Bus Drivers Are Honing Their Skills with E-Learning
By Paul Harris

It’s easy to garner accolades about e-learning from members of the workforce who are familiar with computers. But what about those who aren’t? How successful is online or CD-ROM learning for workers who aren’t especially computer literate, and how can you overcome their natural resistance to it?

Answer: If the courses are created appropriately, and if the content is applicable and accessible, online learning can be a rousing success for the student and the training organization.

Just ask Dave Bolen, president of New World Tours, a northern Virginia commercial bus company. New World has been training its 60 full- and part-time drivers in safety and security issues, using courses created from OutStart’s Trainersoft interactive courseware by SPS Enterprises, a Houston-based provider of training solutions for transportation professionals. Bolen reports that the company’s 18-month experience with computer-based training has been a complete success. “We would never go back to books and video tape,” he says.

Bolen says resistance to e-learning by professional bus drivers is predictably divided along generational lines. But once individuals have experienced the drag-and-drop simplicity of the courseware, resistance invariably disappears, he claims. Younger drivers and new entrants always accept the technology, says Bolen.

The perspective is shared by Peter van Beek, president of SPS Enterprises. Van Beek says it didn’t take him long to become a convert of e-learning technology, even for a class of learners largely unfamiliar with computers. “Once this target audience sits down, looks at the screen and moves the mouse, they learn that all they have to do is click and type in their name,” he says.

Indeed, 21 years as a safety trainer provides one with a certain perspective. Blackboards and chalk defined the early years for SPS Enterprises, followed by slides, projectors, and VHS. Despite each advance in technology, one constant remained, says van Beek: resistance to change. So it has been with e-learning. “I spend more time talking to trucking companies about how they can use e-learning technology than I do selling them on the courseware,” he says.

Fortunately, the product speaks for itself. Simple and convenient for the learner to use, courseware on Trainersoft is a winner on all fronts, says van Beek. For starters, it lowers training costs for the usual reasons. Transportation companies are also appreciating e-learning’s well-known ability to document every learning experience, enabling them to demonstrate compliance with safety and other regulations. SPS Enterprises now wins awards for its content and basks in the glow of satisfied customers. “We have never received a set of programs back for a refund for any reason,” says van Beek proudly.

The training company’s online or CD-ROM-based training modules last from 18 minutes to one and one-half hours. Its professional bus driver series includes numerous safety and security modules, including compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The safety courses teach drivers about pre- and post-trip vehicle inspections, proper space management, passing and lane changing, how to minimize the need to back up, and how to improve awareness of pedestrians, among other topics.

Among the courses is Operation Secure Transport, a primer on terrorism prevention for bus drivers that was created by SPS under a grant from the Transportation Security Administration. Delivered online to more than 38,000 inner-city bus drivers, it is the first of its kind. It is available for free to bus and motor coach companies, and will soon be available in Spanish.

The 80-minute course teaches commercial drivers how to avoid becoming targets of terrorism or other security incidents. They learn how to recognize suspicious situations and credible threats, and how to respond to incidents such as robbery, hijacking and potential exposure to chemical, biological or radioactive agents. “We feel very privileged to provide this critical security information at this time,” says van Beek, whose company expects to see a 400 percent revenue growth this year. Its customers include Coach USA, Blue Rhino, ALLIED Waste, and Lockton Insurance Brokers.

According to Ellen Brezniak, OutStart’s vice president of marketing, it’s the ease of use that makes Trainersoft such a versatile desktop authoring tool. Novice users can utilize intuitive wizards, professional templates, and hundreds of styles to get their courses online and running quickly. An array of robust tools and components offers experienced users flexibility and control to build dynamic e-learning programs.

Brezniak says a forthcoming upgrade will enable greater compatibility between Trainersoft and Evolution, OutStart’s more sophisticated learning application. It will enable the importation of learning objects created within Evolution and by Thomson Corporation’s NETg, which has recently partnered with OutStart to create, customize, and deliver e-learning.

At New World Tours, the Trainersoft-based training regimen is embellished with the General Electric’s “TransSim” transmission simulator that adds a valuable tactile experience to the e-learning courseware. With a student sitting behind a wheel in front of a flat screen monitor, the device simulates actual roadway incidents, such as front wheel blowouts, hitting animals, or other obstacles in the vehicle’s path. New World uses a home grown PowerPoint presentation for the custom training material related to the simulator, says Bolen.

The simulator is a very popular learning tool, says Bolen, who thinks professional drivers are more technologically savvy than most people give them credit for. Truck drivers, after all, have always led the curve on mobile communications technologies, he notes. They were also among the first to adopt the use of Blackberries, he contends.

In total, the computerized learning technologies offer three distinct benefits, says Bolen. Drivers enjoy the learning experience, especially the immediate satisfaction of earning a certificate upon successful completion. For the company, it means covering more topics more cheaply than before, a major saving of time and money. Lastly, it produces irrefutable records of courses completed.

The last two benefits provide a dimension that is fully appreciated by commercial bus and truck companies. Says Bolen: “In the event of an accident, the driver involved can quickly be brought in to receive remedial safety training on the specific subject, and receive a new certificate of completion as required by the National Transportation Safety Board.”