Teaching Tips
Using Video Support in the Classroom

The use of video in a presentation can be important. Video allows instructors to show a demonstration of a concept and also capture events that are relevant to the subject matter. If video is used in a presentation, some objectives to keep in mind include:

• Students should see the video as relevant to the lesson
• Don’t lose the students once the lights go out
• Give students clues on what to look for
• Stop for discussion

The use of video is not a time for the instructor to take a break. As with any part of the lesson, instructors must constantly monitor their students to be sure they have a clear understanding of what is being communicated. This can be done by pausing the video at appropriate times and asking open-ended questions related to the content.

Instructors are constantly searching for appropriate videos to use in the classroom. The AAA Teaching Your Teen to Drive DVD can serve as a viable instructional tool when properly incorporated into the classroom learning experience. Although initially developed as a teaching tool to assist parents, the thirteen-lesson video has been approved as support for many novice curriculums nationwide.The DVD gives instructors a visual tool to enhance the classroom theory instruction. Information demonstrating specific driving maneuvers and reduced risk driving include:

• Developing basic vehicle control
• Maneuvering in light and moderate traffic
• Visual perception
• Space management
• Managing high risk driving conditions

The Teaching Your Teens to Drive package incorporates a handbook containing a Lesson Checklist for students and instructors to fill out and review after each lesson.  Instructors often use this checklist when debriefing parents/mentors/guardians on the progress of the student driver. Teaching Your Teens to Drive is available for purchase online at AAAFoundation.org/TYTTDZED or by calling (800) 305-7233.

Some instructors have found AAA's Licensed To Learn and Driver Improvement Program videos to be useful in the classroom as well. Check out AAA.biz/trafficsafety for more information on these video resources.

Find Your Match – Icebreaker/Session Opener

Goal:  Give students an opportunity to communicate with each other in a fun and relaxed setting.

Items needed:

• 30 - 3 X 5" cards
• 30 - Small envelopes
• 1 - Marker
• 30 - Words that go together (example: Bacon/Eggs; Hot/Cold)

Instructor Prep: (20 minutes)

1. Preselect 15 sets of words that have something in common
2. Write down one of the pre-selected words on each 3 X 5" card
3. Example: Bacon on one card and eggs on the other card
4. Place each individual card into an envelope - do not seal the envelope

Delivery: (5 to 6 minutes)

1. At the start of class, shuffle the envelopes and have each student pick one envelope.
2. Give the students four minutes to find the person who is holding the corresponding card and introduce themselves to each other. Each student is to share:
   • His/her name
   • Why he/she is in the class
   • What he/she expects to learn in the class
   • One activity he/she enjoys and why

* If there is an odd number of students, the instructor can participate to even it out.

 Possible matches to use include:

We want to hear from you! Give us your feedback and/or your favorite teaching tip to share, e-mail rchidester@national.aaa.com.

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Safety is undoubtedly still a public concern, but traffic safety always seems to take a backseat when compared with other incidents. Take for example the media attention of the US Airways flight that landed in the Hudson River or the Continental Airlines plane that crashed into a home outside Buffalo, NY. The Buffalo crash resulted in 50 deaths and made national headlines generating lots of dialogue about airline safety. Then when you consider that more than 100 people die on average everyday in automobile crashes and that level of attention for traffic safety is not generated, it seems that automobile related deaths are treated as the price of mobility. 

To discuss America’s current traffic safety culture and create more discussion about the importance of traffic safety issues, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has created a blog (trafficsafetyculture.blogspot.com). With entries by foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger, the AAA Foundation’s blog addresses a host of issues including transportation funding, cell phones, teen drivers, new vehicle technology and general public attitudes toward traffic safety, among other topics.

Join us in our quest to generate dialogue regarding society’s attitude about traffic safety by joining the discussion at trafficsafetyculture.blogspot.com. Also, if you have any suggestions for traffic safety issues or topics you think should be discussed please let us know (info@aaafoundation.org). To learn more about the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, visit AAAFoundation.org.

NHTSA Supports Novice Driver Education Standards

For the last 12 months, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-selected team has been working to create a set of administrative standards for use by states in enhancing novice driver education. The effort is designed to develop a set of standards for use as an anchor for state policies on driver education and training.

Once completed later this year, the standards will be voluntary, and provide guidance in five key areas:

• Program Administration
• Education/Training
• Instructor Qualification
• Parent/Guardian Involvement
• Coordination with Driver Licensing

Significant recommendations envisioned to date include increasing the number of required classroom and behind-the-wheel time, state administrators’ use of a stakeholder panel to inform them on issues, and substantial increases in evaluation. 

While the standards will not encompass every possible area of driver education administration, they are intended to be a starting point. Once the initial standards are released, a core group of specialists, representing both private and public driver education, will guide the evolution of the standards through subsequent revisions.

For more information, click NHTSA.gov.

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Instructor Resources
Teen Safety Collaboration...

In a collaboration effort, AAA Driver Training Programs and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety now offer Teaching Your Teen to Drive® and Driver-ZED® bundled together for $39.95. If purchased individually, both products would cost more than $50.00. The bundled product is offered to high school driver training instructors as well as private driving schools throughout the US.

Driver-ZED is an engaging and innovative DVD that puts teens to the test in highway, city, country, and work zone scenarios before they even get into the driver’s seat of a vehicle. AAA's Teaching Your Teen to Drive program comes complete with an illustrated in-car handbook, and a live-action 60-minute video that parents can use to support supervised driving or that instructors may incorporate into any driver education course.

The bundled product is available for purchase online at AAAFoundation.org/TYTTDZED or call (800) 305-7233.

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Vehicle Technology
Onboard Coaching System Helps Save Fuel

With its new 2010 Insight hybrid, Honda hopes to help drivers use less fuel under all driving conditions. Using unique direct-to-driver feedback systems, the Insight can help shape drivers’ fuel use habits in several ways. First, Eco Assist uses a digital speedometer with different background colors for different fuel use situations:  green for minimal fuel use, blue for excessive fuel use. Drivers can see immediately how they’re doing on fuel consumption.

Second, the Eco Guide system displays instantaneous fuel use through a horizontal bar-graph display, to either side of which are virtual acceleration and braking “goal posts.” By adjusting their acceleration and braking, drivers aim to keep their fuel use within the goals. Drivers are scored at the end of each trip: less fuel used equals more virtual green tree leaves.

Despite the system’s application in a gas-electric hybrid, it has the potential to shape the driving habits of any age driver. There may be safety benefits as well. To score well, drivers must avoid accelerating abruptly, look ahead to minimize speed changes, and apply the brakes smoothly. Note that these are all effective techniques for safe driving as well!

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