Beyond E-Learning: Approaches and Technologies to Enhance Organizational Knowledge, Learning, and Performance [Marc J. Rosenberg] on leondumoulin.nl
Table of contents
MIT , Stanford and Princeton University offer classes to a global audience, but not for college credit. MOOCs have not had a significant impact on higher education and declined after the initial expansion, but are expected to remain in some form. Companies with spread out distribution chains use e-learning for staff training and development and to bring customers information about the latest product developments. Continuing professional development CPD can deliver regulatory compliance updates and staff development of valuable workplace skills. For effectiveness and competitive learning performance, scoring systems are designed to give live feedback on decision-making in complex mobile learning scenarios.
There is an important need for recent, reliable, and high-quality health information to be made available to the public as well as in summarized form for public health providers. Another application in public health is the development of mHealth use of mobile telecommunication and multimedia into global public health. MHealth has been used to promote prenatal and newborn services, with positive outcomes. In addition, "Health systems have implemented mHealth programs to facilitate emergency medical responses, point-of-care support, health promotion and data collection.
There has also been a growing interest in e-learning as a beneficial educational method for students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD.
With the growing popularity in e-learning among K and higher education, the opportunity to take online classes is becoming increasingly important for students of all ages. This is especially significant considering the dramatic rise in ADHD diagnoses in the last decade among both children and adults. Some examples of the resources that may help interest students and adults with ADHD consist of, computer software, brain games, timers, calendars, voice recognition devices, screen magnifiers, and talking books. Wolf lists 12 executive function skills necessary for students to succeed in postsecondary education: Some have noted that current e-learning models are moving towards applying a constructivism learning theory [] that emphasizes a learner-centered environment [] and postulates that everyone has the ability to construct their own knowledge and meaning through a process of problem solving and discovery.
Despite the limitations, students with special needs, including ADHD, have expressed an overall enthusiasm for e-learning and have identified a number e-learning benefits, including: The design of e-learning platforms in ways that enable universal access has received attention from several directions, including the World Wide Web Consortium 's Web Accessibility Initiative WAI. WAI provides universal formatting standards for websites so they can remain accessible to people with disabilities.
Educational technology
For example, developing or adopting e-learning material can enable accessibility for people with visual impairment. Online education may appear to be a promising alternative for students with physical and sensory disabilities because they get to work at their own pace and in their own home. However, not all online programs are equal when it comes to their resources for students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who wish to enroll in online education must either be able to advocate for themselves and their own rights or have a person who is willing to advocate for them.
The American with Disabilities Act states that online programs must provide appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities, but has not specifically defined what that means. Educational technology, particularly in online learning environments, can allow students to use real identity, pseudonym, or anonymous identity during classroom communication. Advantages in anonymizing race, age, and gender are increased student participation [] and increased cross-cultural communication.
Effective technology use deploys multiple evidence-based strategies concurrently e. Modern educational technology can improve access to education, including full degree programs. Using online resources can help students spend more time on specific aspects of what they may be learning in school, but at home. Schools like MIT have made certain course materials free online. The necessity to pay for transport to the educational facility is removed. Students appreciate the convenience of e-learning, but report greater engagement in face-to-face learning environments.
According to James Kulik, who studies the effectiveness of computers used for instruction, students usually learn more in less time when receiving computer-based instruction and they like classes more and develop more positive attitudes toward computers in computer-based classes. Students can independently solve problems. Students editing their written work on word processors improve the quality of their writing. According to some studies, the students are better at critiquing and editing written work that is exchanged over a computer network with students they know.
Employers' acceptance of online education has risen over time. Seventy-nine percent said they had employed a candidate with an online degree in the past 12 months. The use of educational apps generally has positive effect on learning. Pre- and post- tests reveal that the use of apps on mobile devices reduces the achievement gap between struggling and average students.
The benefits of app-assisted learning have been exhibited in all age groups. Kindergarten students that use iPads show much higher rates of literacy than non-users. Many US states spend large sums of money on technology. However, as of [update] , none were looking at technology return on investment ROI to connect expenditures on technology with improved student outcomes. New technologies are frequently accompanied by unrealistic hype and promise regarding their transformative power to change education for the better or in allowing better educational opportunities to reach the masses.
Examples include silent film, broadcast radio, and television, none of which have maintained much of a foothold in the daily practices of mainstream, formal education. It needs to be recognized as "ecological" rather than "additive" or "subtractive". In this ecological change, one significant change will create total change.
According to Branford et al. Published in the Journal of Pediatrics, a University of Washington study on the vocabulary of babies surveyed over 1, parents in Washington and Minnesota. The study found that for every one hour that babies 8—16 months of age watched DVDs and Videos they knew fewer of 90 common baby words than the babies that did not watch them. Andrew Meltzoff, a surveyor in this study states that the result makes sense, that if the baby's 'alert time' is spent in front of DVDs and TV, instead of with people speaking, the babies are not going to get the same linguistic experience.
Dimitri Chistakis, another surveyor reported that the evidence is mounting that baby DVDs are of no value and may be harmful. Adaptive instructional materials tailor questions to each student's ability and calculate their scores, but this encourages students to work individually rather than socially or collaboratively Kruse, Social relationships are important but high-tech environments may compromise the balance of trust, care and respect between teacher and student.
