1. Briefly summarize & reflect on those research proposals you found interesting - do any of these intersect with concepts, topics or research that you are interested in pursuing (even in your own potential research project for this class?) On reflection (and after class feedback) what revisions or things do you need to consider when going forward with your final project and how do you plan to implement these?

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I was impressed with the yoga practice demonstrated by our colleagues and how it can be done with technology—the digital ball was moving up and down on the screen as a signal for the viewers to inhale and exhale.

The audio-visual impact was great: it was smooth and relaxing because suddenly we hear no English words and sounds from the teacher but a beeping sound that goes with the up-and-down movement of a digital ball. This lesson idea came out at the right moment in time because I was wondering how we could do a PE(physical education class) with a Zoom screen in the home, without students having to go to the gym at the school.

In fact, teachers know the importance of PE. Latest science has proven that there is a very close connection between brain movement and body movement. It says that we need to work up (strengthen) the body if we want to activate the brain, the finding of which is contrary to the traditional belief that the brain activates the body. A solid PE lesson and its function in relation to the activation of the human brain is so important that we teachers should more seriously engage ourselves in teaching PE to our students during the COVID pandemic.

However, I was wondering how we could achieve it. I was at a loss because, due to the nature of remote learning, teaching PE in a collective setting (e.g. teaching a group of students together in the gym) was almost impossible if students were staying home. Yet, as our colleagues demonstrated it so well this week, we can use a digital ball and direct our students staying home to follow the breathing procedure in accordance with the ball. This PE lesson, if done carefully, will help students cope with anxiety and nervous breakdown that can happen during a pandemic.

I think that we can do a PE lesson with technology, like this yoga breathing procedure. I even think that the yoga teacher can present herself or himself directly on the screen, without the digital ball. However, we would need better equipment. For example, the lesson can improve greatly if we have a bigger screen for every student at home because a 21 inch monitor is not big enough for the student to see the body movement of our teacher nor those of all the students. If everybody could see each other more clearly through bigger screens and crisper images, it would greatly improve the quality of the lesson. Also, the teacher needs not one but multiple screens and microphones, each of which showing the body movement and breathing sound of each student, so that the teacher can ad hoc communicate with the student who might be doing the body posture inappropriately or who might voice any questions on the spot. As long as we have sufficient high-quality equipment to monitor the lesson and enhance communication, technology can enable a good yoga PE lesson to happen in the home.

When we look at the technology integration model TPACK, we can see how nicely our yoga lesson with the digital ball can fit into the model. The yoga teacher’s face and sound can suddenly melt into an audio-visual object (the digital ball), so a particular student who has anxiety issues with a particular PE teacher can safely practice this lesson without having to worry about the direct presence of the teacher. The lowering of anxiety through the digital ball will improve the lesson for this particular student and because of this, he or she might more willingly join the PE class in the future. Another way to implement this pedagogy is that the teacher can directly present himself or herself on the screen and at the same time give the students the option to switch to the digital ball screen by turning off the screen of the teacher if they feel like doing it (This implementation will require a special button on the Zoom which allows the screen of the teacher to go off, which is not available at the time of my writing this post).

The yoga lesson with a digital ball shows the TPACK model at play. It shows how technology influences pedagogy in that teachers can actually design and improve the affective realm of a PE lesson, (i.e. lowering the anxiety of the student through the use of the digital ball). In other words, technology can help lower stress related to an interaction between real people (student vs. teacher) that may not be productive.

However, I still have a hard time connecting this yoga lesson to the remaining part of the triangular model of TPACK, which is how this technology (.e.g the digital ball) can help the delivery of content. So if anybody is reading this post, please help me with this question!!