GUTTENBERG, Iowa (AP) - Before Staci Herman slides behind the wheel to begin her driving exam, she must first pull her mask over her face, yank her gloves over her hands and make sure she has signed a waiver verifying that she does not have a fever.
Finally, after she has completed every step of the protocol, she can drive.
Recently, students from Clayton Ridge High School in Guttenberg and Central High School in Elkader finished up the online portion and started moving to the driving portion of their 30-hour driver’s education course through Northeast Iowa Community College.
In pre-pandemic days, the students would have had their parents drop them off at school for in-person instruction to complete the first portion of the course. But instead, the teens were able to hop on the class by opening up their laptops, putting on their headphones and connecting to the Zoom video call.
Although it was driving instructor John Hess’ first time teaching the course through Zoom, he made it work.
“They watched the video, and they will go over some notes and can work in groups,” he told the Dubuque Telegraph Herald. “They are at home in their bedroom or living room for the class, but they can grab their phone and chat with their partner for the test.”
Hess said he delivered driving books to all of his students, and during the Zoom class, he reviews each chapter with his students.
“It’s basically like in a classroom,” he said. “A lot of kids are comfortable being at home taking the class.”
Hess said students in Dubuque County also take the class through NICC. He said he planned to teach it in Dubuque later this summer but already is preparing for it to be all online as well.
But right now, students in Dubuque are not able to drive with instructors like Hess due to the social-distancing restrictions that Dubuque County and 21 other counties remain under.
And until they can drive with an instructor, students will not be able to receive their driver’s permits or licenses, he said.
“They do their classroom online, but they have to drive six hours with an instructor,” Hess said. “Right now, they wouldn’t be able to drive with me in Dubuque.”
Darcy Doty, director for driver and identification services at the Iowa Department of Transportation, said students who already completed driver’s education and their six hours with an instructor can go to the DOT website to fill out an application to receive a paper license through the mail.
“For students that are turning 16, if they have a permit, they can request to have their license processed remotely,” she said. “We review that and call the family and make sure they have approved it.”
Although a few glitches popped up during the Zoom driver’s ed class, overall everything went smoothly, Herman said.
“I liked it very much because I was going to be on a very tight schedule to get to Guttenberg with extracurricular activities,” she said. “I think it is very beneficial to people that may struggle in new areas, and they didn’t feel like somebody was watching them the whole time.”
Herman said she is a little bit nervous about the driving portion of the class, but as long as she follows all the safety measures, she thinks it will be all right.
“I think it’s going to be more of a challenge with this whole COVID-19 thing, but as long as we wear the masks and gloves, I don’t think it will be too much of a challenge,” she said.
Like Herman, Brooke Hansel said she was happy that the class was moved online. She lives about 20 minutes away from the campus and said the daily trek would have grown tedious for her parents.
“I have never taken an online class, but I have already planned to take many of my college classes online,” Hansel said. “I got to see some of my friends on Zoom and talk to them about that.”
At West Delaware Community School District, Superintendent Kristen Rickey said students also will sign up to complete a portion of their driving course virtually.
“Our normal driver’s ed teacher will provide instruction as he always does with the same content and standards, but in a virtual setting,” she in an email.
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