuplicatedOpen

37418767, 37418768, 37418845

The same “pool/confined water session must be completed prior to any open-water training” sentence is written three times on two pages.

Proposed fix

Keep one element and show it on the Specialized Equipment page, the Cold Water page and the Dry Suit Cross-References page.

Our earlier claims, corrected after the validity check

Earlier claim	Corrected to	Evidence
Dry Suit rules sit in six places	Eight pages	Specialized Equipment 37418761–37418768 and Scuba Diver / Open Water Diver 37419099, 37419168 were added
Navigation is cross-referenced by Overhead Environments	Removed	Page 74262472 does not mention navigation training; replaced with OWD 37419166 and AOWD 37419428
Navigation has no skill sequence outside the cue card	In the manual as dive objectives	Both Navigation training dive pages list Student Objectives
Science of Diving has no in-water sequence	In-water training is optional	Science of Diving program standard
Most specialties rely only on the cue card	Dry Suit, Night and Limited Visibility, and Perfect Buoyancy	Cue card coverage table
34 standards cross-references	36	Recount after the two edits above

Inferred, not stated by SSI

Access group meanings

Groups 32, 77 and 31 are read from which pages each view can open. SSI should confirm them.

Paper exam set

The standards describe two versions, an answer sheet and a key. The download area is not visible in the course, so the files per specialty are not confirmed.

Cue card contents

The cue cards were not captured. Coverage compares the manual against SSI’s description of the cards.

What the platform supports

SSI’s platform already does each part of this somewhere

Seen in the published courses

One record in two places. 734 content elements from the Scuba Training Standards are displayed inside the Scuba Professional Final Exam course. They are the same IDs, not copies.
Shared content across courses. 161 more elements appear in more than one program, including a block of 17 shown in 12 courses.
Instructor-only pages. Every course has pages only the Pro view can open; Open Water Diver has 101.
Change dates. Every content element carries a last-changed timestamp.
File links. The course viewer includes file-reference support for pictures and files.

What only SSI can confirm or do

Editor access: every change here is made inside SSI’s CMS.
Whether standards elements are translated as linked records, so each language shows its own text.
Whether the MySSI app’s offline download includes embedded and linked content.
How the download library is organised, and whether each file has a stable address.
The exam set and cue card content for each specialty.