During the Q&A portion of the Training and Licensing Panel at the NTSB Public Forum on Motorcycle Safety held recently in Washington, D.C., Member and Forum Chair Deborah Hersman asked Dr. Ray Ochs, director of training systems, to comment on several subjects surrounding rider safety education and training. One question was in reference to a criticism that perhaps the Basic RiderCourse^SM had been "dumbed down" from the former curriculum.

Dr. Ochs once again provided compelling evidence refuting this claim. However, the time constraints of the panel did not lend itself to a full, well-rounded discussion of the BRC history and development process. Nor did it allow for discussion of the wealth of science and research, contemporary adult learning principles and accepted motor skills principles incorporated into the BRC curriculum as the foundation for its strength.

Dr. Ochs did highlight several of the key support points that clearly demonstrated why the BRC is a vastly improved curriculum, and said in summary, "We've turned the brightness up, and we have all kinds of evidence to support that." In other words, the BRC curriculum is a much smarter approach.

At the end of the panel discussion, Ms. Hersman requested additional rider education and training information from the MSF. To further address this topic, the following report was submitted as an expanded response to the NTSB.

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic RiderCourse:
More Contemporary, More Effective - Far From Dumbed Down

Teaching People to Ride Is
As Much About Students as About Motorcycles

A boy brags he taught his dog to speak on command. His friend asks him to prove it, but the dog does nothing. The boy says: "Well, I taught the dog, but that doesn't mean he learned it."

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation released its new learn-to-ride curriculum, called the Basic RiderCourse (BRC) in 2001. With over three and one-half years of development and testing, the BRC was designed as, and has proven to be, a modern and effective learn-to-ride program and a significant improvement over prior curricula.

As a not-for-profit organization funded by the leading motorcycle manufacturers, the MSF invested heavily in pulling together a strong development team to provide its instructors, state program administrators and delivery partners the most effective training and education program possible.

As the only nationally recognized curriculum developer, the MSF had not only a responsibility to its member companies and their customers to create a safety training program that provided the knowledge and skill for all motorcyclists to get started in motorcycling, but one that also met the needs and interests of training program providers. All efforts focused on taking care of the training and safety needs of the rider, whether he or she was a current or prospective motorcyclist.

As MSF rolled out the new program via 10 national learning centers over a three-year period, responses were very favorable and many states quickly implemented the new course. Building on the strengths of previous curricula, considering the input from all stakeholders, and delving into modern theories and practices for quality training and education, the MSF introduced a curriculum that empowered training providers to educate riders for a lifetime of motorcycling enjoyment.

A Contemporary Approach to Rider Education and Training

What were the driving forces behind the new, more modern curriculum? Key factors in the new rider training approach include:

• The overall goal was to create the most powerful learning environment that accommodated how people learn and how learning best transfers to behavior after the course is completed
• The greatest shift had to do with changing methodology from instructor-centered to learner-centered, where students assume an active role in the learning process
• A wealth of science went into the design and development of the new MSF curricula. Current research has provided - and MSF was able to adopt - an array of new methods for accelerating people's learning and getting the learning experiences to transfer to the real world - the street
• Gone is the old-style "rats-in-a-maze" approach, which is characterized by reward and punishment. The BRC incorporated is learner-centered facilitation, which honors the latest research findings in learning
• The learning environment in the BRC is characterized by high challenge and low threat, which means the student is engaged and learns more than mere surface knowledge; and learning occurs in a context of relaxed alertness, which means student motivation is intrinsic and there exists a non-stressful environment
• Instruction should not get in the way of learning - now it's not so much about consistency of process as it is about quality of results
• When it comes to motorcycle safety instruction, teaching people to ride is as much about people as it is about motorcycles, and simply developing skills is not enough. The more modern approach is to acknowledge that it's better to have adequate skills with excellent judgment and self-control, than to have excellent skills and questionable judgment in managing risk

What made the new BRC smarter?

