My PE department has talked about developing our own PE App for the students. Our school is now wireless and students are able to bring their own devices (BYOD). The App would be used mostly for the strength/cardio room which the students would go onto their device, click on the App, and then find the workout or cardio activity for their class.

Each teacher would update their class activity each day, so that the class would go to their teacher's link and find the lesson. The App would also have photos of the correct techniques and videos of students at each station using the correct technique.

Also, when a teacher is out for the day, the teacher can login from their home or on their device and update their lesson without even being at the school. This would help with sub plans.

Has anyone tried this before in your class? What were some problems that occurred? Is there any problems that anyone can think of that we could fix or work through before we set this up?

My school has not tried this and I don’t believe I would have enough teachers that would want to try it. Our problem would be with the students abusing their privilege of using their device. Until recently, devices were not allowed in our school. Most of our teachers are frustrated by the students that do not follow the direction regarding cell phone use. However, I would love to be able to develop an app to use at our school. Currently, I use my teaching website as a way of communicating to students and parents. It is fairly easy to add photos and updates, but I have to be tied to my computer in my office or at home in order to make any changes to my webpage. I feel an app would solve the issue of being away from a desktop and not being able to update information in real time.

I share in your disappointment of developing the app. I am not sure that my colleagues would be on board either. On the other hand, if I put something together to prove to my principal the benefit of the app, I could possibly get it started. The students in my school have the same issues with abusing cell phone use. I agree if they don't use it properly, then they don't get to use it. If you have any suggestions for me and my pursuit of the app, PLEASE let me know. Thank you

At my school we have some colleagues who are for using technology and some that are against it. I have been somewhat against it because as others have mentioned, how do you limit its usage to what you want them to do? I am curious to try to incorporate something but I am still doing research.I have been looking at the PE geek apps which I think will be beneficial once I figure out how to utilize it and figure out how to control the usage of their phones. Have you had any more luck with control?
Karen Pineda

This is definitely had hot topic. We are supposed to be a 21st Century school yet we are not allowed to use cell phones or IPADs. There are so many apps out there that I am sure doing rotations to 4-5 different centers utilizing Smart Boards, computers, IPADs, and phones could collect enough data to document something. I don't know I feel like we are all trying to play catch up.