Massively open online courses MOOCs , although quite popular in discussions of technology and education in developed countries more so in US , are not a major concern in most developing or low-income countries. One of the stated goals of MOOCs is to provide less fortunate populations i. With the Internet and social media, using educational apps makes the students highly susceptible to distraction and sidetracking.
Even though proper use has shown to increase student performances, being distracted would be detrimental. Another disadvantage is increased potential for cheating. Smartphones can be very easy to hide and use inconspicuously, especially if their use is normalized in the classroom. These disadvantages can be managed with strict rules and regulations on mobile phone use.
Electronic devices such as cellphones and computers facilitate rapid access to a stream of sources, each of which may receive cursory attention. Michel Rich, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and executive director of the center on Media and Child Health in Boston, said of the digital generation, "Their brains are rewarded not for staying on task, but for jumping to the next thing.
The worry is we're raising a generation of kids in front of screens whose brains are going to be wired differently. Although these technologies affect adults too, young people may be more influenced by it as their developing brains can easily become habituated to switching tasks and become unaccustomed to sustaining attention. Technology is "rapidly and profoundly altering our brains. This leads to heightened stress levels on the brain that, at first, boost energy levels, but, over time, actually augment memory, impair cognition, lead to depression, alter the neural circuitry of the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex.
These are the brain regions that control mood and thought. If unchecked, the underlying structure of the brain could be altered. When children are exposed before the age of seven, important developmental tasks may be delayed, and bad learning habits might develop, which "deprives children of the exploration and play that they need to develop. According to Lai, "the learning environment is a complex system where the interplay and interactions of many things impact the outcome of learning. If technology monopolizes an activity, students can begin to develop the sense that "life would scarcely be thinkable without technology.
Leo Marx considered the word "technology" itself as problematic, [] susceptible to reification and "phantom objectivity", which conceals its fundamental nature as something that is only valuable insofar as it benefits the human condition. Technology ultimately comes down to affecting the relations between people, but this notion is obfuscated when technology is treated as an abstract notion devoid of good and evil. Langdon Winner makes a similar point by arguing that the underdevelopment of the philosophy of technology leaves us with an overly simplistic reduction in our discourse to the supposedly dichotomous notions of the "making" versus the "uses" of new technologies, and that a narrow focus on "use" leads us to believe that all technologies are neutral in moral standing.
Winner viewed technology as a "form of life" that not only aids human activity, but that also represents a powerful force in reshaping that activity and its meaning. In education, standardized testing has arguably redefined the notions of learning and assessment. We rarely explicitly reflect on how strange a notion it is that a number between, say, 0 and could accurately reflect a person's knowledge about the world.
According to Winner, the recurring patterns in everyday life tend to become an unconscious process that we learn to take for granted. By far the greatest latitude of choice exists the very first time a particular instrument, system, or technique is introduced. Because choices tend to become strongly fixed in material equipment, economic investment, and social habit, the original flexibility vanishes for all practical purposes once the initial commitments are made.
In that sense technological innovations are similar to legislative acts or political foundings that establish a framework for public order that will endure over many generations. When adopting new technologies, there may be one best chance to "get it right. Now that typing has become a digital process, this is no longer an issue, but the QWERTY arrangement lives on as a social habit, one that is very difficult to change.
Neil Postman endorsed the notion that technology impacts human cultures, including the culture of classrooms, and that this is a consideration even more important than considering the efficiency of a new technology as a tool for teaching. What we need to consider about the computer has nothing to do with its efficiency as a teaching tool.
We need to know in what ways it is altering our conception of learning, and how in conjunction with television, it undermines the old idea of school. There is an assumption that technology is inherently interesting so it must be helpful in education; based on research by Daniel Willingham, that is not always the case. He argues that it does not necessarily matter what the technological medium is, but whether or not the content is engaging and utilizes the medium in a beneficial way. The concept of the digital divide is a gap between those who have access to digital technologies and those who do not.
According to a report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation , large amounts of personal data on children is collected by electronic devices that are distributed in schools in the United States. Often far more information than necessary is collected, uploaded and stored indefinitely. Aside name and date of birth, this information can include the child's browsing history, search terms, location data, contact lists, as well as behavioral information.
Since technology is not the end goal of education, but rather a means by which it can be accomplished, educators must have a good grasp of the technology and its advantages and disadvantages. Teacher training aims for effective integration of classroom technology. The evolving nature of technology may unsettle teachers, who may experience themselves as perpetual novices. Random professional development days are inadequate. According to Jenkins, "Rather than dealing with each technology in isolation, we would do better to take an ecological approach, thinking about the interrelationship among different communication technologies, the cultural communities that grow up around them, and the activities they support.
There are two distinct issues of assessment: Assessments of educational technology have included the Follow Through project. Educational assessment with technology may be either formative assessment or summative assessment. Instructors use both types of assessment to understand student progress and learning in the classroom. Technology has helped teachers create better assessments to help understand where students who are having trouble with the material are having issues. Formative assessment is more difficult, as the perfect form is ongoing and allows the students to show their learning in different ways depending on their learning styles.
Technology has helped some teachers make their formative assessments better, particularly through the use of classroom response systems CRS. The instructor then asks multiple choice or true or false questions and the students answer on their device. Summative assessments are more common in classrooms and are usually set up to be more easily graded, as they take the form of tests or projects with specific grading schemes.
