BonnerSprings.com

As driver's education wraps up for the year, instructors are taking a closer look at how a new method of teaching worked during this trial year.

Instead of requiring driver's education students to sit in a classroom for two hours a day for three weeks out of the summer, the Bonner Springs school district opted for a more high-tech approach. Enrolled students could access a Web site that contained all the materials they needed to learn about driving safety.

"The beauty of the program is (the students) have access to the program 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," said Tim Ney, who has been teaching driver's education in Bonner Springs for five years. "All that information is there anytime they want."

At the end of March, students who enrolled in driver's education were given access to the Web site and its information. For nine weeks the students completed homework assignments that were submitted online and went to the school for weekly, supervised tests. Ney said the goal was to have all the students finish the "knowledge-based component" of the course before the practical, hands-on driving was scheduled in the summer.

Overall, Ney said he was happy with the way the program worked out. The main success, he said, was that the program was "family-friendly" and allowed students and their families to schedule more activities such as summer school and vacations rather than worry about daily class time.

"I feel like this was an attempt to make it easier for the family to schedule things and gave a little more flexibility to do the coursework at their convenience at home," Ney said.

The new online program will take some getting used by the students, Ney said, but he still felt it was a good change. He said there are two types of students and the ones who are more disciplined and work well on their own are the ones who had the easiest time with the online course. On the other side, he said there were many students who let procrastination get the best of them and could have used a little more accountability.

There are a few issues that Ney said he knows he'll change come next year. He said he and his three other instructors learned a lot in this first year of the online course that should help make improvements next year.

"I'd like to make it where students come on a regular basis, at an assigned time instead of coming whenever they wanted," Ney said.

He also mentioned that assigning time would not only help increase accountability for those students who need it, but it would also allow him to bring in speakers to supplement their education. Possibly starting the online portion sooner would also cut down on the stress that comes at the end of the school year when students are worrying about finals. Ney said he hasn't made any decisions and would use evaluations filled out by the students at the end of the program to help make necessary changes, but that the online class was there to stay.

"I believe in the program. If I didn't feel students were safer for taking the program I wouldn't teach the program," Ney said.

After completing the coursework, students got behind the wheel for the first time. Each student was required to complete six hours of driving time with an instructor. Ney said that this was the point that nerves usually set in for the students. For those students who have no experience driving, Ney said he likes to start them out in a parking lot were they're in no stress, and then work them slowly up to highway driving.

"That's the thing I enjoy the most," he said. "The greatest joy is watching their confidence level grow exponentially."

But that six hours of driving is just a drop in the bucket, because following the driver's education course, each student must get another 19 hours of supervised driving time before receiving a restricted license, which allows a young driver to drive alone only to work and school. Another 50 hours is then required before the students can get their actual drivers licenses.

"I look at this as a partnership with the families," Ney said about the work parents must take on once his job is over. "The best thing a student can get is time. Time is critical. It's an ally for a student."

The cost of this year's program did go up compared to last year, but Ney said he thought it was still less than the cost of many programs in the surrounding area. The cost was $125 for students in the Bonner Springs district and $225 for students outside the district.

Ney said part of the reason for the increase in price was the new online program, but mostly he said it was to ease the burden of the rising gas prices. He said the district has always tried to keep the price of the class down and at a reasonable rate for most families. The goal, he said, is to get as many students to take advantage of the program, which couldn't be done without the school district's dedication to the program.

"There's always that opportunity," Ney said of the district cutting the program because gas prices were climbing too high. "But we really are fortunate with the support the board of education has given us here in Bonner Springs. They made it as economically viable as they could."

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