2. Aim & Learning Outcomes Theory & practice of applied sport psychology Achieve performance enhancement Foundation for advanced study Importance of sport psychology Understand basic sport psychology theory and practice Wider influences & applications of sport psychology
In an effort to provide context I’m firstly going to give an outline of where the course is at currently and will then go into where it could go in the future.
Course Aim & Learning Outcomes Aim: This course is designed to introduce students to the theory and practice of applied sport psychology. This course focuses on the development of psychological skills to achieve performance enhancement and personal development and serves as a foundation for advanced study within the field. Learning outcomes: At the successful completion of this course, students will be able to: Describe the importance of sport psychology Understand basic sport psychology theory and practice Understand some of the wider influences and applications of sport psychology These learning outcomes are quite broad and as such will enable a certain amount of flexibility in terms of content
Administrative content on Blackboard – course outline including task outlines and requirements and marking schedules
Task One: PART A This task will require you to write an essay describing the importance of mental performance to sporting performance. Specifically, answer the following questions with very clear examples as well as providing support for your answers from suggested readings and lecture material : Why is mental performance important to sporting performance? What mental aspects are involved in your sport? Provide examples Specifically, how could sport psychology principles assist you as an athlete and/or coach? Please provide examples PART B You will be required to locate a video clip on You Tube (or similar) that relates to your sport and sport psychology/mental skills training. Provide a link (URL address) for your clip (i.e., where is it?) Summarise the content of the clip Explain how you could use the information from the clip to assist with your sporting performance as either an athlete or a coach Task Two – Mental performance journal: This task is designed to help you develop an appreciation of the important role of the mind in sporting performance. In short, I want you to start thinking about your thinking! The importance of regularly thinking and writing about your thoughts feelings and behaviours cannot be over stated. This task is pivotal to your ability to improve your sporting performance! Exam
Student centred. They have a say in content, assessment and delivery I am a guide in their learning – not all knowing power holder.
One of my main concerns with self-directed study was that the majority of my students are in an age group that can, at times, suffer from a lack of motivation. In another autonomous strategy I could ask the students what they think will work to help keep them on track. Options topic schedule (so they know what to expect), goal setting, e-mail, texting, f2f, due by dates, what they come up with
First sessions discuss what sport psych is and isn’t Student identification of preferred topics – these could be chosen from a list of potential topics Student identification of preferred assessment strategies Some consensus will need to be gotten I will have to guide the process by suggesting potential options so that this remains realistic and manageable for me.
The Flexi Learning course & participants – the variety of strategies available and the issues covered in what it means to be flexible – anytime, any place, anywhere. Midi course – blended delivery. Moodle, f2f Block courses, Elluminate SDT - autonomy – as a means to try and help students take ownership and develop commitment Terry Marler – what can be done with Moodle. The “cookies” - podcasting
On-going development – I’m not going to have everyone’s needs met. As new students with new needs come along I will try to accommodate their needs. Decided to not go with Blogging because the course content may change from year to year and it will be too time consuming to alter it to fit student suggested structure each year. Also, I teach eight different courses and if this is going to be a sustainable option for me it will be too much work. Face to face tutorials will be held every fortnight to touch base. Not using Elluminate until other students are off campus.
This one is important and I think it should stay. Will need to discuss the reasons for this with students – ie many of them have probably not thought about their thinking and how big an influence the mental aspect has on performance. Video submission using cell phone footage of them taking? They will likely come up with ideas that I’ve not thought about
Good fit with commitment to blended delivery Uses a variety of flexible approaches – e.g., on-line, podcasting, video, face to face Students supported with face to face, e-mail, phone, OP Main support tools utilised – emailing, texting, Moodle Team work, peer support, pastoral care, referral when appropriate to support services Distance students are supported by phone & e mail
A variety of different delivery options have been provided including electronic and hard copy resources These should enable people to study anytime, anyplace, anywhere – but not necessarily anyone. I’ll aim to accommodate needs of future students as they arise. Face to face sessions – Elluminate or video
I believe that I am being culturally sensitive through my sticking to the theme of autonomy. In a class for a level 7 course that I take Justine Camp and Sonny Teio facilitated a discussion on inter-cultural communication and they discussed the platinum rule. Rather than the golden rule – do unto others as you’d have done un to you The platinum rule – treat others the way they want to be treated. - Tony Alessandra How does one achieve this? Ask! How they want to be treated.
I believe that the strategies I’ve outlined are sustainable. Sustainable materials – largely electronic based – however these do not always meet students needs. Can be re-used Sustainable practices – Once the set up is in place which will take extra time and effort I will have a quality shell that I can draw from in future classes Sustainable students – The theme of SDT has been utilised with the idea being that students who have autonomy are more likely to engage in long term intrinsically motivated learning.
Imagination – limited only by our imagination Need to do it smart – don’t want to have to reinvent the wheel again and again – have a solid core of resources because Moodle will one day be the next blackboard…Out of date and limiting
I need some more feedback on this to help me tease out potential issues
