Hi there! My name is Jimmy Kiernan and I am a Physical Education and Biology teacher based in Dublin. Like all PE teachers, I am passionate about encouraging young people to be active and enjoy providing a range of different ways for them to increase their skills and achieve their activity goals. I have a keen interest in using technology to enhance learning and have found iPad and many other PE apps and websites to be brilliant tools for analysing and enhancing students performance in sports. I hope that you get some ideas from this blog that will help you in using technology in PE, during Active Week or in other areas of the curriculum.  

Since 2018, students across Ireland have had the option to study Physical Education for Leaving Certificate. This has been a hugely positive step forward allowing students to use their love of sport and activity to gain entry to third level education. As part of this new, exciting, and progressive course, digital skills as well as physical skills are very much needed. In LCPE, students complete 50% of their coursework digitally. 20% through a physical activity project (PAP) and 30% through a Performance Assessment. This is a big step up from Junior Cycle for many students where technology was typically not used as much. As a result, many PE teachers may also be new to using technology in PE. I am going to share some tips that students and teachers may find helpful in addressing this.

Take time to practice using some of the apps that are commonly used by many LCPE teachers. Two brilliant apps that can be used to help with video analysis are Coach’s Eye and Hudl technique. However, bear in mind that Hudl technique is rumoured to be discontinued soon so if you are getting an app placed on students ipads, lean towards Coach’s eye. It is worth checking both out as they come in at different price points. For more information on how to use these apps and more check out my“Using Technology in Physical Education” learning pathway on Wriggle Connect that covers how to use these apps in step by step video tutorials.  

Some other useful apps for PE for your consideration include:

• NSCA Global - hundreds of exercise videos broken down step by step
• Bust a move “BAM” video delay - useful for instant replays of a skill being performed at up to 4 different intervals
• Reaction test – useful for collecting data on reaction time for the PAP

… and many more useful apps mentioned in my Wriggle Connect learning pathway!

This one is important! Students are now required to package numerous videos and photos together for their LCPE projects. This may be a new challenge to some PE teachers and in order to help your students you need to have a good knowledge on how these packaging videos work. There are numerous options for you to go with, but the most popular ones seem to be iMovie and Adobe Spark. A good idea is to start introducing these apps in PE to your Junior Cycle and TY classes as they will be able to figure things out with your help and from working in groups with their classmates. To put this into practice, a Junior Cycle class could be given an end of gymnastics module technology task where they need to compile a short video presentation on all of the movements that they have learned during the module with explanations for each movement. This will give them experience of where to stand for optimal recording quality as well as video packaging experience.

For more information on the technological requirements in relation to the PAP and the Performance Assessment, please visit the individual guidelines for these available at www.curriculumonline.ie