One huge benefit to tech-based testing is the option to give students immediate feedback on their answers. When students get these responses, they are able to know how they are doing in the class which can help push them to improve or give them confidence that they are doing well. Electronic assessment uses information technology. It encompasses several potential applications, which may be teacher or student oriented, including educational assessment throughout the continuum of learning, such as computerized classification testing , computerized adaptive testing , student testing , and grading an exam.
E-Marking is an examiner led activity closely related to other e-assessment activities such as e-testing, or e-learning which are student led. E-marking allows markers to mark a scanned script or online response on a computer screen rather than on paper. There are no restrictions to the types of tests that can use e-marking, with e-marking applications designed to accommodate multiple choice, written, and even video submissions for performance examinations.
E-marking software is used by individual educational institutions and can also be rolled out to the participating schools of awarding exam organisations. Ofqual reports that e-marking is the main type of marking used for general qualifications in the United Kingdom. In June , the Odisha state government in India announced that it planned to use e-marking for all Plus II papers from The importance of self-assessment through tools made available on Educational Technology platforms has been growing.
Self-assessment in education technology relies on students analyzing their strengths, weaknesses and areas where improvement is possible to set realistic goals in learning, improve their educational performances and track their progress. Analytics is data gathered on the student's activities on the learning platform, drawn into meaningful patterns that leads to a valid conclusion, usually through the medium of data visualization such as graphs.
The five key sectors of the e-learning industry are consulting, content, technologies, services and support. Educational technologists and psychologists apply basic educational and psychological research into an evidence-based applied science or a technology of learning or instruction. In research, these professions typically require a graduate degree Master's, Doctorate, Ph. In industry, educational technology is utilized to train students and employees by a wide range of learning and communication practitioners, including instructional designers , technical trainers , technical communication and professional communication specialists, technical writers , and of course primary school and college teachers of all levels.
The transformation of educational technology from a cottage industry to a profession is discussed by Shurville et al. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It is not to be confused with Online machine learning. Educational psychology , E-learning theory , Learning theory education , and Educational philosophies. Social media in education.
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Whiteboard and Interactive whiteboard. Online learning in higher education. Educational assessment and Electronic assessment. Educational technologist and Educational psychologist. Association for Educational Communications and Technology. Retrieved 18 March E-Learning in the 21st Century: A Framework for Research and Practice. A critique of AECT's redefinition of the field". An Overview - Education Week". The definition and domains of the field. Key Issues and Debates. Continuum International Publishing Group. Are they the same?
The Internet and Higher Education. Attwell b , for example, reported his experience at a conference in the following terms: The only thing most people seemed to agree on was that it was not a software application. Instead it was more of a new approach to using technologies for learning" p. Even this minimal consensus appears to be rather questionable after a thorough literature review on the topic. Kolas and Staupe also contested that "the variety of interpretation illustrates how diffuse the PLE concept still is" p.
Johnson and Liber only recently asserted that "within this label, however, a number of practices and descriptions have emerged — not all of which are compatible, and discussions have raged as to the interpretation of the terms" p. This doesn't sound much different from what Johnson et al. That such a variety of interpretation can emerge around the same terminology is indicative of a lack of clarity defining exactly what a PLE is" p. There is very little indication that this state of affairs has substantially improved or is currently improving.
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He has worked in academia, corporations and professional services firms before launching his own consultancy. A prolific author and popular speaker with more than 25 years' experience, Dr. Rosenberg is a former president of the? International Society for Performance Improvement.
He lives in Hillsborough, New Jersey, U. Permissions Request permission to reuse content from this site. The curriculum is designed so that the children are engaged in physical activities that demonstrate relevant scientific knowledge. The goal is the development and maintenance of individual student fitness. In contrast with the movement education and sport education models, the underlying premise is that physical activity is essential to a healthy lifestyle and that students' understanding of fitness and behavior change result from engagement in a fitness education program.
The conceptual framework for the model is designed around the health-related components of cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility. A recent meta-analysis Lonsdale et al. Several concept-based fitness education curriculum models exist for both the middle school and senior high school levels. They include Fitness for Life: Middle School Corbin et al. Stokes and Schultz, ; Personal Fitness: Activities in the curriculum are designed for health benefits, and the ultimate goal for the student is to develop a commitment to regular exercise and physical activity.
It is assumed that all children can achieve a health-enhancing level of fitness through regular engagement in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity. Randomized controlled studies on the impact of a science-based fitness curriculum in 15 elementary schools showed that, although the curriculum allocated substantial lesson time to learning cognitive knowledge, the students were more motivated to engage in physical activities than students in the 15 control schools experiencing traditional physical education Chen et al.
Longitudinal data from the study reveal continued knowledge growth in the children that strengthened their understanding of the science behind exercise and active living Sun et al. What is unclear, however, is whether the enthusiasm and knowledge gained through the curriculum will translate into the children's lives outside of physical education to help them become physically active at home. It is suggested that through this proposed comprehensive framework, fitness education be incorporated into the existing physical education curriculum and embedded in the content taught in all instructional units.
The entire framework, highlighted in Box , can be viewed at http: Demonstrate competency in techniques needed to perform a variety of moderate to vigorous physical activities. Technique in developing cardiovascular fitness. Accordingly, fitness education in school physical education programs is being enhanced through the incorporation of active video games, also known as exergaming.
