So, after you've started to wrap your head around online school Physical Education, let's shift to the next big thing...online fitness classes and personal training. What?
You got it. No time to drive to the health club? Just open up your laptop, log-in to your fitness subscription website, pick a class, clear your junk off the floor, and go!
If it still doesn't make sense, here's a commercial clip from Daily Burn--one of the more visible online fitness subscription sites:
Our class on Wednesday will focus on the merits of subscription-based online fitness programs, the pros/cons, opportunities for you career-wise, and challenge you to take a stand on this huge movement to bring fitness to the digital age. For now, pick one of the links below, browse that site, class options, and tell me (or comment) in 3 sentences what you think. Go!
I know you've all seen plenty of commercials for online universities--schools like DeVry, University of Phoenix, Everest, Kaplan, and many others all have a unique class-delivery method (and marketing strategy) of engaging, teaching, and assessing students. Public and nationally accredited institutions (like EMU and most others) are also looking into the future potential of online education options, with the vision that learning does not have to only happen in a traditional brick and mortar environment. Also, with technological advances rolling out faster than we can keep track of, the potential of utilizing popular and cutting edge technology in education seems like a logical way of merging personal use of technology with professional/educational uses.
As online higher education continues to roll forward, evolve, and update, we can't help but notice that online education has naturally made its way into K-12 (specifically secondary) education. You probably went to high school everyday (never cut, of course you were the perfect student) and you went to your actual high school building. You navigated the jungle of the hallway system, survived the lunchroom, and made your way into a classroom with other peers, a teacher, and a set of content that the teacher rolled out through lessons, activities, and assessments. But now think of high school like this: you wake up, roll out of bed, get your tablet booted up, and check your online course's module or daily update. You watch your teacher teach via webcast and all of your quizzes are online. You submit a paper, but you don't print it out--you upload it. You interact with your classmates through forum-based chats and teleconferencing. There's no hallway jungle, no fear of getting caught in a food fight, and no hard desk seat (unless your home is equipped with one-armed school desks).
Sounds brilliant, right? But what about classes like music where you play or sing with other people, in person/together? Or, even closer to home, what about Physical Education--how to do run, or work on game play as a team, or develop muscular endurance online? At least you could shower in the privacy of your own home, but what would a Physical Education "class" actually be like when you're alone at your laptop?
The next two weeks of PHED 370 will be directed around exploring the good, the not-so-good, and the potential of online Physical Education and online fitness programming. Get ready to think outside the gym and outside of your comfort zone.
First, watch this short video: Today's Active Digital Learner
Next check out some examples of what is available currently for online Physical Education in a district in Minnesota. Check this out and think about what it could be like as a student in this kind of a Physical Education class and what it would be like to teach Physical Education this way.
Florida has one of the most comprehensive online K-12 educational structures as a part of the public education system. Check out the links to see Florida Virtual Schools' online platform and course options:
So, now it's your turn: in your blog comment (or comment to others' posts), explain what do you think is a point of huge potential in the Minnesota, Florida, and Michigan examples. Why should online Physical Education be an option and why should it stay?
Should teacher education programs start to focus more on how to incorporate online teaching strategies along with traditional face-to-face teaching strategies? Think about the very first video you watched...that IS one of your future students!
And finally, comment on what needs to be addressed and included before we really emphasize the future of Physical Education as an online option?
Feel free to comment more than once to address each topic of your discussion.
By now, you all are stepping away like there's no tomorrow with your pedometers. One step at a time to a healthier life, right? However, as we discussed in class, a long step is measured no differently than a short step. A fast step is no different than a slow step. A muscle-firing low lunge step is no different than a casual stride. What is missing in this nice and simple measurement of physical activity? INTENSITY!
Here's what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has to say about ways to measure exercise intensity for the general population: http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/measuring/index.html
You may (or may not) have heard about the Borg Scale Rating of Perceived Exertion (Borg, 1982) and its counterpart, the Modified Borg Scale Rating of Perceived Exertion. This scale has been used for the past 31 years in research, teaching, and physical activity training sessions as a way for clients, patients, and students to express the level of perceived intensity/work/exertion (aka: how much do you "feel the burn")!?
While the Borg RPE scale has many pros (no cost to use it, most people get the idea of a 1-10 rating scale), the big drawback is clearly the variance of the units from one person to another. Even with the color-coding and description, what one person might feel as a 7 may look like a 2 to a teacher or trainer. And conversely, if a trainer says a pace should feel like a 3, the client may not understand his or her body's limits or potential and really be working much harder than they should be.
Before our Wednesday class, I challenge each of you to do a bout of physical activity or exercise and at 3 different points in that bout, note what you are doing and how you perceive your intensity. (See EMU-Online for specifics on this part of the online assignment). In your comments below, share what you did and your points of noting your exertion. Discuss what potential challenges that you could see in using this scale and the issue of variance in the ratings.
Slighly before Borg published his research on the RPE Scale, Polar Electro developed the first wireless heart rate monitor (circa 1977). Since then, wireless heart rate monitoring has been used by athletes, students, and everyday people to add another layer to the objectivity of physical activity intensity. Our lab this week and class on Monday, 10/7 will be devoted to understanding the basics of how a heart rate monitor works and the benefits/challenges of its usage in a school Physical Education and general PA setting.
Check out the linked (below) insights, options, methods that are out there now in our current society heart rate monitors. Please view and read what is here and think critically on the videos and articles. Comment a second time on your thoughts to the following questions after you checked out the linked information. Please mention the specific video/article you're referencing or if you have another video/article present in the common stream of consumer information to share, copy and paste that link in your posting. a) What do you believe about the accuracy of information presented about HRM available to mainstream society as indicated with this brief array of common examples?
b) How does where are these videos/articles are sourced from impact the message shared?
c) As a PA professional, how do you think you'd help students, athletes, or your client decipher how to apply HRM in their life despite all of the (sometimes conflicting) information available online or in mainstream society?
