People from AAHPERD 2009

The AAHPERD National Conference 2009 was held in Tampa Bay, Florida this year. Before I went to the conference I had a few specific goals set:
1) Meet people in the area of PE Technology
2) Take the sessions that included technology
3) Receive feedback on my research and dissertation ideas
4) Excite other educators about the uses of wikis in Physical Education
How successful was I at meeting these goals? This post I will talk about the first goal.
I definitely met a lot of people in the area of Technology as it relates to PE. Here are a few examples (there are a lot more):

- Dr. Derrick Mears who presented on using Excel to observe and evaluate PE teachers. I will explore this topic in the near future in my supervision course. I had the pleasure of talking with Dr. Mears about my research when he visited my poster and I know he will be a wonderful resource for me. He already is a great role-model for me so I look forward to working with him. Dr. Mears is one of the professors that also attended the TGfU International Conference in 2008. In addition, He graduated from the University of Arkansas with a PhD in Kinesiology Pedagogy and a cognate in Educational Technology, the identical stream I am enrolled in.

- Dr. Sean Bulger: It is always a wonderful feeling to meet the educators, researchers, writers that one quotes in papers and I was thrilled to have Dr. Bulger visit my poster to provide some insights. His work has inspired me to continue on with my research as I feel it is valued and important to the success of new teachers. That first year of teaching PE can be very stressful and I truly think that using wikis to develop personal learning supports may assist in the smooth transition from college life to professional PE teacher.

- Dr. Brad Baine: Brad graduated from the University of Arkansas and when I first met him I knew right away that he was as passionate about learning and teaching PE as I am. Our paths crossed multiple time and I had the pleasure of assisting him with the creation of a wiki. He attended my session and provided some excellent feedback. In addition, he asked some questions that allow me to critically think and challenge my frame of mind regarding using wikis in my teaching. I appreciate that! I hope that in the near future I can work with him in some manner.

- Dr. Stephen Yang, Richard Coshott, Terry Grim: 3 Exergame evangalists that I have the priveledge of meeting several times during the conference. I met Richard "activegamer" on Twitter and looked him up during my first day there. I was familiar with exergaming but I never tried it out until the conference and found myself (for the first time), playing videogames because of the active component. All three showed me a variety of exergames that I never heard of and it is an area open for exploration in PE. The exhibition hall had a variety of boots dedicated to Technology and exercise and I had no idea how much fun it could be. Richard has now created a wiki that will focus on the implementation of exergames: www.exergaming.pbwiki.com . On the plane back, I was thinking how cool it would be to get a grant to buy some exergames and do research with PE teacher candidates as far as implementing it in a PE class. Next session I am taking a grant class so here I go!I am quite jealous of all the grad students Dr. Yang has in his exergame lab. I would love to be involved in his research!


- Dr. Bonnie Mohnsen: I wanted to meet Bonnie (author of teaching "Technology for Physical Education", website: http://www.pesoftware.com/) for a couple of years now so when I finally met her at AAHPERD, I was thrilled. I was able to explain my research ideas and receive some excellent feedback. Even though my main area is the exploration of wikis as an instructional tool for PE teacher candidates, I thought of another idea when I was at the conference. As NASPE came out with new standards, technology should be implemented in PETE programs. For my dissertation, I would like to survey the PETE programs to see whether Technology in PE is in fact being offered to PE teacher candidates. And if it is, in which capacity. In addition, how is the use of PE technology assessed? I think this may very well be a wonderful dissertation topic, even though I do and will keep going with my research in wikis and social networks. I also had the pleasure of meeting Leslie Waugh, an instructor at Midwestern State University, whoc would like to explore the assessment part. She provided some wonderful insights in technology in PETE during both poster sessions she presented. I look forward to working with her in the near future.

- Dr. John G. Helion: John was close to the first person at AAHPERD that talked to me. He is funny and great to talk to. He and I attended a few sessions together and it was always a delight. He created his own blog in one session and a wiki in my session. I hope our paths will cross very soon because I know I can learn a lot from him. I can tell he is one of those professors who truly cares and is passionate about teaching his students! Thanks John! It was truly a pleasure! :)

The AAHPERD conference has been a truly amazing yet exhausting experience for me. For the first time I felt I was going in the right direction and that is a good feeling to have. Specially when you have support from people who know what they are talking about! At this point, I wish I would have a little bit more money so I could attend a few more conferences because I feel I got so much out of it yet have so much more to learn. Next blog post I will continue my reflections of the AAHPERD conference 2009! Stay tuned!