Secondary Online Physical Education: Walking a Tightrope

Nine years ago while serving on the Board of Directors of NASPE, a high-school teacher asked me for “our position” on secondary online physical education (OLPE). This Southwest teacher was concerned about his school district’s hasty adoption of online learning. He wanted to know more about online learning but felt conflicted. As an award recipient for his effective teaching and service on behalf of the school, department, and state association he said, “I feel like I’m walking a tightrope.” At the time, NASPE had no official position. We realized one was needed! This was a tipping point. The wonders of the digital age and online learning were intersecting with school physical education. More than a few physical education programs and teachers were being asked to transition from traditional, face-to-face teaching, to online instruction.

Subsequently, NASPE published a position paper entitled Initial Guidelines for Online Physical Education (2007). The skinny was that “no published evidence of OLPE learning existed, that OLPE should meet national standards for learning, that a hybrid model was a reasonable instructional alternative until research was available, and that OLPE was an exciting and attractive – yet untested – alternative to delivering quality PE.” Later, NASPE published the paper Appropriate Use of Instructional Technology in PE (2009). Reasonably, NASPE advocated technology as “a tool for learning if used appropriately for instructional effectiveness…that it could supplement, but not substitute, for effective instruction.”

As long as school physical education survives or thrives (see Mike Metzler’s recent pelinks4u essay for thoughts on this), physical educators will always be concerned about what to teach and how to teach. Recently, the Shape of the Nation Report (SON, 2012) reported that 30 states now grant credit for online physical education, however, only 17 states require certified PE teachers. It made me wonder who teaches these courses in the other 13 states? Some futurists predict that by 2020 half of all secondary education courses will be delivered online. If true, before long many school physical educators will be challenged to walk this instructional tightrope.

Since that time, I’ve met both digital utopians and digital critics when confronting this controversial topic. It seems most have an opinion about OLPE’s worth; however, I find that many teachers are lacking substantive information about this “still new to us” technology. A director of physical education in a large Milwaukee high school told me that his staff was unhappy with an administration that forced his teachers to develop and implement OLPE. He said, “We will get it done because we have no options other than to resign.” In contrast of course, some PE teachers are embracing and enthusiastic about the challenge.

It’s important to realize that PE teachers and schools have choices when considering face-to-face, hybrid (blended), and virtual instruction. You may be surprised to learn that in 2010 the Florida Virtual School (FLVS) estimated that over 30,000 students completed OLPE courses. Without success, I ‘ve tried to obtain student learning and attitudinal data from this system. I would like to know what is working and not working for teachers and students in Florida. I wonder what was taught and learned? And I’m curious about the backgrounds of the teachers who designed and implemented these curricula.

A handful of articles and a few empirical studies have only begun to scratch the surface regarding secondary OLPE. I believe that the paucity of evidence and best practices leaves teachers and the profession with unproven balance and strength to successfully complete this high wire act. We still don’t know enough, and as usual, we have more questions than answers. Moreover, we lack a close examination of OLPE’s consequences for schools, teachers, and students.

Not surprisingly, technology often goes unchecked and is considered worthy simply because it exists. This has to do with our culture’s love affair with all kinds of technology. My approach has been to express a critical viewpoint until reliable and accurate information are available. I even find online learning data for other school subjects to be minimal or missing. There is lots of experimentation in online environments (which is good), but little to verify student learning. My critical view often disappoints those who jumped quickly on the OLPE bandwagon. But it’s vital that each discipline decides upon the type and substance of online learning that is appropriate for American secondary students. The following incomplete lists may stimulate your thinking and understanding of the thorny issues surrounding OLPE:

Arguments For OLPE:

• It fits the technological learning style and interests of digital natives.
• It offers student choice when learning in physical education and it’s convenient for students, parents, and school leaders.
• It may reach the needs of diverse learners.

Arguments Against OLPE:

• Children and youth need to move more and sit less. Studies show that U.S. youth average 7+ hours a day of screen time to include multi-tasking. Might this subject be well served with measured technological intervention and less screen time?
• OLPE alters the “socialization process” that’s often a strength in well-taught face-to-face classes.
• OLPE may devalue the professional expertise of certified teachers.

Several Weighty Questions:

• What messages or worldview do we send students, parents, administrators and the public by advocating and delivering virtual physical education?
• What is the hidden curriculum when planning and delivering OLPE?

Books Worth Reading: (Note: These do not directly address school physical education)

• Gardner, H. & K. Davis (2013). The App generation: How today’s youth navigate identity, intimacy, and imagination in a digital world. New Haven, CT: Yale Press.
• Carr, N. (2011). The shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
• Turkle, S. (2011). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. New York: Basic Books.

My study of this topic tells me that OLPE is not a black and white issue. It is loaded with political, economic, ethical, moral, social, and pedagogical challenges. It seems to me that most professionals haven’t dug deep enough into the implications and that our acrobatic skills will be tested in the coming years. Physical educators need to study, think, converse, ask questions, and take a pledge that student learning must always be the primary reason for the design and implementation of any new physical education curriculum.

Walking the online tightrope is not about a quick jaunt to one side. It will require a suspension of judgment, accurate information, courage, and practice (which will inevitably include trial and error). In short, we need to determine the meaning and significance of online learning for “our subject matter.” Finally, leaders of AAHPERD /SHAPE America need to revisit and revise the 2007 OLPE guidelines. The profession would benefit from a carefully designed research agenda with financial support to study the phenomena. Let’s insure that PE teachers are prepared to navigate this precarious walk! Please share your OLPE thoughts and experiences with me at: cbuschner@csuchico.edu.