These active games have been incorporated into school wellness centers as high-tech methods of increasing student fitness levels to supplement the traditional modes for attaining vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity Greenberg and Stokes, Mean metabolic equivalent MET values for each game were comparable to or higher than those measured for walking on a treadmill at 3 miles per hour. Graf and colleagues , studying boys and girls aged , found that both Wii boxing and DDR level 2 elicited energy expenditure, heart rate, perceived exertion, and ventilatory responses that were comparable to or greater than those elicited by moderate-intensity walking on a treadmill.
Similar results were found by Lanningham-Foster and colleagues among 22 children aged and adults in that energy expenditure for both groups increased significantly when playing Wii over that expended during all sedentary activities. Staiano and colleagues explored factors that motivated overweight and obese African American high school students to play Wii during school-based physical activity opportunities. They found greater and more sustained energy expenditure over time and noted that players' various intrinsic motivations to play also influenced their level of energy expenditure.
Mellecker and McManus determined that energy expenditure and heart rate were greater during times of active play than in seated play. Fawkner and colleagues studied 20 high school—age girls and found that dance simulation games provided an opportunity for most subjects to achieve a moderate-intensity level of physical activity.
The authors conclude that regular use of the games aids in promoting health through physical activity. Haddock and colleagues conducted ergometer tests with children aged and found increased oxygen consumption and energy expenditure above baseline determinations. Maddison and colleagues , studying children aged , found that active video game playing led to significant increases in energy expenditure, heart rate, and activity counts in comparison with baseline values.
They conclude that playing these games for short time periods is comparable to light- to moderate-intensity conventional modes of exercise, including walking, skipping, and jogging. Mhurchu and colleagues also conclude that a short-term intervention involving active video games is likely to be an effective means of increasing children's overall level of physical activity. Additionally, Sit and colleagues , studying the effects of active gaming among year-old children in Hong Kong, found the children to be significantly more physically active while playing interactive games compared with screen-based games.
Exergaming appears to increase acute physical activity among users and is being used in school settings because it is appealing to students. Despite active research in the area of exergaming and physical activity, however, exergaming's utility for increasing acute and habitual physical activity specifically in the physical education setting has yet to be confirmed. Further, results of studies conducted in nonlaboratory and nonschool settings have been mixed Baranowski et al.
Moreover, any physical activity changes that do occur may not be sufficient to stimulate physiologic changes. For example, White and colleagues examined the effects of Nintendo Wii on physiologic changes. Although energy expenditure was raised above resting values during active gaming, the rise was not significant enough to qualify as part of the daily 60 minutes or more of vigorous-or moderate-intensity exercise recommended for children. While collecting data on the effects of Nintendo Wii on year-olds in New Zealand, White and colleagues found that active video games generated higher energy expenditure than both resting and inactive screen watching.
Therefore, it may be helpful in reducing the amount of sedentary behavior, but it should not be used as a replacement for more conventional modes of physical activity. Sun found that active gaming can increase student motivation to engage in physical activity, but the motivation may decrease as a result of prolonged exposure to the same games. This study also found that exergaming lessons provided less physical activity for children than regular conventional physical education.
For inactive children, however, the exergaming environment is conducive to more active participation in the game-based physical activities than in conventional physical education Fogel et al. Finally, Sheehan and Katz found that among school-age children the use of active gaming added to postural stability, an important component of motor skills development. From the research cited above, as well as ongoing research being conducted by the Health Games Research Project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, active gaming is promising as a means of providing young children an opportunity to become more physically active and helping them meet the recommended 60 or more minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity per day.
Different types of games may influence energy expenditure differentially, and some may serve solely as motivation. Selected games also appear to hold greater promise for increasing energy expenditure, while others invite youth to be physically active through motivational engagement. The dynamic and evolving field of active gaming is a promising area for future research as more opportunities arise to become physically active throughout the school environment.
While several evidence-based physical education programs—such as the Coordinated Approach to Child Health CATCH and Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids SPARK —are being implemented in schools, many innovative programs also have been implemented nationwide that are motivating and contribute to skills attainment while engaging youth in activities that are fun and fitness oriented. These programs include water sports, involving sailing, kayaking, swimming, canoeing, and paddle boarding; adventure activities such as Project Adventure; winter sports, such as snow skiing and snowshoeing; and extreme sports, such as in-line skating, skateboarding, and cycling.
Instructional opportunities vary within and among school levels as a result of discrepancies in state policy mandates. Although the time to be devoted to physical education e. With respect to content, in both elementary and secondary schools, physical activity is an assumed rather than an intended outcome except in the fitness education model.
The goals of skill development and knowledge growth in physical education presumably are accomplished through participation in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity. Data are lacking, however, to support the claim that physical activity offered to further the attainment of skills and knowledge is of vigorous or moderate intensity and is of sufficient duration for children to reap health benefits. Research on physical education, physical activity, and sports opportunities in nontraditional school settings charter schools, home schools, and correctional facilities is extremely limited.
Two intervention studies focused on charter schools addressed issues with Mexican American children. In the first Johnston et al. The instructor-led intervention was a structured daily opportunity for the students to learn about nutrition and to engage in structured physical activities. The results indicate that the children in the instructor-led intervention lost more weight at the end of the intervention than those in the self-help condition.
