Physical Educators' Exergaming Integration Behaviors, Attitudes, and Self-Efficacy Beliefs

Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Exhibit Hall Poster Area 2 (Convention Center)
Jennifer Krause, The University of Texas–San Antonio, San Antonio, TX

Background/Purpose Exergaming technologies have emerged in physical education in recent years as an attempt to revitalize physical activity levels among youth. Research on the effects of exergaming is increasing; however, there is little research on teachers' implementation. Past studies have indicated that physical educators had low levels of confidence with regard to technology integration (Woods et al., 2008). Due to exergaming technology's potential impact, it is essential to understand the extent to which physical education teachers implement these technologies. Bandura (1997) stated that self-efficacy beliefs, influenced by prior experiences, are powerful motives of behavior. In order for physical educators to integrate exergaming into their classes successfully, it is important to understand their beliefs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' self-efficacy beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors with regard to integrating exergaming technology in physical education.

Method This study involved 402 in-service physical education teachers from 35 states (USA) who completed the online Physical Educators' Exergaming Technology Integration, Attitudes, and Self-Efficacy Inventory.

Analysis/Results In-service physical education teachers reported having moderate to high levels of attitude and self-efficacy beliefs, and Pearson's r correlations suggested strong, positive relationships between attitude and self-efficacy beliefs (r =.56, n = 402, p < .001) toward integrating exergaming technology in physical education. Teachers' prior exergaming integration experiences were positive overall, yet limited due to barriers such as budget and support.

Conclusions Results of this study suggest that physical education teachers feel confident and have positive attitudes, despite many barriers to integrate exergaming in physical education.

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