The evolution of teaching physical education online during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examined the evolution of online teaching for fourteen New England K-12 physical education teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Commencing where Foye and Grenier ([2021]. Teaching during a pandemic. Physical educators’ reflections on teaching remotely. Journal of Online Learning Research, 7, 133–151.) left off, the current study contrasts participants’ experiences in the spring of 2020 with their experiences during the 2020–2021 academic year. Participants engaged in semi-structured interviews. Interview data underwent thematic analysis, with Whittle et al.’s (2020. Emergency remote teaching environment: A conceptual framework for responsive online teaching in crises. Information and Learning Sciences, 121(5/6), 311–319.) emergency remote teaching environments framework providing contextualisation for the study. Three sizeable differences emerged from March 2020 to the 2020–2021 academic year: participants widely utilised synchronous teaching environments, which they unanimously preferred to asynchronous environments; blended learning environments allowed for face-to-face engagement; participant concerns regarding student accountability and lacking interpersonal socialisation dropped from March 2020. Participant experiences are utilised to help guide future online physical education practices.