Driver’s education is currently taught by Bill Wodarski via Google Meet. The virtual class lasts an hour and a half each day for twelve days. Additionally, an hour of work is assigned per day. Students are required to have their cameras on during the Google Meet to enforce the state’s mandate that students must take 30 hours of class instruction before taking the permit test. To take the permit test, students make an appointment at a DMV.

Junior Sylvia Leppik said she was grateful that she could take driver’s education during a pandemic.

“I like the fact that they’re still holding driver’s education, even though we can’t be in person,” Leppik said. “I applied myself and I didn’t lose any knowledge that I might have otherwise had if I’d taken the class in person.”

Health teacher Allison Luskey has been teaching driver’s education at Park for 17 years. She taught it online in the summer of 2020. She said that teaching the course online taught her new skills and increased student attendance.

“There are some benefits to it…I use Pear Deck and I use Google Forms for daily quizzes. So, that really helped me to learn some new skills,” Luskey said. “Attendance has been a non-issue because students are able to log in from home where they feel comfortable.”

According to freshman Greta Gabel, the course prepared her well for her knowledge test because the instructors offered study materials.

“They do give you resources to study and practice. There were videos to watch and we did study guides,” Gabel said.

According to Luskey, efficient time management and asking for help from the instructors are good tools for students who take driver’s education online.

“Time management is really essential because you do get work every day…Have a plan for when you’re going to get the work done and build that routine into your day,” Luskey said.

“Talk to your teachers. We want to help you… If you need to meet one-on-one, we’ll do that.”

Leppik said that she had a good experience overall, but there were obstacles to her success such as technical difficulties and lack of motivation.

“It’s more difficult to do things over Zoom because there’s always the temptation to not do work, as well as technical difficulties,” Leppik said. “It’s just plain harder to learn through a computer screen.”

Driver’s education will most likely be online for the remainder of the school year, but is expected to be in-person in June and July of 2021.