Article on: Does technology in physical education enhance or increase the time available to engage in physical activity?

(2012) Does technology in physical education enhance or increase the time available to engage in physical activity?, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 83:7, 53-56, DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2012.10598813

Article Summary:

   This article was written by seven different physical education teachers and grad students across the country who give their opinions to show the effect that technology has in the wellness setting to help increase instruction time to engage in physical activity.  The majority opinion was that instruction time would increase with the usage of technology in the classroom. 

     The voiced concern with technology in a physical education classroom was similar to any classroom teacher use of tech tools.  PE classes are typically 30 – 50 minutes only.    With having a limited amount of time in physical education classes, teachers must know the tech equipment.  When teachers waste time learning on the go or trying to make it work on the spot, the lesson loses the positive benefit.  If you don’t feel comfortable in using technology in your teaching then stick to your style!!  Another concern was that students use enough technology throughout the day.  Students need the engaged activities of physical movement.  Physical Education teachers, as engaging, fun educators, need to keep it that way, “FUN”.   Lastly, physical education typically receives a lower budget than most academic programs.  The cost and environment of a gym may reduce the availability of technology for many physical education teachers.

      Those in favor of using technology to enhance physical activity all agreed that technology is just another tool.  Technology added into physical education will have a positive effect on student’s activity levels, self-monitoring, and feedback, as long as, we use simple technology.  Simple technologies are hands on tech tools such as pedometers, hand-held heart rate monitor, IPADs and dance video games.   Simple tools such as pedometers allow students to measure their steps, hand-held heart rate monitor to gauge their workout level, and IPADs to assessed their own skill work.  This educator found when incorporating these tech tools into their classroom they noticed an increase in their student’s activity level.  Students where able to goal set and see results instantly.  Teachers can also use tech tools in ways of showing instructional in a YouTube video such as holding a tennis racket.  It can gain student attention by being a different voice than that of the teacher.  Educators overall goal is to keep the students engaged and moving.  These simple tech tools allow that to happen without taking way the movement time. In the physical education setting teachers see the positive benefit it has on students.  However, this educator wants to make sure students use technology as a supplementary tool but not the end all, be all, in physical education. 

The article also discusses the positive effect it has on the student assessments and collaboration with other colleagues.  As educator’s technology benefits us by the way teachers are doing their assessments on students. One important way is when video taping the whole class doing a skill and not small groups of students.  When teachers focused on small groups of students during an assessment, the rest of the students practicing the skill are losing additional instruction time and student’s quality of practices decreases.  Since there are limited amount of physical education teachers in the same elementary building.  Using technology can help teachers to collaborate with other physical education colleagues to enhance our practice.

Physical education teachers like any teacher must use technology effectively.  If technology is used “to decrease management time, increase the effectiveness of task presentation and increase student motivation” then yes, in the end technology does have a positive impact on increasing student’s activity level.  

Reflection

      When I first started to use technology in my physical education classroom I was nervous that I was losing the purpose of my teaching, which is movement based.  I thought also that the students needed a break from technology.  This article is right; students are more engaged when technology is around them.  When using Dance, Dance Revolution the students are so excited to dance even if they aren’t on the challenging pad.  When I started to use pedometers, I noticed that students had an added motivation to increase their steps.  The end result was that they exercised more! We have four days a week of physical education and one day is movement-based health.  When I first started teaching I would spend time talking about the health lesson and then game that allowed students to move for about 10 minutes at most. I always felt that wasn’t enough movement.  I started showing brain pop videos and other clips to explain the lesson.  However, I quickly found out that you need to have grip on your Internet sources or you will completely lose your students and time would be wasted.  Knowing your technology tools and having backup plans when Internet is down is key to keeping the students engaged.  I never felt that showing skill videos had a negative effect on students.  I felt that it was a good change up. I plan to keep using simple technology in my classroom like app MyGroup where I can move students quickly into teams without wasting too much time, pedometers, QR Codes, and IPads.  Simple tech tools provide instant feedback and are all hands on approaches.  That is why students love to play video games.  After reading this article, it makes a good point on doing whole group video assessments.  That way I don’t miss opportunities to provide on the spot feedback to individual students and keep student at high level of productivity.  Overall, students love technology and are excited to use it.  Why not find an effective way to use tech in your classroom.  I have in the physical education setting and students are still highly engaged and moving more!!!