• Incorporating the principles of adult learning, brain-based learning and accelerated learning
• Consideration of the principles of motor skill development
• Employing strategies that have students take responsibility for their own learning
• Strengthening risk awareness, risk acceptance and risk management strategies
• Trusting the judgment of well-trained and well-intentioned, enthusiastic RiderCoaches by giving them the freedom to adjust methods to ensure student success
• Employing methods that accommodate styles of learning that are auditory, visual, and kinesthetic
• Ensuring that results transcend surface learning and go deeper into the psyche of riders
• Establishing a shared learning environment where students come together and help each other become the best riders they can be
• Creating a solid template that allows RiderCoaches to meet the needs of a variety of students in an ever-changing instructional environment (no one class of participants is exactly the same as another)
• Providing a strong basic structure that allows local flexibility
• Placing more emphasis on basic motorcycle control
• Adding exercises that provide a deeper understanding of countersteering
• Adding exercises to stress cornering and collision-avoidance capabilities
• Reducing the total number of exercises to maximize riding time per exercise
• Reducing the idle time so the quality of miles ridden is enhanced

There were a few who thought the new program was less rigorous, appearing to be a "watered-down" version of the old. Surface level comparison provided some distinctions: in the new BRC, the RiderCoach Guide had fewer pages; there was less scripting; there was less stand-and-deliver lecturing; students in the classroom were led in small group discovery activities; superfluous content was removed from the student materials; the range had simplified exercise paths of travel; riders weren't told what to do at every opportunity; riders were given plenty of opportunities to process their own feedback; coaching was more about being "the guide on the side" than "the sage on the stage"; there was a title change from Instructor to RiderCoach. But those with a discriminating eye, who focused on student learning and development for a lifetime of success, saw these changes as profound improvements.

Learner-Centered Methodology

The greatest shift had to do with changing methodology from instructor-centered to learner-centered, where students assume an active role in the learning process. Instead of focusing on the connection between the instructor and the content, methods were introduced to connect the students with the content. Expertise of the instructor was just as important, but now it was important to focus on student learning instead of instructor delivery.

Educational research has clearly demonstrated that information conveyed in a learner-centered, participatory environment, one that includes active involvement (versus an instructor-centered, lecture-styled one) supports better learning and retention of relevant concepts and information.

It was important for MSF to show that the successes during field-testing were indeed being accomplished in actual practice. In 2005, MSF completed a survey of all RiderCoaches, and asked curricula-comparison questions of those who had experience in teaching both the former curriculum and the new BRC. Although participation was voluntary, the return rate was an extremely high 43 percent.

Results from a study involving more than 2,000 professional trainers who taught both the former course (as "Instructors") and the current course (as "RiderCoaches") clearly validated the improvement brought about by the BRC. These results showed:

• RiderCoaches overwhelmingly enjoyed the new curriculum - 87% of RiderCoaches reported being more satisfied or having the same level of satisfaction
• On the range, students gained control of the motorcycle sooner - 62% of the respondents believed that students gain control of the motorcycle earlier in the new curriculum
• The number of incidents was significantly reduced - overall, 90% of the sample said there were fewer or the same number of incidents in the BRC
• The severity of incidents was reduced - over one-half of respondents saw no difference in the severity of injuries between the two programs, but more importantly, almost 40% believed that the new BRC program results in less severe injuries
• Student stress was reduced - 67% reported that the new curriculum and coaching methods are less stressful to participants
• An overwhelming number of RiderCoaches believe that the riders are being better prepared to take their range experience out onto the street - 82% said students achieve the same or better levels of skill in being prepared to enter the real world of street motorcycling

Additionally, RiderCoaches have reported that the more they taught the Basic RiderCourse, the better they liked it. Student surveys also showed extremely positive ratings after participating in the BRC. The following responses on the student satisfaction survey all received a 91% quality rating or higher:

• Felt respected by RiderCoach
• Felt encouraged by RiderCoach
• RiderCoach prepared sufficiently
• RiderCoach communicated effectively
• RiderCoach showed concern for participant safety
• Range instruction was clear
• Classroom enhanced my learning
• Given opportunity to participate in discussion
• Would recommend course to others
• Participants believe he/she will be a safer rider

What had happened is that since 1986, when the previous curriculum was introduced, modern research and science from numerous applicable fields has provided - and MSF was able to adopt - a wealth of new methods for accelerating people's learning and getting the learning experiences to transfer to the real world - the street. Many of the adult learning principles, brain-based learning concepts, accelerated learning processes, and creative training techniques were not known when the former curriculum was introduced.

