Road Trip does not force a student to stick to his original travel plans, or to visit any particular set of destinations. Because the student has usually already learned about the location of a city if he has chosen it as a destination, the system does try to distract the student with other possible destinations the student may not even know exist, rather than encouraging him to actually arrive at his intended destination.
Road Trip uses every possible opportunity to advertise new destinations. For example, whenever the student crosses an interstate, a road sign appears announcing the junction. When the road sign appears, the program offers the student an opportunity to find out what destinations he could get to if he turned onto a new road. Similarly, when the student enters a new state, a road sign welcomes him to that state. By clicking on that road sign, the student can find out what things are available to see in that state. In this way, students often are enticed to spend time exploring a state that they originally planned to just travel through. Students often find that traveling (which they may originally have viewed as a mildly unpleasant chore to go through in order to get to a chosen video) is a fun opportunity for exploration.
When the student leaves a state in which he has stopped and watched videos, he is asked to identify where he has been, which videos he saw, and, out of those videos, which ones he most enjoyed. This information, in conjunction with film stills the student can choose from the videos he watches, is used to construct a slide show documenting the student's trip. This part of the program serves three purposes. First, it serves as yet another way to advertise destinations to students - the students advertise to each other. Second, by forcing the student to think back on where he has been, the program helps the student remember where places are. Lastly, students enjoy having a memento of their journey and have fun sharing their slide shows with others.
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