In the second study Romero, , to year-old Mexican American children from low-income families participated in a 5-week, lesson, hip-hop dance physical activity intervention. In comparison with data collected prior to the intervention, the children reported greater frequency of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity, lower perceived community barriers to physical activity, and stronger self-efficacy for physical activity. Collectively, the results of these two studies suggest that a structured physical activity intervention can be effective in enhancing and enriching physical activity opportunities for Mexican American adolescents in charter schools.
Research on physical activity among home-schooled children is also limited. The only study found was published in Welk et al. It describes differences in physical fitness, psychosocial correlates of physical activity, and physical activity between home-schooled children and their public school counterparts aged No significant differences were found between the two groups of children on the measures used, but the researchers did note that the home-schooled children tended to be less physically active.
Research on physical education and physical activity in juvenile correction institutions is equally scarce. Munson and colleagues , conducted studies on the use of physical activity programs as a behavior mediation intervention strategy and compared its impact on juvenile delinquents' behavior change with that of other intervention strategies.
They found that physical activity did not have a stronger impact than other programs on change in delinquent behavior. All states except Iowa have adopted state standards for physical education. However, the extent to which students achieve the standards is limited since no accountability is required. An analysis of motor skills competency, strategic knowledge, physical activity, and physical fitness among 4th- and 5th-grade children demonstrated that the physical education standards in force were difficult to attain Erwin and Castelli, Among the study participants, fewer than a half 47 percent were deemed motor competent, 77 percent demonstrated adequate progress in knowledge, only 40 percent were in the Healthy Fitness Zone on all five components of the Fitnessgram fitness assessment, and merely 15 percent engaged in 60 or more minutes of physical activity each day.
Clearly most of the children failed to meet benchmark measures of performance for this developmental stage.
Educational technology - Wikipedia
This evidence highlights the need for additional physical activity opportunities within and beyond physical education to enhance opportunities for students to achieve the standards. Relationships among these student-learning outcomes were further decomposed in a study of children Castelli and Valley, The authors determined that aerobic fitness and the number of fitness test scores in the Healthy Fitness Zone were the best predictors of daily engagement in physical activity relative to factors of gender, age, body mass index BMI , motor skills competency, and knowledge.
However, in-class engagement in physical activity was best predicted by aerobic fitness and motor skills competence, suggesting that knowledge and skills should not be overlooked in a balanced physical education curriculum intended to promote lifelong physical activity. As an untested area, student assessment in physical education has been conducted on many indicators other than learning outcomes.
As reported in a seminal study Hensley and East, , physical education teachers base learning assessment on participation 96 percent , effort 88 percent , attitude 76 percent , sportsmanship 75 percent , dressing out 72 percent , improvement 68 percent , attendance 58 percent , observation of skills 58 percent , knowledge tests 46 percent , skills tests 45 percent , potential 25 percent , and homework 11 percent.
These data, while several years old, show that most learning assessments in physical education fail to target relevant learning objectives such as knowledge, skills, and physical activity behavior. Fitness assessment in the school environment can serve multiple purposes. On the one hand, it can provide both teacher and student with information about the student's current fitness level relative to a criterion-referenced standard, yield valid information that can serve as the basis for developing a personal fitness or exercise program based on current fitness levels, motivate students to do better to achieve a minimum standard of health-related fitness where deficiencies exist, and possibly assist in the identification of potential future health problems.
On the other hand, an overall analysis of student fitness assessments provides valuable data that can enable teachers to assess learner outcomes in the physical education curriculum and assess the present curriculum to determine whether it includes sufficient fitness education to allow students to make fitness gains throughout the school year. Fitness assessment also provides a unique opportunity for schools to track data on students longitudinally.
The ultimate goal of assessing student fitness in the school environment should be to educate students on the importance of maintaining a physically active lifestyle throughout the life span. When administering fitness assessments in the school setting, caution is essential to ensure confidentiality of the results.
When fitness assessment becomes part of a quality physical education program, teaching and learning strategies will guide all students to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to maintain and improve their personal health-related fitness as part of their commitment to lifelong healthy lifestyles. For example, the development of the Presidential Youth Fitness Program with the use of a criterion-referenced platform provides students with the educational benefits of fitness assessment knowledge see Box The emergence of one national fitness assessment, Fitnessgram, along with professional development and recognition protocols, further supports fitness education in the school environment.
Presidential Youth Fitness Program. The Presidential Youth Fitness Program, launched in September , is a comprehensive program that provides training and resources to schools for assessing, tracking, and recognizing youth fitness. The program promotes more Online physical education is a growing trend. Fully 59 percent of states allow required physical education credits to be earned through online courses.
Only just over half of these states require that the online courses be taught by state-certified physical education teachers. Daum and Buschner report that, in general, online physical education focuses more on cognitive knowledge than physical skill or physical activity, many online courses fail to meet national standards for learning and physical activity guidelines, and teachers are not concerned about students' accountability for learning.
Although online courses differ from traditional in-school physical education courses in the delivery of instruction, the standards and benchmarks for these courses must mirror those adopted by each individual state, especially when the course is taken to meet high school graduation requirements. NASPE a , p. Online physical education can be tailored to each student's needs, and it helps students learn how to exercise independently.
