Using shared online blogs to structure and support informal coach learning—part 1: a tool to promote reflection and communities of practice

Coaches' apparent preferences for informal and self-directed modes of learning have been highlighted in the literature. Consequently, there is a need for innovative coach education approaches that complement these clearly preferred, informal routes and better provide coaches with the professional skills they need to deal with the complex nature of their work. Online blogs are one such tool said to have the potential to strengthen and promote critical thinking and reflection on professional practice; however, research evidence and theoretical frameworks for their use is inconclusive and currently lacking. Therefore, the purpose of part 1 of this two-part investigation was to explore the use of shared online blogs as a tool to promote reflection and community of practice (CoP) in a cohort of 24 undergraduate sports coaching students (5 females, 19 males). Four group blogs, purposely designed to support informal workplace learning, were subjected to content analysis in order to determine the emergent reflective quality of blog entries and the extent to which functioning online CoPs emerged. Findings revealed that shared blogs were a useful tool to promote higher order reflective thinking, and fully functioning online CoPs emerged in all four groups.     

Communities of practice,social learning and networks: exploiting the social side of coach development

Large-scale coach education programmes have been developed in many countries, and are presented as playing a key role in the development of coaches and the promotion of high standards. Unfortunately, however, coaches often perceive that the current system of formal coach education fails to meet their needs. Perhaps as a result, the majority of their development is personally perceived to take place via informal and non-formal means. Appropriately, therefore, there has been an increasing focus within the coaching literature on the social aspects of learning, with social constructivist perspectives receiving particular attention. Reflecting this appropriate focus, this article explores some of the potential opportunities and threats that social learning methods, such as Communities of Practice (CoP), present for coach developers. In tandem, we outline how all coaches are influenced by a set of pre-existing beliefs, attitudes and dispositions, which are largely tempered by their experiences and interactions both with and within their social ‘milieu’. We argue that, at the very least, we need to begin to understand these constructs and, if we do, the potential for coach developers to manipulate and exploit them is obvious. In conclusion, it is highlighted that whilst offering inherent challenges, CoPs and other social learning methods provide coach developers with a great opportunity and legitimate tool to change coach behaviour and raise coaching standards. Perhaps paradoxically, we also propose that formal coach education may still have a vital role to play in this process.     

The social tasks of learning to become a physical education teacher: considering the HPE subject department as a community of practice

Initial teacher education (ITE) students participate in various workplaces within schools and in doing so, form understandings about the numerous, and at times competing, expectations of teachers’ work. Through these experiences they form understandings about themselves as health and physical education (HPE) teachers.

This paper examines the ways communities of practice within HPE subject department offices function as sites of workplace learning for student teachers. In particular this research focused on how ITE students negotiate tacit and contradictory expectations as well as social tasks during the practicum and the ways in which their understandings are mediated through participation in the workspace.

Qualitative methods of survey and semi-structured interview were used to collect data on a cohort of student teachers during and following their major (10 week) practicum experience. Analysis was informed by theories of communities of practice (Wenger, 1998 Wenger, E. 1998. Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), workplace learning (Billett, 2001 Billett, S. 2001. Learning in the workplace: strategies for effective practice, Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.  [Google Scholar]), and social task systems (Doyle, 1977 Doyle, W. 1977. Learning in the classroom environment: an ecological analysis. Journal of Teacher Education, 28(6): 51–55. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).

It was evident that considerable effort, attention, and energy was expended on various interrelated social tasks aimed at building positive relationships with their supervisor and other HPE teachers at the school. The social dynamics were highly nuanced and required a game-like approach. In our view the complexity that student teachers must negotiate in striving for an excellent evaluation warrants specific attention in physical education teacher education (PETE) programs. This study raises questions regarding our responsibilities in sending student teachers into contexts that might even be described as toxic. We offer some suggestions for how PETE might better support students going into practicum contexts that might be regarded as problematic workplaces.     

