The effectiveness of Okayama University program during expansion period of COVID-19 infection

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Physical Education and Sport for Higher Education Vol. 18; pp. 49 - 55
• Main Authors: SUZUKI, Hisao, KOBAYASHI, Yuji, OTA, Akemi, TAKAMARU, Isao, KURASAKI, Nobuko, EDAMATSU, Chihiro, SUGA, Masaki, SUMIMOTO, Atsushi, SHITARA, Kayo, YASUDA, Tomohiro, NOGUCHI, Kyoko, SHO, Michiko, NOGAMI, Reiko, MATSUI, Hiroshi, TAKEDA, Kohei, MIYAZAKI, Masami, MIZUKAMI, Masako, SHIOSHIMA, Rie, NAKAYAMA, Kyoichi, AKIHARA, Yu, OBATA, Hiroki, ITO, Takehiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Japanese Association of University Physical Eduation and Sports 2021
• Subjects: online instruction materials; physical education; program evaluation
• ISSN: 2434-7957
• DOI: 10.20723/jpeshe.18.0_49

The expansion of COVID-19 infection had left no choice for our institution but to shift to on-line instructions instead of in-person instructions, which have resulted in significant decrease in the students’ physical activities. Under these circumstances, we developed the Okayama University (OU) program, which was an online instruction program for university physical education aimed to increase the students’ physical activities. The OU program consisted of endurance exercise, resistance training, and stretching exercise which were the exercise items that improve health related physical fitness. The physical activity and exercise standards of OU program met the traditional structured exercise program standard of American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the lifestyle physical activity program standard of joint creation of ACSM and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the combination of above-mentioned program standards. Our OU program has been introduced on the website of Japanese Association of University Physical Education and Sports. As a result, we were able to provide a package of our teaching materials to 63 universities, and the package was used by 2,404 students in 24 universities. Among these 24 universities, 19 of them participated in this research, and 1,333 students evaluated the effectiveness of the OU program. The survey period was July and August 2020. The students who gave “Fair” to the difficulty score for theoretical learning in OU program was 73.6%. Seventy-point six percent of the students answered that their physical fitness improved since the beginning of the program, whereas 71.5% of them had routinized their physical activity. The degree-of-satisfaction average score of OU program were 4.0 points (max 5.0 points), and the students who answered either “Satisfied” or “Somewhat satisfied” were 72.4%. The comprehensive evaluation average score was 3.8 points (max 5.0 points), and the students who evaluated the program either “Very good” or “Good” were 69.5%. Since our OU program received high evaluation and its efficacy was established, it was suggested that the program was an effective on-line instruction material useful in university physical education.