A Qualitative Examination of Online Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Observational Preferences Within Physical Education

Purpose: This qualitative case study examined students’ interpretations of their physical activity (PA) experiences within in-person and online physical education and how that influenced their PA self-efficacy. Method: The study participants were 40 (24 females) current high school students from three different schools who participated in focus group semistructured interviews. Results: Two themes were developed during analysis of the coded data: (a) online participation in PA within physical education was awkward and (b) students had a variety of observational preferences based on perceived and actual similarities/differences between students and their teachers, peers, and people within online videos. Discussion/Conclusion: The design of PA experiences should attempt to support or increase students’ PA self-efficacy by limiting students’ feelings of being uncomfortable or on display, increasing students’ opportunities to learn from each other in comfortable ways, and providing students with detailed demonstrations from teachers and peers with a variety of skill levels.