If you’re starting to think about taking online drivers ed, you might have a few questions. Like, ‘What will I learn from an online drivers education course?’, ‘How do I know whether a course is right for me?’ and ‘What makes the best online drivers ed course anyway?’ eDriving’s Lead Curriculum Developer, Shawn Saler, explains exactly what you can expect from a DriversEd.com course.
Teen taking one of the best online drivers ed courses. (It’s from DriversEd.com, of course!)
Tell us what you do, Shawn.
I’ve been working at eDriving since 2011. One of my main responsibilities is developing new online courses and maintaining and updating existing courses for DriversEd.com.
The courses I help develop for DriversEd.com enable students to take drivers education online, which can be more flexible and convenient than studying in the classroom. The courses are state-approved and cover all the material taught in a classroom course.
When do teens usually take online drivers ed?
Usually, prior to applying for their learner’s permit and before they take their first professional driving lesson or, at the very least, to coincide with their first professional driving lessons. Most teens start online drivers ed at 14 or 15, depending on the state.
In your opinion, what makes a great online drivers ed course?
It’s important that the course is easy to use and that every aspect of the course builds confidence. It’s also critical that the course is accurate, that lessons are clear and thorough but not overly detailed where they don’t need to be.
What will teens learn by taking a DriversEd.com course?
The courses we offer are broadly based on standard national drivers ed curricula that were developed by national driving safety organizations to provide a systematic course of instruction. This covers the topics that all drivers need to know, whichever state they live in, including basic driving skills, rules of the road, how to drive on city streets, freeways, and other roadway types, how to share the road with other vehicles, such as motorcycles and large trucks, and important issues such as distraction, aggression, impaired driving, and speeding.
Our state-approved courses are designed to ensure that they fully cover the specific rules of the road for each state, as well as address common driving situations and conditions local drivers might encounter. We go beyond the basics to make sure our students gain a thorough understanding of what it’s like to drive where they live. This includes local environments, roadway types and state-specific risk factors.
How often do you develop new online drivers ed courses?
Whenever a state’s policies allow us to offer an online drivers ed course, we will design a course specific to that state. We carry out extensive research before we even begin designing a course. The most recent online drivers ed course we developed was for Wisconsin .
How often are existing online drivers ed courses updated?
We want our students, and their parents, to be confident that our online drivers ed courses are giving them information that is both relevant to their state AND relevant at the exact time they are taking the course. Because of this our courses are constantly evolving.
What does a DriverEd.com online drivers ed course look like?
Our courses have a strong visual aspect as well as a strong written aspect. They include a variety of interactions, activities, animations and movies. We’re very aware that people learn in different ways and we want to make sure we are employing a range of strategies so our online courses provide every student with a great experience.
We continue to develop and employ new interactive elements to help simulate the actual experience of driving, and we have a number of exciting plans for the coming year.
How confident are you that students will retain what they learn in a DriverEd.com course?
We have a strong commitment to making sure we don’t just explain WHAT to do when driving but WHY to do things in a certain way.
The images and visuals help make sure we are not overloading the student with too much information at any one time. Visuals are an effective way of helping students remember the material.
And how do you know DriversEd.com courses give students all the information they need to prepare for driving?
At eDriving, we have unique access to DriversEd.com’s professional driving instructors, so our courses can be vetted by the experts. These are driving professionals who are on the road day in, day out, seeing the exact issues we’re talking about in our courses. When we put together new courses, we’re able to draw on the expertise of a strong team that collectively possesses hundreds of years of knowledge and driving wisdom! The dedicated e-learning team takes this knowledge and applies their understanding of the ways people learn best to produce thorough and effective courses.
Tell us a little about the actual process of taking an online DriversEd.com course.
One of the things that has always been a feature of DriversEd.com courses is that students can take our courses on their computer, laptop, tablet or phone. They get the same course however they are taking it and can pick up exactly where they left off, even when switching between devices.
This is an important factor to many people, being able to take it at their own convenience. Some students want to study just 20 minutes a day for several months. Some want to progress through the course more quickly. One advantage of online drivers ed is that it is more convenient than having to go to the classroom. In high school, teens have so much going on that adding just one more fixed responsibility can be a disruption. Being able to take their online drivers ed course at their leisure is very important to many teens, and their parents too.
Can you sum up a DriverEd.com online course in five words?
Quality, expert, comprehensive, engaging, interactive.
Interested in taking one of our drivers ed courses?