Online PE courses allow for more flexibility in student schedules

09/13/05 -- For Minneapolis high school student Abbie Modaff, it wasn’t easy fitting a physical education class into her busy school schedule. To do so meant dropping band or a language course  -- both school activities she really loved.

Luckily for her, the school district gave her another option: Instead of trying to squeeze PE into the school day, she could sign up for an online gym class and complete the course at her convenience.

“I’m really glad they have it. Otherwise I would have had to drop something,” says Modaff, a sophomore at South High School. “This way, I can do everything I want.”

The Florida Virtual School has offered online PE since 1997, and it was the school’s most popular course last year, enrolling 4,500 students.

Jo Wagner, a lead instructor for the Florida Virtual School’s online fitness courses, says the classes are popular partly because of convenience. Not only can workouts be scheduled as desired, students can sweat it out almost anywhere: the local gym, soccer field, YMCA, or backyard.

These courses also appeal to students with a strong aversion to traditional PE -- the kids who are self-conscious because they’re skinny, obese, or out of shape, she says.

“We have a significant number of kids who don’t want to work out in school, don’t want to change clothes in front of people, and don’t want to run around a track because they can’t run,” Wagner says. On their own, however, “they might swim, roller blade, or work out at home.”

Some educators have expressed skepticism about the classes, but online instructors insist that the physical -- as well as academic -- rigor of their program is as high as any traditional gym class.

In Minneapolis, for example, students must complete a 30-minute workout at least three times a week, says online PE teacher Frank Goodrich. Students e-mail a report of their physical activity on a regular basis, and some use a heart monitor to document their workouts.

What’s more, a parent or coach must confirm every workout was completed, he says. “The online course mirrors almost identically, in terms of physical activity per week, the regular course.”

Modaff’s workouts revolved around activities as diverse as jogging, biking, soccer, swimming, and horseback riding. On the academic side, she studied web-based lessons from a curriculum that dealt with nutrition, the human body, proper exercise techniques, and much more -- and then she had to complete assignments to show she’d mastered the material.

If anything, the academic side of the online courses is more demanding than the in-school classes, says online instructor Tammy Cowan.

“I think people get the notion that this is easier than regular PE, and it’s not, because a lot of the [academic] content . . . that we give out on a day-to-day basis through conversation now is given out through assignments,” she says.

For some students, the demands of the class can be a surprise. Up to 25 percent of students drop out once they realize that the online course is no cakewalk, says Renee Jesness, Minneapolis’ online learning coordinator.

Technology is a key to the course’s success, says Brenda Corbin, a Minneapolis PE teacher who originally was skeptical of the idea but ultimately wrote her district’s online PE curriculum.

“When I was approached to put PE online, I said it was impossible,” she recalls. “I can’t see [the students]. I can’t interact with them. I can’t hold them accountable. How will I know if they work out?”

After a demonstration of the available technology -- such as web-based videos on proper exercise techniques and electronic heart monitors whose results could be e-mailed to teachers -- she changed her mind.

The technology -- plus the savvy of a veteran teacher -- also is a good safeguard against students who might try to bluff their way through the course.

“I can tell very easily by asking a series of questions -- about their heart rate, what they’re doing, how much soreness they’ve had, how they feel,” Wagner says. “It’s very evident whether they know what they’re talking about.”

And if a few students cut a few corners, that’s no different than what happens in the school gym, Wagner says. What’s important is that even these students -- at a time of increased obesity and physical inactivity -- have one more option to improve their level of fitness.