PED 101 - Physical Activity & Wellness

Cara Sidman
Assistant Professor
Health and Applied Human Services

As the new coordinator, I have been hired to improve the curriculum and incorporate the use of technology into the basic studies PED 101 Physical Activity & Wellness course. Participating in this initiative and piloting the Tablet PC is directly in line with the curriculum and research goals of this required course. The tablet would be used for essentially every aspect of the course, except for the actual participation in physical activity. More specifically, it would significantly improve the course through its use in lectures, assignments, online quizzes, and health behavior logs. Due to the fact that this course serves every student at the university (approximately 1200 students/semester), developing effective uses of this relevant technology could take this course to another level.

Currently, the lectures include lines for students to “fill-in-the-blanks” when they come to class. This is designed to promote more engagement in the course material, which is especially challenging in a lecture of 220 students. It is also designed to encourage attendance since the only way to obtain all of the information on the slides is to listen to the lectures. Essentially, if the students in the course had Tablet PCs, they would download the PowerPoint presentations from the SeaPort course web site, and then would be able to directly fill in the blanks using the pen feature (which would reduce the amount of paper used, an additional bonus).

Course assignments include completing lab inventories, recording fitness assessment results, reading online health information, evaluating web sites, taking online quizzes, and recording their physical activity and food intake, all of which can be more efficiently and effectively accomplished with a Tablet.

A final benefit of implementing the use of a Tablet PC in PED 101 is the fact that hybrid and completely online versions of the course are in the process of being developed. In addition to being used for all of the coursework listed above, the Tablet would be used by both the students and instructors to submit and grade assignments online (using the pen feature to provide feedback on the assignments).

Overall, the Tablet PC would greatly benefit this basic studies Physical Activity & Wellness course.