IDE 632 - Personal Learning Environment

Welcome to my Personal Learning Environment.

Technology in the physical education classroom

It appears the use of technology in physical education is more popular than first thought. The more I have researched the idea of using a Nintendo Wii in physical education lessons the more I see that schools all over the world have already adopted the idea.

A school in Singapore uses the Wii as a way to overcome the problem of oppressive heat in the region. Outdoor lessons were previously limited to early mornings to avoid the heat, now PE classes can be scheduled with impunity throughout the day. In New York State it is the cold winters that prevent Physical Education lessons from being outside. With limited space for indoor activities teachers are put under a lot of pressure to provide a suitable program.

The Wii can provide a course that embraces technology as the mode in which to learn about movement and ones physical capabilities. Additionally the Wii Fit provided a teaching tool that a single instructor would never be able to reproduce with consistent and repeatable demonstration of exercises and movements. The scoring used by each game was a useful measure of success or improvement that was tracked and maintained by the console and easily accessible to each student. Students will became capable of reproducing the movements necessary for successful completion of a fitness program as well as knowledge of the muscles trained for each exercise and how to recognize incorrect movement patterns in others. In small groups, students can control the pace or selection of the learning modules which best suited their learning styles. This feature of the course allowed for a highly adaptable learning environment tailored to each student within the constraints of the small groups.
A rich learning environment is created for the student’s through the use of Digital classroom instruction, instructor reinforcement, in-class and out of class assignments, and online resources. These are all a mixture of technology-based and traditional tools of instruction.

Many games have become popular within the course including Wii Fit, Wii sports and Deca Sports. Looking closer at Deca sports http://www.decasports.com/ how many people can say they had the opportunity to learn the skills of snowboarding during a physical education lesson? It might not be the real thing but it can be a very good alternative.

Special Needs Physical Education

Although there are many arguments against the Wii being used in a physical education setting, mainly due to belief that children are not as active playing the Wii as they would be running around a gym hall or out on the field. Good points yes, but what if running around a games hall isn’t an option? Many students with learning disabilities or physical disabilities are often left out of physical education activates and sometimes whole lessons because teachers struggle to find inclusive activates for the whole class to participate in. This is where the Wii has become very popular in many schools. Teachers have found an excellent way to provide inclusive and developmentally appropriate lessons for students with disabilities. http://hamptonroads.com/2009/02/special-physcial-education-class-gets-wii-fit is a good article that demonstrates how effective the Wii can be in a special needs PE setting.

The Wii in PE

For years now there has been a growing concern for the number of school children becoming obese. This rise in obesity is due to many factors, but, one in particular is the lack of participation in physical activity during and after school hours. Today’s world is filled with what appears to be more appealing activates such as watching TV and, of course, playing video games.

Physical Education teachers have been battling with this issue for a while now and many realize it is impossible to force students to participate in PE for the enjoyment that it should be. As a result many schools have decided to stop fighting against the gaming world and instead join them. More and more school are using the Nintendo Wii as a PE incentive to get children involved and active during physical education lessons. Sounds crazy, I know, but Nintendo really have devised something genius! Could this be the solution to many PE teachers nightmares?

Using the Wii in physical education provides a whole class fitness innovation. One game in particular is Wii Fit Plus. This game has been developed to allow a class of X number student to participate all at the same time. Everyone is involved using Wii Active Practice board while one person leads the class with the Main board. While the students are using and developing a number of skills they are also continuously performing at an active level. Teachers found that children of all ages saw it as a fun and exciting way to get involved in PE again.

I have yet to see this being used in any school I have worked at but I can definitely see the benefits. However, like all things there is always a negative side. Can you think of any issue that may arise from using such a devise in a physical education setting?

An Educational Wii

The Nintendo Wii is an excellent gaming devise that is similar to no other. The Nintendo Wii was designed to target a broad population with the aim that the Wii is for everyone http://www.nintendo.com/wii/what). The wii is not your typical gaming devise where sitting on a sofa and twiddling your thumbs is all that is required. No, the Wii involves a new form of player interaction. Using a remote sensor the wii tracks the user’s movements making it an active gaming experience.

Many schools are beginning to see consoles for their positive aspects rather than as a thing that makes children lazy. By bringing them into schools it seems the Wii has become a useful educational tool. But how educational can a game console be? What are your thoughts on this matter?

This week’s blog is going to be a little different. I want to get an idea of how virtual museums have been used in educational settings. If you have had any experience with this I would love to know how you integrated a virtual museums trip into a classroom.

Better than textbooks?

Could virtual museums be the end of textbooks?

One of the biggest challenges teachers face today is using technology to enhance student learning. A good way to do this is by digitalizing textbooks.

Virtual museums provide a rich collection of primary source materials, in the form oral, visual, and written information. The information is also accurate and detailed.

Using virtual museums in the classroom will make learning more hands on. Not only can pupils use virtual museums as a means of research but they can also design their own virtual museum using information they have gathered. This is an excellent idea for class projects and provides students with the opportunity to design and organize their own leaning.

I stumbled across a link that I felt reinforced the idea of virtual museums leading to the end of textbooks. The link leads to a presentation on the Discovery Channel website and provides not only an interesting account of how humans evolved (something all students learn at school) but more importantly it provides an up-to-date account of what is now believed to be the case. This is a huge advantage over textbooks as they can only provide information that was found to be accurate at the time of being published.

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/ardipithecus/ardipithecus.html?campaign=dsc-px09-1-bbc006