A Guide to Integrating Physical Education and Technology

A Guide to Integrating Physical Education and Technology

http://www.fitrated.com/resources/physical-education-technology-guide/

This article had a lot of insightful information about why I should use technology in my physical education class.  Physical education is an important part of students' lives and education growing up.  There are a lot of benefits of taking part in physical activity whether it is physical, social, or mental.  Every year in class I try to produce positive changes in my students and guide them to become lifelong learners in physical activity.

Often times, it can be difficult to engage students and make them feel motivated to exercise on a daily basis whether it is inside or outside the classroom.  According to the article many PE teachers have started turning to technology to create a dynamic and interesting classroom environment where students are excited to work out and overcome challenges.  I have always been looking for new ways to incorporate technology into my physical education classes.

I agree that more young students have their on smartphones and we might as well take advantage of it.  There are many applications that can be found on a smart phone that helps students keep track of movement, nutritional help, or anything else that has to do with physical activity.  Some of the physical activity apps the article listed to be very beneficial are; cardiograph, coach my video, coach's eye, steps pedometer & counter tracker, and google drive.

Two more if the technologies that could be beneficial to use in class are pedometers and smart watches.  The pedometers will give my students opportunities to sets goals and they be able to watch themselves progress tremendously.  Students are able to stay active and keep track of their progress.  Smart watches would be a step up from pedometers and you can even access music.  They also help students keep track of their heart rate and how many calories they've burned.  

I did enjoy looking at the list of applications they listed in the article and I plan on using them in my classroom,since we are becoming more technology bound.

I'm excited that we are going to be using more technology in our class next year, so my students and I can check out Vimeo or YouTube to checkout different fintiess combinations or demonstrations for skill development.  I also love the idea the article mentioned about the students creating their own instructional work of their own and then they will teach it to the students.  This i a fantastic idea and I can't wait to try it!  We have tried doing games like Wii sports or a Just Dance game in class before.  It was fun for majority of our students.  I think it depends on how  many students we have in class, but with us having more technology in our classroom next year-we can maybe setup the games into stations.

As PE teachers, we need to teach our students how to use various forms of technology for their fitness and healthy just like any other teacher would show their students what expectations they have for their class when they use technology.   I also believe that using technology in physical education class will boost efficiency and keep my students motivated to track their fitness on a Day-To-Day basis.