Modern Teaching Approach

Current research shows the value of active learner processing in a learner-centered format. MSF knew that the "whats" of learning to ride were basically the same (a standard motorcycle is still a single-track, two-wheeled vehicle with six primary controls), but there is much more knowledge now about better "hows" that maximize student learning.

In earlier days it seemed it was best to have learners in a passive role, being preached to by an eloquent teacher; today we know it's best to get the students involved in their own learning, where the teacher becomes a facilitator or manager of learning. Whereas traditional learning was rigid, somber, controlled and time-based, accelerated learning was flexible, joyful, collaborative and multi-sensory.

The old system assumed instructors either couldn't figure out what they needed to say, or didn't want to. So, a rigid, mostly scripted instructor guide was developed. The problem was that this limited participant learning, as instructors couldn't vary their methods in the name of having a consistent process.

The new system assumes RiderCoaches are experts in the content (after all, they are motorcycle enthusiasts and have successfully completed a rigorous RiderCoach Preparation Course), and would benefit from the freedom to vary the basic lesson plan to meet student needs. However, far from having students do whatever they want, there are clearly stated objectives and standards, as well as the core lesson plan to follow. Now, it's not so much about consistency of process as it is about quality of results.

RiderCoaches have the responsibility to make continuous assessments of each student's skills and performance, and tailor their coaching accordingly to provide the best opportunity possible for a class participant to acquire the knowledge, attitude and skill sets needed to learn how to ride safely.

Teaching people to ride is as much about people as it is about motorcycles. It's important that those who facilitate the learning understand their own perspectives and motivations as well as those of the students. This means RiderCoaches need to "get behind the eyes of the students" to sense what they need.

The way the new curriculum addresses this is to use learner-centered coaching methods; that is, use methods that connect the students with the material, getting them involved in their own learning, and helping them understand content with which they may be struggling. The best teacher should be the person in the mirror. And learning shouldn't stop after the course is over.

Learning research has shown that the coaching style introduced with the BRC is much more conducive to learning than the old instructor mode of teaching. Many educational institutions outside the field of motorcycle safety education and training have been incorporating this approach into their learning environments.

Managing Risk

The more modern approach is to acknowledge that it's better to have adequate skills with excellent judgment and self-control, than to have excellent skills and questionable judgment in managing risk. It's best, of course, for a rider to possess excellent skills and excellent judgment, and that's why safety renewal (i.e. continuing one's lifelong learning process by taking advantage of rider education and training opportunities) is so important. Physical skills and mental strategies need to be refreshed, as they tend to diminish or be forgotten over time.

When it comes to motorcycle safety instruction, simply developing skills is not enough. Riding is a mental, physical and social task: mental because it requires processing information and making decisions; physical because it requires specialized, well-timed and well-coordinated skills; social because decisions in traffic must be based on sharing the roadways effectively with others.

A central thread of safety that runs through the curriculum is related to five core questions and answers:

High Challenge, Low Threat

The learning environment in the BRC is characterized by high challenge and low threat, and learning occurs in a context of relaxed alertness, a situation that arises when a student is motivated in a non-stressful environment - proven to enhance learning. A few critics suggest that this environment, in which students are more relaxed, less stressed, learn vital skills earlier and have fewer crashes during training, is evidence the new curriculum is less rigorous. Indeed, to the uneducated eye, especially one that focuses on what the instructor does instead of what the students are doing, the teaching-learning dynamic in the new curriculum may appear on the surface to be too simplistic.

For instance, imagine two training sequences. One has a novice rider practicing sharp, tight turns with an instructor barking out scripted commands each time the student approaches. The other shows a novice rider practicing sharp, tight turns with the instructor sometimes giving a thumbs-up signal, sometimes encouraging the student to make an adjustment to technique, and often saying nothing. Which scenario would be considered the best approach?

