When schools transitioned to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, a revelation emerged: many students thrive in a flexible, online environment. Recognizing this, school districts like St. Vrain Valley Schools established full-time virtual schools as a permanent option post-pandemic. As a result, LaunchED Virtual Academy in Colorado now serves a wide range of students within and outside of the district, with a comprehensive curriculum to support student learning.
As part of the curriculum, LaunchED Virtual Academy offers opportunities for virtual physical education so that students can develop lifelong fitness, health, and wellness skills remotely. With curriculum and technology, the virtual physical education program sets out to develop key skills and knowledge through choice and flexibility. At LaunchED Virtual Academy, students meet virtually for physical education classes for an hour every other day of the week.
A popular course within the virtual physical education program at LaunchED is the Fitness Lifestyle Design course. PE teacher Murray Wallace explains that the goal of this course is to equip students with a robust experience so that they can pursue a lifetime of fitness,
“The goal of the course is to help students explore fitness while building the important knowledge components so that they have both the skills and understanding to live healthy lives.”
Knowledge Components Of Virtual Physical Education
To begin each class, Murray introduces key concepts around fitness, health, and wellness. From basic anatomy to more detailed elements of exercise science, Murray says that the knowledge components help set the stage for the what and why of the upcoming fitness activities students will complete,
“Setting the knowledge foundation helps in a lot of ways. First, it gives them key terminology to navigate workouts better. But it also helps them understand why they are doing it. For example, we might start a class discussing cardiovascular fitness and its impact on health.”
After the opening introduction, students then go independently and complete assignments that deepen their learning of different knowledge concepts. For curriculum, Murray taps into PLT4M, which he describes as an important resource to further students’ understanding of the what and why of fitness,
“PLT4M has been a big part of the Fitness Lifestyle Design class because the articles, videos, and chapter questions help students dive deeper into the curriculum.”
Murray takes PLT4M’s chapter questions and assigns them as quick formative assessments within LaunchED’s learning management system (Schoology).
Choosing From Different Fitness Activities
After completing the cognitive portion of the class, Murray opens up a wide range of PLT4M workout options that students can complete independently. Last semester, Murray decided to open up three program options for students to choose from:
- Intro To Fitness – A bodyweight course that introduces students to basic components of workouts via foundational movements like squat, lunge, hinge, press, and pull.
- Yoga – An introduction and practice of basic standing, twisting, balancing, hips, spine, and core yoga poses.
- Pilates – No equipment pilates focused on control while enhancing balance, flexibility, and the mind-body connection.
Murray says that allowing students to choose and explore fitness was an essential element of the Fitness Lifestyle Design course,
“I wanted students to have a choice so that they could find an option that interested them. And while I knew some students might stick with one program all the way through, I also encouraged students to try all the different options throughout the semester so they could compare and contrast what they liked.”
And because the goal of the virtual PE program is to be flexible, Murray explains his excitement when he saw students started to pick and choose workouts throughout the week, even when not in class,
“With PLT4M, I could see the different types of workouts students were logging. Sometimes, students would log workouts at night or over the weekend and cruise through their available workouts. And that is what it is all about…giving students the freedom and flexibility to explore fitness on their own time and terms.”
Bonus: Check out a sample lesson from the PLT4M Pilates program.
Key Takeaways On LaunchEd’s Virtual Academy Physical Education
For LaunchED Virtual Academy physical education, students are building the skills and knowledge for lifetime physical fitness, health, and wellness. PE teacher Murray Wallace has built a thoughtful curriculum that blends knowledge and fitness activities to help support the complete picture of student learning.
As virtual schools set out to create new opportunities for student learning, physical education remains an important part of the educational experience. LaunchED Virtual Academy demonstrates the power of building lifelong fitness skills remotely, so that students can pursue a lifetime of fitness, health, and wellness no matter where they are.
BONUS: Looking Ahead For LaunchED
While LaunchED just started using PLT4M last year, Murray says he is excited to keep expanding the virtual physical education program,
“There are a lot of opportunities to keep learning and growing with the virtual curriculum and technology. There are new things I am excited to start incorporating into the Fitness Lifestyle Design course, as well as our other Core PE class.”
In Core PE, a more general physical education course, Murray says he plans to use different units and lesson plans within PLT4M, such as pickleball, basketball, weightlifting, and more.
In addition to expanding within the two current course options, Murray also hopes to create more course options for students to choose from,
“Students are required to take 4 credits of PE, so the goal is to give them 4 completely different options they can take throughout high school. The hope is that they have a well-rounded experience they can take with them for the rest of their lives.”
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