Implementing the adapted physical education E-learning program into physical education teacher education program.
A short online APE module lifted PE teacher-trainees’ confidence for including students with ID, yet added no extra knowledge versus a paper handout.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers split PE teacher-trainees into three groups. One group took a short online module about teaching students with intellectual disability. The other two groups got a printed handout or no extra training.
The study checked whether the online boost raised knowledge and confidence more than paper or nothing.
What they found
The online module lifted trainees’ belief that they could include students with ID. Knowledge scores, however, stayed the same across all three groups.
Paper handouts worked just as well for facts, but only the web lesson lifted confidence.
How this fits with other research
Kim et al. (2021) saw the same pattern with direct-care staff: a two-hour online course raised both knowledge and self-efficacy for palliative care. Hye et al. now show the knowledge bump can vanish while confidence still grows.
Kingsdorf et al. (2024) and Dai et al. (2023) echo the result in parent training. Online lessons give caregivers more ABA know-how and strategy use, yet child social-communication scores stay flat. Together these studies say: e-learning reliably energizes adults, not the students they serve.
Gillespie et al. (2023) add a warning. When parents used Headsprout at home without coach support, reading gains were tiny. The takeaway: online modules help the helper, but you still need live coaching for learner success.
Why it matters
If you support school staff, a 20-minute web module can quickly raise their confidence for including students with ID. Do not expect it to add facts beyond a good handout. Pair the lesson with live feedback if you want student skills to move.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
According to the Ministry of Education Korea (2014), the approximately 70.4% of all students with disabilities are included in general schools in Korea. However, studies show that Korean GPE teachers do not feel comforatble or prepared to include students with disabilities (Oh & Lee, 1999; Roh, 2002; Roh & Oh, 2005). The purpose of this study was to explore whether an APE e-learning supplement would have an impact on the level of self-efficacy and content knowledge of pre-service teachers related to including students with intellectual disabilities. An APE supplement was developed based on the Instructional Design Model (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2005) to provide three sources of self-efficacy, mastery experience, vicarious experience, and social persuasions. Three groups of pre-service teachers (N=75) took the same content supplement with different delivery system, E-learning group (n=25) with online, traditional group (n=25) with printed handout, and control group (n=25) without supplement. Two instruments, the Physical Educators' Situation-Specific Self-efficacy and Inclusion Student with Disabilities in Physical Education (SE-PETE-D) and the content knowledge test, were given to all participants twice (i.e., pretest and posttest). A 3×2 mixed effect ANOVA revealed that pre-service teachers' perceived self-efficacy (p=0.023) improved after taking the e-learning supplement. However, there was no significant difference in the level of content knowledge (p=0.248) between the learning group and tranditional group.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2017.07.001