Physical education teachers’ online teaching experiences and perceptions during the covid-19 pandemic

Problem Statement: A newly discovered infectious disease, known as COVID-19, has spread across the world with alarming speed. This resulted in shifting from face-to-face to online instruction and provoking stress and anxiety for many physical education teachers. Purpose: Grounded in transformative learning theory, we examined physical education teachers’ perceptions and experiences online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: The participants in the present study consisted of four male and four female teachers who were all certified in teaching PE from several different regions of the United States. A semi-structured interview was employed. Five participants teach at the public elementary school and three participants teach at the public middle school. The following questions guided this study: (a) what are the perceptions of physical education teachers when they are requested online teaching?;(b) what are the experiences of physical education teachers when transitioning from face-to-face physical education to online teaching? and;(c) Did your perspectives change after online teaching? The data were analyzed by open, axial, and selective coding. Results: The following themes emerged from the analysis: (a) Not excited about online teaching: Lack of technological knowledge;(b) Benefits and challenges of online teaching;(c) Main goal: engage in physical activity;(d) Marginalization: physical education is not valued and;(e) Longing for face-to-face physical education. Conclusions: The findings of the current study showed that participants expressed unfavorable perceptions of online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study revealed that all of the participants looked forward to teaching face-to-face physical education because they missed in-person relationships and interactions with their students. © 2021, Editura Universitatii din Pitesti. All rights reserved.