There’s a feeling among some physical educators that Online Physical Education (OLPE) has been thrust upon them. These same physical educators also feel that OLPE cannot contribute to a meaningful physical education curriculum experience. Despite these reservations, many states are now requiring high school students to take at least one online course before graduation (Brown, 2012; Watson et al., 2012).

Others make online courses available and accept them towards an earned high school diploma. In 2007, the National Association for Sports and Physical Education (NASPE) developed a position paper that identified NASPE’s preliminary position for OLPE courses. Today, students across the country are increasingly electing to take OLPE courses. Recently, former NASPE President Craig Buschner expressed his thoughts on OLPE in pelinks4u. This paper indicated that OLPE lacked ‘best practice,’ should address the same curriculum as traditional PE, and that hybrid/blended models of OLPE delivery may be best suited to the needs of public school students.

For some, OLPE is an oxymoron since the very thought of physical education taken online creates a contradictory image in their mind. Some, upon hearing about OLPE perhaps imagine students sitting in front of a computer completing reports or worse yet playing video games and turning in activity logs showing that they have engaged in physical activity when in fact they haven’t. For others, OLPE may conjure images of the humans in the movie Wall-E who had stopped moving and depended on technology to meet their every need resulting in a morbidly obese populace that had lost the ability and desire to move. Worse yet the prospect of OLPE raises fears that trained physical educators will not be needed as instructors in virtual settings that rely on technology rather than traditional physical activities, facilities, and equipment.