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The purpose of this article is to provide background information related to the development of the 2014 American Kinesiology Association (AKA) Leadership Workshop titled “The Future of Teaching and Learning in an Online World”. A brief description of online education is provided, along with a synopsis of the advantages and challenges confronting instructors and administrators in institutions of higher education who are increasingly implementing this form of instruction. An overview of the articles included in this special issue is also provided.

The present state of higher education is in a period of transition as alternative forms of content dissemination via blended learning and exclusively online class models continue to expand. In addition, traditional universities face increased pressure to deliver content “on-demand” for the learner from an increasing number of nonprofit and for-profit organizations. In this article, key principles for creating and distributing content for online education are discussed. Furthermore, solutions used by the authors in their own teaching are shared as an additional resource for the reader. Finally, the benefits and drawbacks of two widely known software platforms are explored as they relate to the functionality of delivering content online to students.

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.

Online education has become an increasingly popular means of delivering educational programs in health and kinesiology. It has helped departments meet increasing enrollment demands and provided additional resources that support students and faculty. A number of challenges, however, are associated with developing these types of programs. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the issues that Texas A&M University has experienced in developing extensive online courses and distance education programs. The paper discusses methods and models employed to develop online and distance programs in health and kinesiology and provides a case study of some of the opportunities and challenges that the Sport Management Division experienced in developing an online master's program. Issues related to efficacy, management, funding, and student success are discussed. Health and kinesiology administrators should consider these issues as they look to develop or grow online course offerings in the discipline.

Although scholars have explored sense of community in both online and face-to-face education, there has been little research of this topic in online sport management education. The community of inquiry (CoI) framework focuses on three aspects of overall student engagement in online education: social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. It is through the interaction of these areas that a community of learning can be developed in online courses, and effective higher levels of learning can be implemented. The purpose of this review is to provide an overall perspective of the CoI framework as a means to enhance the student experience through discussion of social, cognitive, and teaching presence. In addition, implications for practical application in sport management programs and directions for future research of the CoI framework within sport management education will be provided, and related outcomes will be explored.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how an animated pedagogical agent (APA) affected an individual’s level of situational interest (SI) using a case study in online education. Although online learning has become popular, the lack of social cues for students in distance-learning contexts has been suggested as problematic. APA has been conceptualized to support social agency theory between students and learning contents. SI has been considered to activate student’s immediate affective response to engage in an authentic learning context. The study examined the effect of APA in a case study on triggered-SI and maintained-SI to determine the benefits of multimedia-based instruction in online learning. A three-factor model including triggered-SI, maintained-SI-feeling, and maintained-SI-value was tested. Results revealed that the use of APA in a case study more positively stimulated students’ SI specific to triggered-SI and maintained-SI-value. Therefore, the implementation of the APA in a distance education setting could benefit students’ learning and also help educators to more effectively deliver a variety of sport management content areas.

Background: The aim of this systematic review was to summarize the results and assess the methodological quality of studies that analyzed the relation between physical education participation, physical activity, and sedentary behavior in schoolchildren. Methods: Searches were conducted for original cross-sectional and longitudinal observational studies published in Portuguese, English, and Spanish between January 2007 and August 2020, on the PubMed, Web of Science, Scientific Electronic Library Online, Education Resources Information Center, and Scopus databases. Results: A total of 60 articles (68 independent samples) were included in the revision (58 cross-sectional and 2 longitudinal observational studies). With regard to methodological quality, 27%, 52%, and 21% of the studies were classified as high, moderate, and low methodological quality, respectively. Physical activity was analyzed in 93% of the studies (n = 56) and sedentary behavior in 33% (n = 20). The higher frequency of physical education participation was associated with higher physical activity levels (56 of 68 results – 54/65 cross-sectional and 2/3 longitudinal studies) and less sedentary behavior (14 of 24 results), even after stratifying analyses by type and methodological quality. Conclusion: Physical education class participation may contribute to students being physically more active and less likely to engage in sedentary behavior.