Manitoba Public Insurance has revamped its Class 5 driver education program and tailored it for Generation Z.

The new curriculum, called Driver Z, introduces an online component comprised of 29 activities that students have up to 30 days to complete before their first in-class session.

"We realized that the way kids are learning now is more hands on, it's more online," said Maria Minenna, the manager of driver education and training for MPI. "It's more driven so the student has control of how they want to learn or review, and then coming back into the classroom at least the students now can talk about what they learned with the instructor."

She said basic information, such as road rules, has been transferred to the online program.

In-class sessions have been reduced from 34 to 20 hours, but that's not the only modification being made to the classroom experience.

"Our instructors now are more facilitators: going and facilitating the conversations around the rules of the road and really getting the kids to be more interactive and talking about the issues or particular driving situations, and drawing out what the kids have learned from the online content that they've taken and studied," Minenna said.

When it comes to practical training, required practice time with a supervising driver has been increased to 45 hours. Students can also invite up to eight 'co-pilots' who act as accountability partners throughout the duration of the program. Co-pilots are expected to complete six online lessons.

There are now seven--rather than eight--in-car driving lessons. A readiness assessment will instead be conducted approximately seven months after the student's first in-class session, prior to their road test.

Minenna said the hope of the new curriculum is to improve the learning behaviour of students and increase engagement.

"What we're trying to do is move away from students memorizing information; it's more about understanding and the concepts," she said.

The revised curriculum will come into effect this fall.