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The rapid growth of technology allows tertiary-level education to develop alternative ways of instruction to effectively support student learning. Although a face-to-face class is still powerful, online learning has been advocated as an innovative instructional way to confront constraints such as distance, time, space, and diverse student characteristics. This article introduces a brief overview of online threaded discussion (OTD) in a blended course in physical education teacher education (PETE), and provides insights into how to effectively design, manage, and teach online courses. In particular, contextual information that relates to a specific university, PETE program, course, and students are discussed in this article. Second, the blended model and OTD implemented by the authors are introduced. Finally, the article discusses the blended model's contributions, issues, and strategies, and provides implications for physical educators to improve their online courses in higher education settings.

At many institutions introductory exercise physiology courses are required for all kinesiology students. The laboratory portion of these courses usually involves development of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) connected with content presented in lecture. Due to scalability issues, the Kinesiology Department at California State University Monterey Bay cannot offer traditional laboratory experiences. Therefore, online and hybrid laboratory experiences were created to provide similar opportunities for students, address scalability issues, and enhance student engagement and learning. Creation of these carefully crafted laboratory experiences allowed instructors to (a) highlight and explain key foundational principles, (b) provide experiences involving practical application of material presented in lecture, and (c) present students with additional learning experiences while maintaining high learner expectations. The following article outlines the process used to create these virtual laboratory experiences for students in an undergraduate introductory exercise physiology course.

A framework to advance and sustain the American Kinesiology Association community's capabilities to put educational innovations into practice through the use of MERLOT's open educational services and resources (www.merlot.org) is presented through the metaphor of a folk tale, Stone Soup. The American Kinesiology Association can use MERLOT's free and open library services to build a quality collection of peer-reviewed instructional materials in kinesiology, design a custom “teaching commons” website for their community to share exemplary practices, use MERLOT Voices online community platform to enable asynchronous discussions and collaborations, and create new open educational resources with MERLOT's Content Builder tool. Leveraging the California State University's Course Redesign with Technology program and the Quality Online Learning and Teaching (QOLT) project can become part of the American Kinesiology Association's strategy as well.

Administrators of kinesiology departments (N = 101) completed a survey that requested information about online education, funding for online courses, and administrator perceptions of the rigor and future of online courses. More master's (n = 18) than undergraduate degree (n = 9) programs were totally online. Forty-nine percent of institutions provide funding to faculty and 37% provide funding to departments for online offerings. Respondents indicated concern about the rigor of online courses. Sixty-one percent indicated that academic rigor is a concern of faculty, 42% did not feel that totally online courses were as rigorous as face-to-face classes, and 65% indicated tests for online courses are not proctored. Despite concerns, 76% indicated they expect to have some or many online courses in the next 5-10 years. Few respondents indicated they expected to have no online courses or almost totally online delivery of courses. Online delivery of instruction is impacting kinesiology, and expansion of online education is likely.

In this paper, we ethically examine the value of dichotomies to the endurance community or any sports community bifurcated by attitudes of superiority in one qualitative method of experiencing an activity over another—as Pearl Izumi's 2007 advertising campaign “We are not joggers” has done by dividing the bipedal ambulatory endurance community into “runners” and “joggers.” Using the writings of American pragmatists William James and John Dewey, we will describe the endurance sports community in terms of “unsympathetic characters” and “sympathetic characters.” We will then layer conceptions of the “static” self and the “dynamic” self on top of this dichotomy. The results of this examination will not support Pearl Izumi's dichotomy in “static” ways. However, if these perspectives are viewed as exemplifying a temporal measure of the “dynamic” self, as part of the endurance athletes' personal narratives, then actions and attitudes based on these dichotomies can be seen as part of meaningful personal and community growth as well as a potential source of virtue.

In developing a senior lecture for the 2014 national meeting of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, I had the opportunity to reflect upon a career of research and to focus on three interesting questions that my colleagues and I have attempted to address. These questions have led to several studies that all revolve around identifying ways to increase the effects of exercise on cognitive performance. In particular, the questions examine the possibility of increasing effects by focusing on particular populations (e.g., older adults, children) and by increasing our understanding of dose-response relationships between exercise parameters (e.g., intensity, duration) and cognitive outcomes. I present empirical evidence relative to each of these questions and provide directions for future research on physical activity and cognitive functioning.

Pregnant and postpartum women have reported a number of barriers that prevent them from being sufficiently physically active. Overcoming these barriers is critical to ensure the health benefits of physical activity to both mother and fetus. The primary focus of this review centers on the potential impact social support may have in overcoming each of the primary barriers to physical activity experienced during pregnancy and the postpartum period. A reasonable body of research exists regarding the relationships between social support and these barriers; however, few investigations have specifically attempted to mitigate the effects of these barriers via social support interventions. Within this review, the enabling influence of social support as it pertains to pregnant and postpartum women's physical activity is discussed. Recommendations are suggested for the application of social support in future research investigations involving physical activity during pregnancy and postpartum.

Occupational socialization theory describes the acculturation, professional preparation, and organizational socialization of physical education teachers and addresses factors that contribute to their decisions and behaviors. Utilizing occupational socialization theory as a grounding framework, this paper summarizes research conducted on teacher socialization in physical education and provides recommendations for future research. Each of the three phases of socialization is reviewed as are related constructs. The paper concludes with a discussion of socialization into physical education more generally and addresses the limitations of the current body of literature. Future researchers are encouraged to continue using occupational socialization theory as a framework though which to understand the careers and pedagogical decisions of physical education teachers.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe key research contributions that have shaped the field of adapted physical activity. That was not an easy task as the area of adapted physical activity is relatively new. The field is also quite broad and has been influenced by many people and sociopolitical influences. In an effort to constrain the scope of influences, this paper will focus on studies related to motor performance and health-related physical fitness of persons with intellectual disabilities (ID). This was done in part because that is an area where I believe that my work and that of students and colleagues at Oregon State University, helped to contribute small fraction of what is known and in a way to help substantiate how much more there is to know. It is challenging to answer the questions of whose work significantly influenced what we now know about the health and fitness status of persons with ID. And more importantly what direction does this area of research need to go for us to change health related outcomes of this group?