Training Physical Education Teachers in the Use of Technological Applications
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Published 01 April 2021 EDUCACIÓN FÍSICA Y DEPORTES https://doi.org/10.5672/apunts.2014-0983.es.(2021/2).144.05 ISSUE 144 33 DEPORTES DEPORTES Y Y Training Physical Education Teachers in FÍSICA FÍSICA CIÓN CIÓN EDUCA EDUCA the Use of Technological Applications 144 Cristina Menescardi1 , Cristóbal Suárez-Guerrero2 & Jorge Lizandra1 1 2021 University of Valencia. Faculty of Teacher Training. Department of Teaching of Musical, Visual and Corporal Expression (Spain). 2 2.º trimestre (abril-junio) ISSN: 2014-0983 Faculty of Teaching. Department of Didactics and School Organization. University of Valencia (Spain). PHYSICAL EDUCATION Cite this article: Menescardi, C., Suárez-Guerrero, C., & Lizandra, J. (2021). Training Physical Education Teachers in the Use OPEN ACCESS of Technological Applications. Apunts. Educación Física y Deportes, 144, 33-43. https://doi.org/10.5672/ apunts.2014-0983.es.(2021/2).144.05 Editor: Abstract © Generalitat de Catalunya Departament de la Presidència The inclusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the educational Institut Nacional d’Educació setting requires teaching staff to have a sufficient level of digital competence (DC) Física de Catalunya (INEFC) to be able to teach this technology to students. Paradoxically, the literature shows ISSN: 2014-0983 an emerging trend towards the study of DC whereas the specific use of technology tools is tapering off, particularly in the area of physical education (PE). Therefore, the *Corresponding author: objective of this paper was to evaluate the actual use of educational applications by Cristina Menescardi [email protected] future PE teachers. To this end, the CUTDEF (Cuestionario sobre conocimiento y uso de las TIC por los y las docentes de EF) [Questionnaire on the Knowledge and Use of Section: ICT by PE Teachers], previously validated by a panel of experts, was administered to Physical Education 155 students at the University of Valencia. The results showed that few applications Original language: are used and are limited to office automation tools (word processor, spreadsheet and Spanish presentations) and that all the possibilities provided by the use and the potentialities Received: of other applications or tools available online are not leveraged. It is concluded that 1 May 2020 trainee PE teachers present an average knowledge and use of information and com- Accepted: munication management tools, basically as Google users, while they have made little 20 October 2020 headway in the creation of generic and specific digital content about PE. An improve- Published: 1 April 2021 ment in this area is one of the challenges to be addressed in order to accomplish better development of DC in PE. Cover: Climbers ascending to the summit of Mont Blanc. Chamonix (France) Keywords: digital competence, technological applications, ICT, physical education, ©diegoa8024 teaching staff stock.adobe.com Apunts. Educación Física y Deportes | www.revista-apunts.com 2021, n.º 144. 2nd Quarter (April-June), pp. 33-43 33 C. Menescardi et. al. Training Physical Education Teachers in the Use of Technological Applications Introduction features; there are shortcomings in multimedia and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have presentations and also in creating learning environments brought about a change of mindset both in the way that which include ICT. The fields of DC in PE teachers students learn and also how teachers teach based on the have already been analysed (Ferreres, 2011), while other appropriation of content, the development of competences authors (García-González & Sánchez-Moreno, 2014; Prat and the creation of attractive venues for interaction and & Camerino, 2012; Úbeda-Colomer & Molina, 2016) knowledge exchange (Castro-Lemus & Gómez, 2016). suggest possible tools or applications (apps) for working PHYSICAL EDUCATION This is designed to make learning more effective, efficient, on content specific to this area. Previous research used innovative and attractive, thereby reducing the school the classifications that best fitted their study objectives drop-out rate (Calero, 2019; Colas-Bravo et al., 2018). to establish the scientific foundations for knowledge of Indeed, some authors suggest that the operative expression ICT and DC in teaching. should be Learning and Communication Technologies Moreover, Díaz (2015) demonstrated that teachers (LCT) (Prat & Camerino, 2012; Lozano, 2011). have advanced skills in office automation tools (word Nevertheless, implementing this approach calls for a processing and presentations) and are familiar with change in the form of teaching whereby teaching staff and use classroom management and control tools and transition from knowledge depositories