高校体育与素质教育

高校体育教育要发挥其在素质教育过程中的使命，应充分发挥体育课程在素质教育过程中的主渠道作用；充分发挥体育课外活动在素质教育中的功能和作用；运用体育运动中的美学原理进行素质教育的渗透；通过不断提高对学生的要求，开发学生潜在的素质。     

Embodied learning and school-based physical culture: implications for professionalism and practice in physical education

We write as critical theorists, who consider that in terms of scoping out robust conceptual elaborations which are suitable for contemporary schooling, that physical education has ground to make up connecting theory with practice and practice with theory. We advocate that aspects of existentialism and phenomenology can provide a theoretically sound basis on which to argue that embodied learning should be the foundational cornerstone of physical education programmes. To avoid embodied learning becoming overly learner centric and insular, we advance Merleau-Pontian informed ideas on how learning could flourish when an individual and embodied focus merges with a school-wide physical culture agenda which is underpinned by social and moral theorizing. In developing our focus on merging embodied learning and physical culture, we draw upon MacIntyrean views on the goods which are internal to practice and extend thinking on how these goods could merge with the diverse aims and intentions informing the culture and ethos in schools. In pursuing these ambitions, we outline the constructive activist-based benefits of teachers working within subsidiarity-based school communities where pedagogical decisions are made at a level consistent with realizing whole schools aims. This is in spite of our acknowledgement that the lack of career-long professional learning adds to the difficulty of achieving these aims. In conclusion we argue that if physical education is to become a pivotal component of realizing a diverse range of whole school aims there is a need for greater professional engagement with pedagogical approaches that attempt to derive greater meaning from learners movement experiences and which help learners to understand better both their own identity and the ethos of the school context and environment they share with others.     

普通高校在职体育教师专业发展情况调查与分析

对湖南3所普通高校的在职体育教师进行问卷调查和开放式随机访谈,结果表明,高校在职体育教师普遍重视专业发展,提高科研能力已经成为发展的主要趋势,专业发展的目标主要为追求个人能力发展和晋升职称等;专业发展途径以个人途径和群体途径相结合,其中个人途径主要依靠终身学习,而群体途径主要通过学术交流和业务培训;目前高校体育教师专业发展的瓶颈是自身学习态度问题和时间分配问题.在影响专业发展的因素上,激励机制方面的软环境影响广而深.为此,高校体育教师应该提高学习自主性,坚持终身学习理念,而社会也应该改善体育教师专业发展的条件和环境.     

普通高校体育课"三自主"选课模式的利与弊

“三自主”的选课模式，是教育部对全国普通高校体育课程提出的要求。“三自主”给予了学生最大的自由度和自主权，能提高学生的学习兴趣。但“三自主”亦对教师、更对我们的教育管理提出了更高的要求。仓促开设的新课较难达到理想的效果，全天候的选课亦并非符合教育及运动和生理的固有规律，自由的选项则助长了学生怕苦怕累的消极思想。实践表明：完全放开、不加引导和制约的自由选择，并非能使我们的体育课程取得最好的效果。强制性的要求对体质持续下降的大学生尤为必要。     

我国普通高校公共体育部硕士点办学的困境与对策

通过问卷与访谈对我国普通高校公体部硕士点办学研究认为:当前我国普通高校公共体育部硕士点遇到招生、课程设置等诸多困难,建议公体部硕士点应立体化招生、多元化利用师资、特色化开课和精细化培养.     

中美高校体育与健康课程内容的比较及启示

对中美高校体育与健康课程内容进行了比较研究。结果发现:美国重视培养学生独立锻炼活动的能力和创造能力;我国注重培养学生的体育知识、技能接受能力和解决问题的能力。美国课程比较注重统一性和多样性,理论和实践相结合;我国课程重统一而轻多样,重实践轻理论,且结合不够紧密。美国课程在结构按健身的功能排列;我国主要以竞技运动项目来排列。美国课程以成人生活、社会生活的需要为基点;我国课程强调学科本位,缺乏整合,没有主观色彩,割裂了社会发展与个体发展之间的联系。     

体育院校图书馆在素质教育中的地位与作用

论述了图书馆在高等体育教育中的功能，着重分析讨论了图书馆在对学生进行素质教育中的地位、作用和教育优势，从而有利于不断充实与完善图书馆的功能。