Cyber PE class' popularity increasing for high school students
Monday, July 21, 2003
By RAY PARKER, brparker@naplesnews.com
Over the summer, 16-year-old Lina Ceron didn't have to change her clothes in a locker room or possibly humiliate herself on the playing field.
Lina Ceron, 16, completes a jump-roping assignment in her driveway for her high school physical education class. Ceron will be a junior at Barron Collier High School and is taking the class online because she does not have room in her schedule during the school year. She said she prefers this method because she can complete the required exercises and assignments at home and on her own time. Kathryn Waldeck/Special to the Daily News
Instead she sat in front of her computer and completed her physical education requirement.
All from the comfort of home.
" I think it's pretty good because you can work on it anytime you have the time," said the upcoming Barron Collier High junior.
In the 21st century, high schoolers can take PE online without ever stepping into a school gym. Florida Virtual School offers a plethora of high school classes via the computer, including Latin, physics or even advanced placement biology.
But one of the most popular courses involves the one that's haunted skinny nerds through the ages.
" It's one of our most popular courses (with) over 700 enrolled this summer," said Donna Weisman with the Virtual School.
For Lina, the online version offered convenience. Although she's athletic, the teen couldn't fit the requirement into her busy schedule, which will include advanced placement physics, psychology, Spanish and pre-calculus.
For 15-year-old Allison Walker, however, cyber PE meant convenience of a different sort.
" I was amazed ... PE online, right," said the upcoming Gulf Coast High sophomore. "I thought it was pretty odd but I thought if I don't have to take it in school, then that's cool."
Nearly 50 Collier students have taken the two online PE courses since 1998: fitness lifestyle design and personal fitness.
But teens take note: The online versions are no walk in the park. Allison, an A student, was a bit shocked when she got her final grade: B.
Ceron uses the Web to receive instructions and assignments for her physical education class. Her parents are supposed to sign off on the exercises once they are completed. Kathryn Waldeck/Special to the Daily News
"I thought it was going to be an easy A," she said.
Instead, she discovered extensive weekly reading assignments along with physical workouts, such as running and push-ups. In addition to monthly calls from her online instructor, her mother would have to sign off on her exercises and her heart rate.
" It's all about your integrity; that's very valuable," said Allison's mother, Pam Nickell. "She has a notebook that's probably 4 inches thick. It's very involved and self-disciplined."
Nationally, 16 states have either established virtual high schools or plan to do so in the coming school year, according to Education Week's "Technology Counts 2003" report.
But the Sunshine State's remains the largest. The state-funded Florida Virtual School was started as a complement, rather than a competitor, to the traditional public school system since starting as a pilot program in 1997.
The online school logged 10,273 enrollments in the 75 courses it offered this academic year, and served 6,896 individual students, including some from other states and countries, school officials said.
The majority of students attend their hometown high schools for the bulk of classes. Home schoolers made up 14 percent of students this school year, while private school students numbered just less than 5 percent.
Virtual PE instructor Jo Wagner scoffs at the idea of her and her peers putting more traditional PE teachers out of a job.
" There's no way we can put PE teachers out of business ... (online PE) is not for every kid," said Wagner of Fort Myers, who taught for 18 years in Lee County schools but for the past two years has taught via computer.
The PE course lasts 12 to 15 weeks and, in addition to weekly reading assignments, there are three workouts per week for at least 30 minutes each.
Last semester, Wagner oversaw 110 students from all over the state, comprising about 35 percent male and 65 percent female.
Those interested can log onto the Web site at www.flvs.net.
Wagner said, "There are as many reasons why it's popular as there are kids."
For Lina and Allison, it's all about convenience.
" I'm really not a PE kind of person," Allison said. "I think a lot of students would like it, especially if they don't really like PE that much."
