Tenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

Educators are at the forefront attempting to discover how to use digital technologies to create and disseminate knowledge in an increasingly globalized world. With the pervasiveness of digital technologies, educators using mobile applications need to consider the cultural, social, and developmental appropriateness of each application in their classrooms. In physical education, this is pertinent as fitness apps are often based on Western ideals and designed with a lack of governing physical activity guidelines. As technologies multiply and innovate in unprecedented ways, studies have lagged behind unable to prove their effectiveness in educational contexts. Through semi-structured interviews and survey results with practicing educators from around the world, this qualitative research study sheds light on the accessible and inclusive needs physical education teachers observe when using mobile applications in their pedagogy. This paper considers these findings through the lens of the hidden curriculum in physical education spaces which substantiates the effects of indirect and implicit messages conveyed. This framework was chosen to understand the diverse and cultural learning styles and pedagogies necessary for an inclusive physical education environment. As schools shape the multicultural mosaics of their 21st-century students, we argue that educators need to consider the cultural relevance of the mobile applications employed. This work aims to support educators in their desire to use technology while ensuring the cultural, developmental, and social sensitivities of students are met.