Simlog
Bryan High School, located in Bellevue, Nebraska, is part of the Omaha Public Schools (OPS) school district. The school has originated the Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TDL) Academy as a four-year program within the high school for students interested in careers in transportation, distribution or supply-chain management. The program integrates technical instruction with academic content and provides the real-world experience needed to meet career-ready requirements. A partnership with First Book – a non-profit book bank – provides TDL students with industry recognized OSHA and forklift operator certifications.
In 2014, faced with an increased enrollment number of 120 students, and having only one real forklift, OPS purchased two Forklift Personal Simulators. Each Forklift Simulator station is set up on a desktop PC with a big screen display, speakers, table-top mounted controls, and a Logitech G27 Racing Wheel.
These new additions to the school’s TDL program have had numerous advantages. Because the simulators have a built-in instructional design that teaches real forklift operator skills and best practices for being safe at the controls instructor’s anxiety levels have significantly decreased while the kids’ confidence has increased immensely. The simulators have also allowed the students to self-start, learn at their own pace, and self—manage their training under a tight class schedule. The high school has been able to deliver over 1,000 hours of total simulator-based training to the 120 students, grades 9 – 12, throughout the school year and has resulted in the first senior class of 10 students to graduate from the new operator training curriculum with OSHA forklift certification.
