Learn to Drive Safely–Leveraging a Virtual World for Immersive Driver’s Ed

There are many creative ways to leverage virtual world platforms from conducting job interviews over a distance to conducting training on critical incidents to machinima to teaching new military recruits.

And here is another useful application. Teaching people how to drive.

If you are like me, you are amazed at how bad a driver everyone else seems to be! (So you all could use this training.)

But on a serious note, my oldest son is just learning to drive and providing him with a realistic models of driving situations with information about proper driving behavior is a good thing and something I want to encourage so he gains knowledge of how to be a good driver as quickly as possible.

Over at Designing Digitally, Andrew Hughes and his team has leveraged the virtual world platform of Second Life to create interactive driver’s education for the state a Vermont. You can check out the video below. What I really like is how they leveraged the 3D modeling capabilities of Second Life to create scenes, employee characters and show car movement. Imagine the expense and effort to do all of that in a 3D modeling package. Very ingenious method of using Second Life for effective modeling of real life behaviors.

Check out more information at the blog posting DriveVermont E-Learning Module Complete.

Or go to the DriveVermont Web site and register for yourself to check it out.