The physical education policy of one online school, the Florida Virtual School, is presented in Box This document satisfies more Online physical education provides another option for helping students meet the standards for physical education if they lack room in their schedule for face-to-face classes, need to make up credit, or are just looking for an alternative to the traditional physical education class.
On the other hand, online courses may not be a successful mode of instruction for students with poor time management or technology skills. According to Daum and Buschner , online learning is changing the education landscape despite the limited empirical research and conflicting results on its effectiveness in producing student learning. Through a survey involving 45 online high school physical education teachers, the authors found that almost three-fourths of the courses they taught failed to meet the national guideline for secondary schools of minutes of physical education per week.
Most of the courses required physical activity 3 days per week, while six courses required no physical activity. The teachers expressed support, hesitation, and even opposition toward online physical education. Lesson scheduling is commonly at the discretion of school principals in the United States. The amount of time dedicated to each subject is often mandated by federal or state statutes. Local education agencies or school districts have latitude to make local decisions that go beyond these federal or state mandates.
Often the way courses are scheduled to fill the school day is determined by the managerial skills of the administrator making the decisions or is based on a computer program that generates individual teacher schedules. Successful curriculum change requires supportive scheduling see Kramer and Keller, , for an example of curriculum reform in mathematics. More research is needed on the effects of scheduling of physical education. In one such attempt designed to examine the impact of content and lesson length on calorie expenditure in middle school physical education, Chen and colleagues found that a lesson lasting minutes with sport skills or fitness exercises as the major content would enable middle school students to expend more calories than either shorter 30—40 minutes or longer 65—90 minutes lessons.
The evidence from such research can be used to guide allocation of the recommended weekly amount of physical education minutes for elementary schools, minutes for secondary schools to achieve optimal health benefits for youth. Additional discussion of scheduling is provided later in this chapter in the section on solutions for overcoming the barriers to quality physical education. As discussed in Chapter 3 , there is a direct correlation between regular participation in physical activity and health in school-age children, suggesting that physical activity provides important benefits directly to the individual child HHS, Physical activity during a school day may also be associated with academic benefits Chapter 4 and children's social and emotional well-being HHS, ; Chapter 3.
Physical education, along with other opportunities for physical activity in the school environment discussed in Chapter 6 , is important for optimal health and development in school-age children. It may also serve as a preventive measure for adult conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. Little has been learned about the short- and long-term effectiveness of physical education in addressing public health issues Pate et al. Because the learning objectives of physical education have not included improvement in health status as a direct measure, indirect measures and correlates have been used as surrogates.
However, some promising research, such as that conducted by Morgan and colleagues , has demonstrated that students are more physically active on days when they participate in physical education classes. Further, there is no evidence of a compensatory effect such that children having been active during physical education elect not to participate in additional physical activity on that day.
Accordingly, quality physical education contributes to a child's daily accumulation of physical activity and is of particular importance for children who are overweight or who lack access to these opportunities in the home environment NASPE, Unlike other physical activity in school e. It also is currently the only time and place for all children to engage in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity safely because of the structured and specialist-supervised instructional environment.
It is expected that children will use the skills and knowledge learned in physical education in other physical activity opportunities in school, such as active recess, active transportation, and intramural sports.
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For these reasons, physical education programming has been identified as the foundation on which multicomponent or coordinated approaches incorporating other physical activity opportunities can be designed and promoted. Coordinated approaches in one form or another have existed since the early s, but it was not until the 21st century that physical education was acknowledged as the foundation for these approaches.
As discussed in Chapter 3 , research on motor skills development has provided evidence linking physical skill proficiency levels to participation in physical activity and fitness Stodden et al. Exercise psychology research also has identified children's perceived skill competence as a correlate of their motivation for participation in physical activity Sallis et al. When school-based multicomponent interventions include physical activities experienced in physical education that are enjoyable and developmentally appropriate, such coordinated efforts are plausible and likely to be effective in producing health benefits Corbin, Accordingly, two of the Healthy People Healthy People , objectives for physical activity in youth relate to physical education: Increase the proportion of adolescents who participate in daily school physical education.
The importance of physical education to the physical, cognitive, and social aspects of child development has been acknowledged by many federal, state, and local health and education agencies. Many private entities throughout the country likewise have offered their support and recommendations for strengthening physical education. Solving the Weight of the Nation , points to the need to strengthen physical education to ensure that all children engage in 60 minutes or more of physical activity per school day.
Similarly, the National Physical Activity Plan , developed by a group of national organizations at the forefront of public health and physical activity, comprises a comprehensive set of policies, programs, and initiatives aimed at increasing physical activity in all segments of schools. To accomplish this ultimate goal, the plan calls for improvement in the quantity and quality of physical education for students from prekindergarten through 12th grade through significant policy initiatives at the federal and state levels that guide and fund physical education and other physical activity programs.
Specifically, the plan prescribes seven specific tactics presented in Box National Physical Activity Plan: Develop and implement state and school district policies requiring school accountability for the quality and quantity of physical more A position statement on physical education from the ACS Cancer Action Network, ADA, and AHA calls for support for quality physical education and endorses including physical education as an important part of a student's comprehensive, well-rounded education program because of its positive impact on lifelong health and well-being. Further, physical education policy should make quality the priority while also aiming to increase the amount of time physical education is offered in schools.
