Page 24 - AT

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Monday 6 January 2020
Gym class without the gym? With technology, it's catching on

By CAROLYN THOMPSON outside of the school day."
Associated Press A telling illustration of the
Grace Brown's schedule at technology-driven 24/7
West Potomac High School school day is the peak log-
in northern Virginia is filled in time on the school's por-
with all the usual academ- tal system: 10:03 p.m.
ics, and she's packed in "They may not be working
Latin, chorus and piano as out at 10 p.m., but that's
extras. when they're turning in their
What she can't cram into workout. The notion that
the 8:10 a.m. - 2:55 p.m. education now runs 7:30-
school day is gym class. 4, 8-3, is really antiquated,"
So she's taking that one mi- Lemmon said, "and our stu-
nus the gym, and on her dents are begging to be
own time. able to have more flexibil-
The 14-year-old freshman ity in the time of day they
is getting school credit for learn."
virtual physical education, During the past summer
a concept that, as strange session, there were 22,600
as it may sound, is being students enrolled, and the
helped along by availabili- most popular courses were
ty of wearable fitness track- PE, she said.
ers. Teachers help students set
For students whose tests up their fitness devices, en-
and textbooks have mi- tering the student's height,
grated to screens, tech- weight and age, and com-
nology as gym equipment ing up with a target heart
may have been only a rate. As an added layer of
matter of time. Grace Brown, 14, adjusts her fitness tracker at the park where she does her jogging workouts for instruction and account-
Grace, who lives in Alexan- her "online PE" class, in Alexandria, Va., Friday, Nov. 1, 2019. ability, Launch students
dria, wears a school-issued Associated Press are required to send video
Fitbit on her wrist while get- back to the teacher, who
ting in at least three 30-min- session with the teacher. portant social concepts educational services. checks their technique as
ute workouts a week out- Teenagers who play soc- such as teamwork. She said it's one of numer- they stretch or lift weights,
side of school hours. She cer, swim or dance all year "There is a difference be- ous blending learning op- for example.
has an app on her com- may satisfy the workout tween physical activity tions that Joliet Township "They work with their PE
puter that screenshots her requirements without do- and physical education," High School offers to give instructor to set a fitness
activity so she can turn it in ing anything extra. Grace said Chris Hersl, former vice students both more control goal and then they get
for credit. has been adding bike rides president for programs and over the pace and time of their workout however they
While online physical edu- and jogs to her days. professional development their work, and more re- want to," Lemmon said. Ït
cation classes have been For her, online PE freed her at SHAPE America, which sponsibility to get it done. really does promote life-
around for well over a de- up to take three elective wrote national standards "We're trying to give them long fitness because it's
cade, often as part of vir- courses, instead of two in for K-12 physical educa- an opportunity to see what about working out the way
tual or online schools, the school. tion. post-secondary might look they want to, not they're
technology has made For others, it's a welcome "Physical activity is great like," Guseman said, "when required to do a particular
possible a new level of ac- way to take a required for the body. We want ev- you don't meet every day activity in gym. ... We have
countability, its users say. class that students other- erybody to move," he said, but you're still expected a lot of kids -- a locker room
"We're asking kids to wear wise may find socially or "but physical education is to do work for a course or is their worst nightmare. It's
this while they do an activ- physically challenging. a class where students are preparation between class not where they want to be."
ity of their choice, and they "We definitely exercise taught how to move their periods." Grace's mother, Rhonda
can change the activity more in online PE," Grace body and the social con- A virtual school that is part Brown, remembers how
as they desire, as long as said. "There's a lot of stand- text in which to do that." of the Springfield, Mis- hard gym class soccer and
it's something that they un- ing around in regular PE. Joliet Township schools in Il- souri, public school district softball games were for her
derstand is probably going Online, I do much harder linois uses fitness trackers as started with a single class because of blindness in
to get their heart rate up," workouts." part of a blended learning -- physical education, said one eye.
said Elizabeth Edwards, de- A survey of more than 3,000 conditioning program that Nichole Lemmon, the cre- "You're talking to someone
partment head for online fitness professionals by the has students who sign up ator of the program, called who was always picked last
physical education at Fair- American College of Sports for it work out two to three Launch, which uses Garmin for every sporting activity. I
fax County Public Schools, Medicine named wear- times a week in the gym fitness trackers. have nightmares some-
which includes Grace's able technology the top with an instructor and the "Eight years ago, it was the times," she said.
high school. trend in fitness for 2020. other days on their own. very first online class by She'd like to see the county
Though a physical educa- It's not clear how many "It's a flexible schedule our developers to meet a go even further and grant
tion instructor isn't shouting schools are embracing the where they still have in- really niche student who waivers from PE to kids that
from the sidelines, teach- trend. It comes with some person physical educa- could not fit PE courses into play school sports.
ers do guide assignments cautions. tion classes and there's their schedule," Lemmon "We're so stuck in the tra-
by setting goals such as fat Technology and the col- still instruction happening, said. "Maybe they wanted ditional classroom setting.
burn, cardio or peak, rely- lection of any student data but they're able to use the to take more honors lev- These kids are burning 2,000
ing on the technology to always raises the specter of Fitbit to monitor how stu- el courses, or advanced calories during a practice
be their eyes and ears. Stu- student privacy concerns. dents are working outside placement, or internation- and more at every game.,"
dents also are required to And some worry that stu- the classroom," said Karla al baccalaureate classes she said. "I wish the schools
sign in for a weekly 60-min- dents exercising on their Guseman, the district's as- and PE was hard to fit in, so would catch up with the
ute to 90-minute classroom own may miss out on im- sociate superintendent for we allowed them to do it times."q