Teamwork

Adventist health and physical education instructors combine forces to share best practices for online physical education instruction

When it comes to teamwork, health and physical education teachers know a thing or two. In light of a canceled in-person national conference due to COVID-19, Seventh-day Adventist health and physical education instructors from across the country are moving to plan B and teaming up to share resources and tools for quality online physical education instruction.

When the leadership team voted to move to an online format for their annual meeting of the Seventh-day Adventist Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Association (SDA-HPERA), they went to work adapting the original conference content and adding a new conference component that will be implemented within days.

“We’ve been working hard to bring together resources that people can use to teach physical education from an online format. Teaching online courses for physical education comes with some unique challenges. We need to provide resources now for those who will begin online instruction in a matter of days and weeks,” said Rob Thomas, SDA-HPERA executive director and professor of health and exercise science at La Sierra University.

In addition to the regularly scheduled convention to take place online on April 20, two new training sessions have been scheduled for Tuesday, March 24, beginning at 11 a.m. Pacific time. These sessions will be provided by Adventist experts in online instruction in health and physical education.

Session 1, March 24, 11 a.m.
“Tangible help for online teaching of health and physical education/kinesiology in SDA colleges”
• Rod Bussey, associate professor in the School of Physical Education, Health, and Wellness at Southern University (Collegedale, Tenn.)
• Brian Sather, professor of physical activity and health at Eastern Oregon University (La Grande, Ore.)

Session 2, March 24, 12:30 p.m.
“Tangible help for online teaching of K–12 SDA physical education”
• Alex Adams, doctoral student at Middle Tennessee State University and former physical education teacher at Madison Academy (Nashville, Tenn.)
• Everton Souza, physical education technology coordinator for the Alvord Unified School District and teacher at Hillcrest High School (Riverside, Calif.)

The April 20 conference will include a portion of the original conference content focused on diversity and inclusion in health and physical education as well as a variety of presentations on health and physical education by students from Pacific Union College, Oakwood University, and Walla Walla University. The April online conference will also include additional presentations, roundtable discussions, and resources related to online instruction in physical education.

“We’re making this game-time adjustment in order to deal with the realities of what we’re facing right now,” said Rodd Strobel, SDA-HPERA president and assistant professor of health and physical education at Walla Walla University. “Many of our health and physical education teachers have never had to provide online instruction before, and it’s critical right now for us to provide access to resources and support.”

Sessions are open to anyone who would benefit from additional resources and tools for online instruction. To learn more about joining any of the sessions and for information about available resources, visit the SDA-HPERA website at sdahpera.org.

Posted March 20, 2020