Recently, private-sector organizations—such as the NFL through its Play60 program—have been joining efforts to ensure that youth meet the guideline of at least 60 minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity per day. One such initiative is Nike's Designed to Move: A Physical Activity Action Agenda , a framework for improving access to physical activity for all American children in schools.
Although the framework does not focus exclusively on physical education, it does imply the important role of physical education in the action agenda see Box Nike's Designed to Move: A Physical Activity Action Agenda. Design programs that are effective for every child, including those who face the most barriers to participating in physical activity.
Physical activities and more The purpose of the initiative is to help elementary and secondary schools launch the Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program CSPAP , which is focused on strengthening physical education and promoting all opportunities for physical activity in school. The five CSPAP components, considered vital for developing a physically educated and physically active child, are physical education, physical activity during school, physical activity before and after school, staff involvement, and family and community involvement AAHPERD, Schools are allowed to implement all or selected components.
An AAHPERD survey indicated that 16 percent of elementary schools, 13 percent of middle schools, and 6 percent of high schools from a self-responding nationwide sample, not drawn systematically had implemented a CSPAP since the program was launched. Although most schools sampled 90 percent provided physical education, the percentage declined through middle school and high school, such that only 44 percent of high schools provided physical education to seniors. In most schools 92 percent , classes were taught by teachers certified to teach physical education. More than 76 percent of elementary schools provided daily recess for children, and 31 percent had instituted a policy prohibiting teachers from withholding children from participating in recess for disciplinary reasons.
The percentage of schools that offered intramural sports clubs to at least 25 percent of students declined from 62 percent of middle schools to 50 percent of high school for males, and from 53 to 40 percent, respectively, for females.
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Interscholastic sports were offered in 89 percent of high schools. Among them, approximately 70 percent involved at least 25 percent of the male student population participating and 58 percent involved at least 25 percent of the female student population participating. As noted, a high-quality physical education program can help youth meet the guideline of at least 60 minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity per day.
This increase in physical activity should be balanced with appropriate attention to skill development and to national education standards for quality physical education see Box In a recent literature review, Bassett and colleagues found that physical education contributes to children achieving an average of 23 minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity daily. However, the time spent in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity could be increased by 6 minutes if the physical education curriculum were to incorporate a standardized curriculum such as SPARK discussed in detail below Bassett et al.
Thus, it is possible for physical education to contribute to youth meeting at least half 30 minutes of their daily requirement for vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity. To help children grow holistically, however, physical education needs to achieve other learning goals when children are active.
To this end, physical education programs must possess the quality characteristics specified by NASPE b , b , c see Box Designing and implementing a physical education program with these characteristics in mind should ensure that the time and curricular materials of the program enable students to achieve the goals of becoming knowledgeable exercisers and skillful movers who value and adopt a physically active, healthy lifestyle.
All students are required to take physical education. Instructional periods total minutes per week elementary schools and minutes per week middle and secondary schools. Findings from research on effective physical education support these characteristics as the benchmarks for quality programs. In an attempt to understand what effective physical education looks like, Castelli and Rink conducted a mixed-methods comparison of 62 physical education programs in which a high percentage of students achieved the state physical education learning standards with programs whose students did not achieve the standards.
Comprehensive data derived from student performance, teacher surveys, and onsite observations demonstrated that highly effective physical education programs were housed in cohesive, long-standing departments that experienced more facilitators e. Further, effective programs made curricular changes prior to the enactment of state-level policy, while ineffective programs waited to make changes until they were told to do so. The teachers in ineffective programs had misconceptions about student performance and, in general, lower expectations of student performance and behavior.
Two large-scale intervention studies—SPARK and CATCH—are discussed in this section as examples of how programs can be structured to increase vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity in physical education classes. The aim of SPARK, a research-based curriculum, is to improve the health, fitness, and physical activity levels of youth by creating, implementing, and evaluating programs that promote lifelong wellness. Research supports the use of SPARK as a platform for improving the quality of physical activity instruction in schools.
The SPARK curriculum has demonstrated the ability to improve student activity levels, increase the number of minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity for students, and provide sustainable and positive change in a school district Myers-Schieffer and Thomas, In another study, a SPARK intervention is credited with exposing students to an increase in motor skills drills, which in turn led to a higher level of manipulative motor skills acquisition McKenzie et al.
As a result of improved activity levels, students who participated in the SPARK curriculum improved their times in the 1-mile run and sit-up tests Sallis et al. Teachers involved in the SPARK intervention offered increased levels of fitness promotion and provided students with an increased amount of general instruction and increased minutes of attention per week McKenzie et al.
The CATCH program teaches children in grades K-8 how to be healthy throughout their lifetimes through a coordinated approach that involves engaging the community, families, and educators to work together. The goal of CATCH is to impact children's health behaviors positively, improve the school health environment, and influence and change school health policies and practices in order to reduce and eliminate health risk factors and risk-related behaviors of students Perry et al. CATCH significantly increases the physical activity levels of students during physical education class and provides a wide range of learning experiences for students of all abilities.