Old-school evaluators would like the first scenario and likely consider the second as inferior. Those familiar with more effective teacher-learner dynamics and motor skill development principles would choose the latter as the better approach. Indeed, it's the latter that produces more than just surface level learning. The students are engaged and responsible, and there's a greater likelihood that important concepts and content will be retained and applied after the course is over. It's important not to focus on teacher performance, but rather on the quality of learning and its results. Instruction should not get in the way of learning.

We've frequently used the term "adult learning" in relation to the BRC. Adult learning means that instruction should acknowledge the past experience of the students and honor their tendency toward self-direction. Adults like problem-solving situations and learning environments where their dignity is honored and respect is shown. An intensive motorcycle instruction course is no place for treating adults like second graders.

Using Contemporary Research and Practice

There was a lot of science and research that went into the design and development of the new MSF curricula. The BRC was scientifically designed to ensure artful, meaningful instruction.

What was learned from studying contemporary, professional research examining safety and risk management? It was discovered that:

• Crashes are rarely caused by a single factor, but rather by a combination of factors
• Crashes mostly result not from operators not knowing what to do, but rather doing something they know they shouldn't
• Collision reduction requires an accurate self-assessment of skill and ability to manage risk
• The best risk-takers (survivors) were those who weighed consequences then took deliberate and well-thought-out actions
• The primary challenge to reduce risk was applying self-control
• Special emphasis was needed to lower one's threshold of risk if there was to be any assurance that new skills learned didn't transfer into higher risk-taking

(For specific citations and references on safety and risk management, please refer to Select References at the end of this document.)

What was discovered about how people learn? It was found that:

• The factory model of training, which is characterized by a one-size-fits-all assembly-line approach, needed to be discarded for a model of facilitation
• Adults need to learn from a base of their own experiences
• Adults tend to be self-directed as opposed to dependent learners
• The brain learns best in an environment characterized by orchestrated immersion into the material, relaxed alertness, and active involvement
• Emotions play a huge role in motivation, retention and transferability
• Socially constructed learning activities deepen involvement, understanding and retention

(For specific citations and references on how people learn, please refer to Select References at the end of this document.)

What was learned about how people develop motor skills? It was observed that:

• Demonstrations and practice time are important
• Information feedback (perceptual, decisional, and motor) is critical for learning and development
• Accuracy of skill is more important than speed during initial learning
• Gross motor skills must be attended to first, followed by finer motor skills
• Over-verbalization gets in the way of student learning
• Skills develop better with exercises that provide random and varied practice
• Exercises can be developed to provide for natural development as opposed to forced learning

(For a specific citation and references on how people develop motor skills, please refer to the Select References section at the end of this document.)

Recent findings have confirmed the wisdom behind the BRC's design, especially as it relates to transferring the classroom lessons and range skills to the real world of the street. For instance, in 2002, the National Science Foundation conducted a workshop titled "Transfer of Learning: Issues and Research Agenda." Regarding transfer of learning, workshop participants who looked at teaching-learning processes noted the following:

• Rote learning does not tend to facilitate transfer, but learning with understanding does
• Attempting to cover too many topics too quickly may hamper transfer
• It's better for students to generate their own answers (even if incorrect but correctable by a facilitator) than to simply tell students a correct answer
• Active inquiry enhances transfer
• Effective learning means to be aware of, and in control of, one's own learning

Meaningful Learning and Continual Improvement

The more clearly one understands the underpinnings of the BRC, the more obvious it becomes how powerful the curriculum is in meeting learning objectives and student needs.

RiderCoaches who didn't have the opportunity to teach the former curriculum, as well as those who did, can have the confidence that they are producing better results than ever before, and they can be assured that the MSF, in partnership with them and other key stakeholders, will continue to refine and improve its curricula as more effective ways to enhance meaningful learning are discovered.

Select References

Safety and Risk Management

Citations

For a look at contemporary thinking in traffic safety, review Leonard Evan's textbook Traffic Safety, published in 2004 by Science Serving Society. Here's a statement in Chapter 8, Driver Performance: "The evidence above shows that lack of skill contributes to higher crash risk. However, it does not follow that higher and higher levels of skill lead to lower and lower crash risk. Once the basics of driving are mastered and the task has become autonomous, its main characteristics is that it becomes what has been called a self-paced or self-controlled task. The driver chooses the level of difficulty that feels appropriate and comfortable, so that increased skill may translate into, for example, higher speeds."

