The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be an unprecedented disruptor on college and university campuses as stakeholders at all organizational levels were challenged to consider new approaches to teaching and learning using online course modalities with very limited preparation time and faculty support. Using a case study approach, this paper reviews valuable lessons learned through the experience, particularly regarding shifts in course delivery to include online and hybrid modalities on a widespread scale. Specifically, the authors reviewed the processes, outcomes, and student perceptions associated with online and hybrid course delivery in various kinesiology courses at three different higher education institutions. The paper also offers useful perspectives for kinesiology program administrators and faculty who are contemplating the continued application of online and hybrid course formats in greater capacity postpandemic.
Browse
Kayla Baker, Melissa Bopp, Sean M. Bulger, YuChun Chen, Michele L. Duffey, Brian Myers, Dana K. Voelker, and Kaylee F. Woodard
Ting Liu, YuChun Chen, Michelle Hamilton, and Katie Harris
Peer mentoring is a learning process wherein a more experienced student provides advice and support to a less experienced student during their academic career. At the graduate level, peer mentoring has been shown to increase social support, career readiness, retention, and graduation rates among first-year students. In spring 2021, the Exercise Science graduate program at Texas State University initiated a peer mentoring program. The participants reported that they felt more integrated in the graduate program. Meeting and socializing with mentor/mentee have enhanced their sense of belonging and relatedness, especially during COVID, when students felt more isolated. The professional relationship made them more prone to return and strive for academic success. This article describes a peer mentoring program that has been successfully implemented in a kinesiology graduate program and makes recommendations for universities to study the impact of peer mentoring on marginalized student well-being, retention, career readiness, and academic success in future research.
Kyle Guay and Carey L. Simpson
Preparing kinesiology undergraduates with the foundational knowledge required by professional organizations is no longer enough when considering the skills students are required to demonstrate upon entering the job market. Work-integrated learning, embedded through curricular and cocurricular activities, has seen extensive growth in the posteducation landscape of Canadian institutions. With increasing expectations from future employers, graduates in the field of kinesiology require more experiential opportunities to meet these expectations. The aim of this paper is to provide commentary on how the Bachelor of Kinesiology program at Capilano University underwent the necessary changes to incorporate a required professional practice stream to align with industry expectations. The authors discuss the development of laddering course learning outcomes, course content, reflection, and student evaluation. Additionally, they provide rationale for its inclusion in the second year of the program.
Panteleimon Ekkekakis and Nicholas B. Tiller
Dishman challenged kinesiologists to seek a compromise between “the ideal physiological prescription and a manageable behavioral prescription.” High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is the first exercise modality that has been claimed to meet this challenge, combining substantial benefits for fitness and health with pleasure and enjoyment. If true, these claims may revolutionize the science and practice of exercise. In this paper, four claims are critically appraised: (a) HIIT lowers the risk of mortality more than moderate-intensity continuous exercise, (b) HIIT doubles endurance performance after only 15 min of training over 2 weeks, (c) 1 min of HIIT is equivalent to 45 min of moderate-intensity continuous exercise, and (d) HIIT is more pleasant and enjoyable than moderate-intensity continuous exercise. The evidence for these claims appears questionable. Kinesiology should heed the principle endorsed by Hume, Laplace, and Sagan, namely that extraordinary claims should be supported by commensurate evidence.
Kacie V. Lanier, Chad M. Killian, Kathryn Wilson, and Rebecca Ellis
The purpose of this review was to identify and summarize research that has been conducted on the potential impact of physical education (PE) on students’ feelings of anxiety, depression, and stress. This review followed the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Twenty-seven articles were identified from four databases: Academic Search Complete, APA PsycInfo, ERIC, and SPORTDiscus. Key findings indicated caring, task-involved climates were more likely to be related to reduce feelings of anxiety, depression, and stress, while ego-involving climates were related to heightened symptoms of mental distress. This review demonstrated that participation in PE had an unclear relationship with students’ mental health. To improve the understanding of the relationship and potential impact of PE on students’ mental health, future researchers should apply more rigorous methods to account for environmental factors of the school, program characteristics, social influences, physical activity intensity, and the quality of PE programs.
Charles B. Corbin, Hyeonho Yu, and Diane L. Gill
Physical education programs in the United States emerged in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Over time, physical education became the field of kinesiology with an established disciplinary base with multiple associated professions. Historical context is provided for five different eras. Textbooks, including those authored by National Academy of Kinesiology fellows, played an important role in the evolution of the field, providing direction, context, and content for both the subdisciplines and the professions. Arguments are offered for the value of textbooks as an important form of scholarship (the scholarship of integration), for the value of textbooks in providing visibility and real-world impact for the field of kinesiology, and for the value of associated textbook ancillary materials as teaching resources for faculty in institutions of higher learning.
Luciana Zuest, Saemi Lee, Juliana Leedeman, and Dawn E. Clifford
Research shows that physical activity (PA) -related professionals perpetuate weight stigma and discrimination in their practices by holding antifat attitudes. Given the adverse outcomes associated with weight stigma and discrimination (including PA avoidance), researchers and fat activists have proposed and implemented a range of strategies to reduce weight stigma and cultivate inclusive PA settings. In this paper, we summarized and organized research-informed strategies for reducing weight stigma and creating weight-inclusive climates in fitness spaces. We adopted a socioecological model to organize a variety of strategies for improving weight inclusivity in fitness spaces at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural levels. Ranging from staff training to adjusting the physical space, the strategies proposed in this paper aim at dismantling limited and harmful weight-centric narratives and practices that keep fat individuals marginalized from PA settings.
Cassandra Iannucci and Kevin Andrew Richards
Emerging research suggests that the stress and complexities of the teaching profession contribute to early exits from the field. Stressors may be increased when individuals are tasked with teaching physical education and another school subject(s) concurrently. More specifically, role conflict in teaching multiple school subjects consists of three subdomains: status conflict, schedule conflict, and energy expenditure. The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretically informed conceptual model of this type of conflict that better informs the professional lives and careers of teachers. The framework’s three interrelated elements are dynamic and contextually bound and influence the experience of multiple subjects role conflict. These three elements include experiences of role conflict, contextual and individual factors, and an outer limit of individuals’ capacity to manage stressors. Three vignettes are used to illustrate how teachers’ experiences of conflict interact with contextual and individual factors to increase or decrease their capacity for stress.