keys2drive learning approach
The problem
While learning to drive, learner drivers have the lowest risk of
crashing of all drivers. Their crash risk increases 20-30 times the
moment they pass their provisional driving test and drive on their
own. The cause of the problem can partly be attributed to
fundamentally different conditions moments before and after
licensing. Before licensing, the beginning driver is externally
guided and influenced by their driving instructor,
parent/supervisor, and assessor (or what those people represent).
After licensing, the learner is independent, self-directed, and
influenced by significant others. Learner drivers learn in atypical
situations and then drive on their own in typical situations -
little wonder they crash more.
keys2drive learning
solution
The keys2drive approach is fundamentally different to
traditional approaches to teaching learner drivers. Traditionally,
we have taught learner drivers how to drive the car not
drive themselves and experience the responsibilities that
come with choice. It’s important to understand this
distinction.
keys2drive helps learner drivers learn to take over the
role of their parent/supervisor, assessor, and driving instructor
and experience the P plate context before they become a P plate
driver. The message to the learner driver is Find Your Own
Way. That may sound like a risky message to send, but if
you accept that P plate drivers have to find their own
way then surely it makes sense that we teach them the
skills to find their own way before they actually have to find
their own way!
Typically, driving instructors and parent/supervisors tell their
learners what they think they need to know and do. ‘I know best, do
it my way’. Understandably, they want to feel in control but often
this leads to them being controlling. This is the
exact opposite to Find Your Own Way.
Such an approach does not devalue the importance of basic
driving skills and procedures. Nor is it saying that skills such as
effective scanning and hazard perception are not important. Of
course they are important. However, learning these through passive
means (being told) will not have the same meaning as it will
through self-discovery. In using such an approach learning always
finishes with more questions - it’s open ended. Here, passing the
driving test licenses the learner driver to continue
Finding Their Own Way on their own.
Merging the traditional with the
new
A part of the keys2drive challenge is to have the
traditional and new live side by side. This we can do if driving
instructors and parents/supervisors can allow themselves to ‘let
go’ and be a source of information and support rather than the
experts and knowledge keepers. In this way, successful teaching and
supervision can be measured through the quality of conversation
about driving, and the way the learner driver uses their passenger
(driving instructor or parent/supervisor) as a resource. In such a
setting the learner driver’s brain is having to work hard;
learning is more meaningful - it’s not passive and meaningless.
Just saying to a learner driver, "Find Your Own Way", may not be
a good way to start. You could feel anxious and the learner could
feel confused. It’s an approach to learning; you both have to grow
to understand and feel comfortable with it. While it may be
possible to ‘jump in the deep’ there may be too many unknowns and
too many risks.
Learners learn to
self-manage
The ability to find your own way and end up at a good
destination is mostly a mental skill. In a technical sense we are
teaching what psychologists refer to as metacognition.
Simply speaking, meta cognition is thinking about one’s
thinking. 'Meta' is the Greek word for ‘above’. Our teaching task
is to help learner drivers learn to manage themselves ‘from above’
through the eyes of an assessor, driving instructor, and
parent/supervisor.
In reality, the thought processes that we are encouraging are
not really as simple as that - they merge in the mind in ways we do
not fully understand. The reason for using the concepts of self
assessment, self instruction, and self supervision, is that most
people roughly get what each of these people would have to know and
do - it’s a useful analogy.
Another reason to separate and describe the roles of the
assessor, driving instructor, and parent/supervisor is to make the
required thought development teachable. It’s harder to effectively
teach and test a skill if you cannot name it and explain it.
Delivering the messages
In the keys2drive program, metacognitive skills are
communicated in both obvious and subtle ways and integrated, in
varying degrees, into most of the learning resources. The
keys2drive on-line games are a good example of the subtle
approach. The keys2drive free lesson is more explicit;
during this lesson the driving instructor uses the
keys2drive Road map to explain what it means to
self assess, self instruct and self supervise. The lesson can
include a practical demonstration of these skills being used and
taught. The parents/supervisor’s guide - the primary resource on
the keys2drive site for parents/supervisors - communicates
the messages in its own way, advising support, not control, and to
discuss, not lecture.
If you have any questions about the learning concepts behind
keys2drive, please email them to: learning@keys2drivepilot.com.au