Technology-Supported Physical Activity Course for Increasing Physical Activity Levels of University Students: System Development and Pilot Implementation

Abstract

This paper investigates and pilots design principles focusing on developing a technology-supported physical activity course for increasing university students' physical activity levels. Four initial design principles from a previous systematic review were confirmed and validated in a series of Focus Group discussions with twenty-two participants (10 lecturers and 12 students) from one public university in Bandung, Indonesia. As a result, an additional three initial design principles were created. A technology prototype was developed based on the seven initial design principles. A prototype LMS (PESSPA), incorporated within a smartphone application (PESAPA), was designed, validated, and built on during this phase. A pilot study was conducted involving two physical education classes at the public university in Bandung, Indonesia to test and evaluate the prototypes. Two lecturers and 39 students participated in the pilot study. One lecturer implemented the technology prototype in the intervention group (n=22). The control group (n=17) was taught with a control lecturer with the same content but without PESSPA and PESAPA for 16 weeks. Findings showed that there were no significant differences in post-test scores between the intervention and control groups in all outcomes except for amotivation (P = 0.022). Positive small to medium effect sizes were found for intervention participants, compared with control participants, for all outcomes including physical activity outcomes (moderate intensity [d=0.09], total physical activity [d=0.21], and vigorous intensity [0.37]), motivation outcomes (introject regulation [0.14], intrinsic regulation [d=0.25], identified regulation [d=0.74]), and physical activity knowledge (d=0.20). The class observations and feedback from the intervention lecturer and students during the pilot study were analysed, resulting in nine revised design principles. The prototype should be modified based on the revised design principles and tested with a larger sample size in a randomised controlled trial.