CATCH began as a clinical trial from to in four regional sites: The participants were elementary school children in grades 3 through 5 and included children from multiethnic backgrounds. Upon completion of the main trial, CATCH had succeeded in producing positive and lasting changes in children's behaviors, including decreasing fat consumption and increasing physical activity Luepker et al. The changes were maintained for 3 years postintervention Nader et al. Because physical education is part of the curriculum in schools, its quality should be judged only by whether and to what extent children have learned and benefited from it.
In a landmark document on learning goals, Moving into the Future: National Standards for Physical Education , NASPE proposes six student learning standards specifying both conceptual and behavioral characteristics that a physically educated person must possess and display see Box These characteristics encompass knowledge, skill, behavior, and confidence critical to the development and maintenance of health and to the enjoyment of a physically active, healthful lifestyle. If standards are the gauge for quality, teachers make the difference in a particular school in terms of the extent to which students can achieve the standards.
Research has made clear that certified physical education specialists can provide more and longer opportunities for students to meet physical activity guidelines compared with classroom teachers trained to teach physical education McKenzie et al. Moreover, when teachers are taught strategies to encourage vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity in physical education class, a significant increase in physical activity can be expected Lonsdale et al.
The role of certified physical education specialists in health-enhancing physical education has become increasingly critical McKenzie, The evidence is unequivocal regarding the need for a continued effort to train physical education specialists and the need for schools to continue to employ them as the main teaching force designing and implementing health-enhancing physical education programs to the fullest extent.
Aside from serving as the instructional leader for physical education, physical education specialists can serve as expert resources for classroom teachers in the implementation of classroom physical activity breaks and recess discussed in detail in Chapter 6. Their expertise in age-appropriate physical activity helps ensure that students are participating in activities that are fun and engaging.
Additionally, as the catalyst for a healthy school environment, the physical education specialist can assist in the design and delivery of intramural programs provided before and after school, as well as serve as a community outreach specialist for onsite activity partnerships.
For physical education specialists interested in a more formal role as a physical activity leader at their school, NASPE has developed a director of physical activity certification program. It is a commonly held notion of society that to maintain the quality of education, schools should hire teachers certified to teach in the subject matter areas in which they are licensed. Unfortunately, in the United States, not all physical education classes are taught by certified physical education specialists. Indeed, 68 percent of elementary schools allow classroom teachers generalists to teach physical education NASPE, The basic requirements for emergency certification include a bachelor's degree in teaching or in any area except physical education.
Only 31 states 60 percent support physical education teachers going through the national board certification process, and only New York requires each school district to have a licensed physical education specialist serving as a physical education coordinator NASPE, In addition, teaching physical education requires substantial knowledge and skill in pedagogy—the science and art of teaching. Box lists the NASPE standards for beginning physical education teachers who have completed a bachelor's teacher training program and those who have completed advanced master's-level training.
Scientific and theoretical knowledge: Physical education teacher candidates know and apply discipline-specific scientific and theoretical concepts more These standards are accompanied by measurement rubrics unacceptable, acceptable, and target, with target being exemplary developed jointly by NASPE and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education NCATE for evaluating physical education teacher education programs across the country the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
But the data sources did not distinguish between physical education teaching majors and other kinesiology concentrations e.
Statistics on the number of physical education teacher education programs and their quality based on the NASPE standards are needed. The current wave of effort to curb physical inactivity among youth has begun to influence teacher education programs. According to a national survey study Kulinna et al. These data appear to suggest that physical education teacher education programs are beginning to turn from a traditionally sports- and skills-centered model to a more comprehensive, physical activity— and health-centered model.
This change is important in that the role of both current and future physical education teachers extends beyond merely teaching their classes to advancing public health goals McKenzie, In many universities, however, teacher education programs in physical education have either been reduced or eliminated because of the decline in physical education requirements, which has resulted in a decrease in the number of physical education teachers being employed. Concomitantly, physical education teacher education programs are experiencing an unprecedented crisis.
A recent report indicates that, in school year —, only 23 doctorate-granting kinesiology departments offered doctoral programs that were training future teacher educators Boyce and Rikard, a. A total of doctoral students were receiving training offered by professors including part-time , and 11 percent of those professors were planning to retire. Boyce and Rikard a report that in the past 13 years, doctoral students graduated as physical education teacher educators— During the same period, 61 positions were open, only 39 of which were filled 64 percent , with an applicant pool of 38 candidates with earned degrees and 13 who completed the doctoral course-work but did not complete the dissertation research Boyce and Rikard, b.
Clearly there is a shortage of physical education teacher educators in higher education institutions. Because of a lack of national tracking data on physical education graduates, the extent to which the teacher educator shortage has impacted and will impact the need to supply quality physical education teachers to the nation is unclear.
In all educational settings, professional development for teachers and administrators is a continuous process of acquiring new knowledge and skills that relate to an educator's profession or academic subject area, job responsibilities, or work environment. Professional development is essential for improving classroom instruction and student achievement Ball and Cohen, ; Cohen and Hill, Through a variety of delivery methods, professional development activities may include credit or noncredit courses, classroom or online venues, workshops, seminars, teleconferences, and webinars, with the ultimate goal of improving the delivery of instruction to enhance student achievement.
Yoon and colleagues assert that a strong link exists among professional development, teacher learning and practice, and student achievement. Figure , which aligns with the research on effective professional development Kennedy, ; Loucks-Horsley and Matsumoto, ; Cohen and Hill, ; Garet et al.