On Thursday, Texas-based Aceable launched a mobile app that will allow driver’s education students to opt out of sitting in a classroom to fulfill their 24-hour instruction requirement to take the exam for their Ohio license.
“Research shows that teens spend at least 3½ hours a day on mobile apps. We’re just meeting them where they’re already spending their time,” said Blake Garrett, CEO of Aceable. “Most drivers’ ed curriculums are 15 to 20 years old. We wanted to create an experience where teens are engaged by giving them fresh content, written in story form, that appeals to them. No screen has more than 500 characters, to prevent cognitive overload.”
Aceable, a mobile education software company that created the first state-approved drivers education mobile app in Texas, is among nine companies approved to provide online instruction to beginning drivers, said China Dodley, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
Aceable’s mobile app, which works on iOS and Android, allows students to continue their online instruction or complete course work on mobile devices when and where they want. The app and online course also includes a parent portal where parents can track their teen’s progress.
The Austin-Texas based company recently raised $4.7 million in seed money as part of its growth strategy to offer driver education in all states that allow online course work by the end of the year. The company is currently operating in Texas, Florida, California, Illinois and Ohio.
New Ohio drivers younger than 18 must complete in-class and in-car instruction before taking the exam to get their license.
The state of Ohio began allowing online driver education courses in 2014.
Some states, like New York and Massachusetts, don’t accept online or mobile driver education courses. Students who complete the Aceable course, which costs $99 in Ohio, still have to complete their behind-the-wheel or in-vehicle requirement (eight hours with an instructor and 50 hours with a parent or guardian) before taking their driving test with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Garrett, 32, said the goal is to partner with Ohio driving schools in the future for the in-vehicle instruction.
The online courses are self-led and students move through them at their own pace. State law, however, requires that students have access to an online instructor. Online courses are required to last a minimum of 24 hours — the same time mandated for traditional classroom instruction.
Also like other classroom and online courses, Aceable issues students a physical certification of completion that they can take to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to complete their written test for their license. Since its launch in May 2014, the company has signed up more than 100,000 users and only has anecdotal feedback that touts its success, Garrett said.
Despite the company’s mission to provide a course that speaks the language of teens, using memes, photos and videos to keep their attention, Tom Deighan, co-owner of Tallmadge-based Top Driver Driving School, isn’t convinced that a mobile app — or even an online course, which his company offers — is the best way to teach driver’s education.
“The online courses give kids more room to procrastinate. When you go to a brick-and-mortar course, you typically have classroom instruction for x hours each day Monday through Thursday for x weeks and you complete the entire 24-hour module before getting behind the wheel with an instructor,” Deighan said. “Online students may only complete part of their online instruction before scheduling their in-vehicle instruction and go back to their online instruction after, making the brick-and-mortar classroom a safer alternative.”
Top Driver offers driver education throughout Ohio, including at high schools.
Deighan said although he is not a fan of the online instruction, his driving school offers a bundle that includes online instruction and in-vehicle instruction for $399. The traditional classroom and in-vehicle instruction is $339. Behind-the-wheel training only is $300.
“We offer the online course to be competitive in the market, but I’m old school and I don’t think kids get as much from the online course as the brick-and-mortar class because they miss out on the social interaction in the classroom,” Deighan said. “I understand that kids are busy and parents are busy and the online version might fit into their schedules better, but I recommend the traditional classroom.”
Top Driver enrolls about 8,500 students annually. Deighan expects the number of students who opt for online classes to double this year to 30 percent from 2014, when 15 percent of the school’s students chose the Web.
©2016 the Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.