Another good treatment for looking at the human element in crash prevention countermeasures is the 1995 report by Northport/AAA "Teaching Driver and Traffic Safety Education." It states: "The objective of this stage of practice, neurologically speaking, is to develop by use new functional nerve pathways under the control the cerebellum, the "hindbrain," the neural center specifically patterned to coordinate motor function. To "develop by use" means to "practice"-not merely to perform a coordination once or twice, not merely to be told how to do it, but to practice correctly, as directed, again and again-enough to establish a new pattern of neural pathways."

References

Bever, David L. (1996). Safety: A personal focus, 4th Edition. St. Louis: Mosby.

Evans, Leonard. (2004). Traffic safety. Science Serving Society: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Evans, Leonard. (1991). Traffic safety and the driver. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Forbes, T.W., Editor. (1972). Human factors in highway traffic research. New York: Wiley Interscience.

Ponton, Lynn E. (1997). The romance of risk. New York: Basic Books.

Strasser, Markland K., Aaron, James E. and Bohn, Ralph C. (1981). Fundamentals of safety education, 3rd Edition. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc.

How People Learn

Citations

In How the Brain Learns, Dr. David Sousa states: "As we discover more about how the brain learns, we can devise strategies that can make the teaching-learning process more efficient, effective, and enjoyable."

From Eric Jensen in Brain Based Learning: "The first thing that "brain-based" advocates got from others was indifference… that was followed by ridicule, opposition… now, finally, respect."

Finally, from Malcolm Knowles in The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species: "It is certainly clear by now that learning is an elusive phenomenon…the way people define it greatly influences how they theorize and go about causing it to occur…we'll see how adult-educators are beginning to extricate themselves."

References

Brookfield, Stephen D. (1986). Understanding and facilitating adult learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Caine, Caine and others. (2005). 12 Brain/Mind learning principles in action. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

Caine, Renate N. and Caine, Geoffrey (1991). Making connections: Teaching and the human brain. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Dryden, Gordon and Vos, Jeannette (1999). The learning revolution. Torrance, CA: The Learning Web.

Grow, Gerald O. (1991). Teaching learners to be self-directed, Adult Education Quarterly, 41(3), 125-149.

Jensen, Eric. (1996). Brain-based learning. Del Mar: Turning Point Publishing.

Knowles, Malcolm S. (1990). The adult learner: A neglected species, 4th Edition. Houston: Gulf Publishing Company.

Meier, Dave. (2000). The accelerated learning handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Pike, Robert W. (1994). Creative training techniques handbook: Tips, tactics, and how-to's for delivering effective training, Second Edition. Minneapolis: Lakewood Books.

Rose, Colin and Nicholl, Malcolm. (1997). Accelerated learning for the 21st century. New York, New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

Stolovitch, Harold D. and Keeps, Erica J. (2003). Telling ain't training. American Society for Training and Development.

Zemke, Ron and Zemke, Susan. (1995, June). Adult Learning: What do we know for sure?, Training, 31-40.

How People Develop Motors Skills

Citation

In their most recent textbook Motor Learning and Performance, Schmidt and Wrisberg note: "Our purpose in writing this book is to help you learn more about the fundamental processes underlying the learning and performance of all kinds of movements. You'll discover how humans learn skilled actions and how the principles of motor (movement) performance and learning can be useful in teaching, coaching, rehabilitation, and the testing of performer-friendly equipment and work environments (a field know as ergonomics, or human factors engineering)."

References

Fitts, P.M., and Posner, M.I. (1968). Human performance. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

Proctor, R.W., and Dutta. (1995). Skill acquisition and human performance. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Schmidt, Richard A. and Wrisberg, Craig A. (2004). Motor learning and performance, 3rd Edition. Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics.

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Founded in 1973, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's mission is to make motorcycling safer and more enjoyable by ensuring access to lifelong quality education and training for current and prospective riders, and by advocating a safer riding environment.