Abstract:
In recent times there has been an increasing advocacy for the use of media and digital technologies in physical education. While research attention has been centered on examining how technology is used by physical education teachers and can facilitate student learning, there have been few studies that have focused on how teachers have integrated digital technologies into their teaching and navigated the issues involved. The purpose of this study was to explore how one teacher (Greg) sought to explore the factors that enabled and constrained his use of digital tools and how developing digital competence and confidence would impact on his practice. Through a self-study of his practice, Greg learnt that digital technologies have the potential to enhance learning in his lessons but only when three key conditions are met. Firstly, teachers and learners need to be prepared to use it. Secondly, the particular PE context and setting must be appropriate to its use. Finally, digital technology must clearly contribute to meeting the set learning intentions. If any of these three factors are not present then the impact of digital technology, beyond being a novelty for either teachers or learners, is likely to be negligible.
