PHYSICAL EDUCATION TUTORS PERCEPTIONS OF THE USE OF TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS FOR REMOTE TEACHING DURING COVID 19

Abstract

The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic created the need for the use of dissimilar remote teaching methods and strategies in many subject areas including Physical Education (PE). While this was somewhat successful in developed countries, little is known about the use of technological tools to deliver PE lessons online in developing countries. This study examined the perceptions and experiences of colleges of education PE tutors in adopting technological tools for remote teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 12 tutors (4 females and 8 males) in Ghana. Content analysis was employed as the tool for the analysis of the data. Based on the results, the PE tutors perceived that accessibility was a major challenge to the successful teaching of practical PE lessons online. The tutors further posited that they were motivated to deliver practical lessons online because of the Covid-19 pandemic as they don’t want students to be left idle. In furtherance, the participants recommended Transforming Teaching, Education and Learning and colleges’ management for assisting them to participate in an online course and providing them with ICT support and data. Again, the participants agreed that they prefer face-to-face to online lessons as the latter do not promote socialisation, develop only the cognitive domain and even certificates acquired online are not given due recognition. It is recommended that theory lessons should be held online while face-to-face interaction is better for practical lessons in PE due to accessibility issues connected to poor internet connectivity and difficulty in performing some of the skills online.

Keywords: Online physical education, remote teaching, the community of enquiry model, technological tools.

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