A lot of people may doubt the effectiveness of online physical education. Can students really learn what they need to learn? Do students really gain the long-term benefits of a health and fitness education?
THE STUDY
A researcher from the University of Tampa reached out to Carone Learning asking if we’d be willing to participate in a research study comparing the perceptions of students in traditional/ face-to-face health and PE classes with those of our online students at our Carone Learning Academy.
The researcher independently collected course evaluation data from our online students as well as students at a traditional/ face-to-face school. And what were the results? See for yourself:
(The following is taken from the Jan 2020 published study abstract. You can find the full peer-reviewed journal article here.)
RESULTS
The online education setting was found to be statistically significantly more favorable for students in terms of the feedback and responsiveness of the teacher, understanding and interest of the content and perceived positive health changes during the course. The qualitative findings on student perceptions were relatively consistent between both the online and F2F classes.
CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that students’ positive perceptions in an online high school class may equal or surpass those in a traditional F2F format. Increasingly, youth are exhibiting enhanced capacity for online‐based coursework.
The main goals of health and physical education, whether face-to-face or online, are to help students understand the value of a healthy lifestyle and being physically active, as well as to establish positive health habits and a program of health-enhancing exercise.
Our online students, in particular, rated highly in these areas. They increased their knowledge of health and fitness, found value in being healthy, established regular habits, and indicated that they planned to continue even after class was over. We consider that a win!
