However, during this session, on of the young girls brought up that you can now do online PE! WHAT?!?!? I don't know if this is as surprising to you all as it is to me, but how is that possible.
Here is a link to it http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/description.cfm?subject=Physical+Education&course=AEROB45Aerobics
I am shocked... This is just for an aerobics course in PE, there are all kinds of other courses... Golf is one of them. How do you learn how to golf on the internet? And more importantly there is no way someone who is doing it online is participating unless they are already an athlete. This is giving students more of an opportunity to opt out of PE. The levels of participation in physical activity are already significantly low.
Any thoughts?
Allen has mentioned this a couple of time and I still can't believe it!
ReplyDeleteI took Phys ed by distance in high school, but it was only allowed because I was part of a sports team and I had to prove it with training journals, race results, letters from coaches, community work, ect...
Quite frankly I find it offensive that the ministry would allow students to simply "phone in" a phys ed credit. I would be willing to bet there are better assessment systems in place for the other online courses.
I would be interested to look at the online music and art programs, I am sure there are similar concerns?
It is definetly pretty bunk that this is offered, but I don't think that it is an idea that should be scrapped altogether. There are people like Tyler ^^^ who the system worked for, but I know for a fact that many students just use housework as their active time and get zero benefit. There needs to be a way to ensure that online PE is not only meeting the physiological needs of the child, but that it is also being done in a way that gives the student all the benefits of being in a gym class and experiencing the social benefits of sport as well. Right now, I don't think these programs provide that and I have no idea how they could go about offering it.
ReplyDeleteI think they need to start tracking the activity better. Training journals, team schedules, community service letters ect... Measurable artifacts to prove the student is putting in the hours.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think the way tyler did it sounds like it really worked. But the idea that the only way he could do it is because he played on a sports team proves that he was doing the activities, as well as he had to fill out journals and log books.
ReplyDeleteIf that was put in place for students doing online PE then it would benefit the students. First because learning to write a log book for physical activity teaches the student to create their own training schedule, and second because it shows that the students has actually done the activity!
I also think that if the students had to participate in a fitness test where there results were measured they might try harder. Not that they would be graded on their results, but graded on their results as compared to how they started and their log books.
It's here to stay, and it is very real competition for your job!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that the variety of PE that Tyler did is necessarily adequate either. Participating in a sport at a high level can be very beneficial, but at the same time, the student is only learning the skills and tactics associated with that particular sport.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a common misconception that the purpose of physical education is mandatory physical activity. For me, what is perhaps more important is the "education" aspect where we provide students with skills and knowledge.
I agree that this type of pe isnt educating anyone. The goal of pe is to educate students so they will be able to participate in life long activity. I think that it would be interesting to look at how electronics could contribute to this though. What about if we introduced a day were student got to use Wii fit or other types of things like that. Unfortunatly this is what people are considering to be physical activity now days and we as teachers should try and keep up with the times. I personally love the old fashion games that everyone grew up with but can these type of electronic exercises help students to be fit for life? If anyone has played wii fit maybe they can provide some input.
ReplyDeleteHow would you know that they were actually participating if they were taking Golf online? They could just be reading and then for the assignment writing task progressions and not actually performing it. I would like to know how one evaluates this sort of class. For PE, evaluating the technique is very important. And the most important outcome of PE is so that the students become active for life. How do we know that they will become active for life if taking an online class is the requirement? Team building, sport competence, skill execution is important for students to learn in PE classes. I think PE online is outrageous.
ReplyDeleteHey Sanna, I have played wii fit and can tell you that I would not really count it as a physical activity. It's fun to play, and yes I think it's better than traditional video games played sitting on the couch but the activities rarely take longer than 30 seconds and don't exactly get your heart rate elevated. My biggest pet peeve with this game is it's use of BMI (body mass index). It's easy to label an unhealthy person as fit or a fit person as obese with this measure which could be detrimental on both ends of the spectrum.
ReplyDeleteThe new Wii fit plus however does allow you to build your own routines using multiple moves which may be more beneficial but I haven't tried it out yet. There are other games out there though such as EA active or the Biggest Loser game. I don't know much about these but it would be interesting to see if they have better results than Wii fit. Anyone else had a similar experience or tried the Wii fit plus or other fitness video games?
Court, I'm just getting back into the swing of things on the blogging and i was also at the observation with you and found it completely crazy. Our sponsor teacher said that her current school had few students in comparison to other schools in the district with numbers as high as 70 students. Is this an excuse for the school board to save money? Is it because teachers of the past have not engaged or included the students properly creating them to look elsewhere? Or is it giving all students the opportunity to participate in physical activity?
ReplyDeleteOn a completely different note.
This raises a socioeconomic issue. Students that cannot afford activity outside of school because it costs money to do some of these activities are at a disadvantage and are unable to make a choice between online PE and in the classroom. Is this right? Should this be subsidized to allow all students to take online courses?
hey kim i found this on the internet which actually belongs to the blogger. I know its a little outdated but it shows you what they are expecting to get credit for the class.
ReplyDeletehttp://advancedacademics.blogspot.com/2007/04/online-peclasses.html
on a second note i took a online camping class when i was down in the states and i never did any of what they were asking like actually going out and camping, however i did all the assignments and the exams. But back in 2003 it was fairly new, online PE classes.