to transmitters of information-sourcing tools (edublogs, databases or information and designers of learning situations using new e-journals). Likewise, Fernández-Espínola and Ladrón- materials and multimedia resources that will be made freely de-Guevara (2015) demonstrated that PE teachers are accessible to students via the Internet (Prat & Camerino, conversant with ICT (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, email 2012). This new approach requires teachers to have sufficient and search engines) and they think that including these digital competence to be able to provide students with the technologies in PE classes has positive outcomes. training called for nowadays (Díaz, 2015). Nevertheless, only a minority of them use these tools to The DC involves the creative, critical and secure use of teach their subject and moreover do so without changing ICT and therefore requires knowledge related to accessing their traditional roles, thus replacing textbooks without sources and processing information, content creation, contributing anything new. Another study performed by security and problem-solving (Instituto Nacional de Prat et al. (2013) showed that teachers rated their level of Tecnologías Educativas y de Formación del profesorado, DC skills as intermediate-user, with knowledge of basic INTEF, 2017). Student DC is a requirement of Spanish software, noting their (somewhat lower) knowledge of legislation (Royal Decree 126/2014 of February 28, which multimedia software and working in virtual teaching establishes the basic syllabus for Primary Education, environments. Despite these results, it appears that in and Royal Decree 1105/2014, of February 24, which the cases in which teaching staff use ICT (social media, establishes the basic syllabus for Compulsory Secondary blogs and wikis), they do so only passively, for example Education and Baccalaureate) so that they can write, as readers of information, but not actively as contributors present documents and search for information as well as to the development of this information. perform tasks and further their learning. Little research As can be seen, previous papers look at teachers’ DC has been done in this area since the enactment of the but not about their knowledge of specific educational current education law (Ley Orgánica 8/2013, de Mejora applications. Hitherto, not a great deal of work has been de la Calidad Educativa [Organic Law 8/2013 on the done on classifying ICT by content and type of activity Improvement of Educational Quality], LOMCE) since the (García-González & Sánchez-Moreno, 2014; Díaz, 2015). bulk of the research conducted to date took place while Although some of the efforts made by researchers have the Ley Orgánica 3/2006, de Educación [Organic Law focused on ascertaining teachers’ DC, the applications 3/2006 on Education] (LOE) was in force. This affords used for each activity and what they are used for now added value to this paper. needs to be studied. This is especially so in view of the In terms of background, several authors (Suárez- accelerated rate of change in the tools or applications Rodríguez et al., 2012) showed that teachers’ technological available on the market, as it would make it possible to competence (use of computers, basic computing classify these educational uses in teaching terms. This applications and ICT and communication resources) paper seeks to evaluate the use of applications by future is the same as a regular or basic user of technological PE teachers (final-year students and future graduates) resources such as word processors, basic Internet browsing and based on the results help practising teachers to select and spreadsheets. However, it does not cover advanced the best applications for their lessons. Apunts. Educación Física y Deportes | www.revista-apunts.com 2021, n.º 144. 2nd Quarter (April-June), pp. 33-43 34 C. Menescardi et. al. Training Physical Education Teachers in the Use of Technological Applications Methodology Cronbach’s α (consistency) and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) were .96 and .52, respectively, for this questionnaire, making it possible to gauge the validity of Participants the content and reliability of the CUTDEF (Questionnaire The sample was comprised of 155 participants, 94 men and on the Knowledge and Use of ICT by PE Teachers) created 61 women, 61 of whom were students on the Secondary by Menescardi et al. (2019. Education University Teaching Master and 94 students doing PHYSICAL EDUCATION the Physical Education speciality in Teacher Training at the University of Valencia during the 2019-2020 academic year. Instruments The students’ ages ranged from 18 to 24 years (78.7%), 25 A quantitative methodology was used by means of a survey to 35 years (20.6%) and 36 to 45 years (0.6%). The non- and questionnaire (Ruiz-Bueno, 2009).