Health and Physical Education Department
Curriculum
The Gwinnett County Online Campus Health and Physical Education (PE) courses teach the same AKS and Indicators of Achievement that are taught in all Gwinnett County Public Schools courses.
Time Commitment
Health has reading assignments everyday along with numerous written assignments, discussions, and projects for each unit. When determining how much time you will spend working on your course per day, you need to account for how quickly you read and how computer proficient you are as well as how quickly you are able to type. On average, students will spend an hour per day during Fall and Spring semesters on their coursework and 2-4 hours per day during a mini-mester or the Summer semester on their coursework. Obviously some students require less time to meet the course requirements and some students require more time to meet the course requirements – it depends on the individual student. Students enrolled in health courses with our campus are allowed to work as far ahead as they would like excluding unit exams. Late work is not accepted unless the student has a documented emergency or an excused absence from school.
PE covers three units along with numerous written assignments throughout the semester. The majority of the student’s time in PE will be spent doing workouts. The student will work out a minimum of five times per week starting off with each workout being 15 minutes in length and progressing to each workout being 45 minutes in length by the end of the semester. While doing workouts, the student must wear the Polar Heart Rate equipment provided by Gwinnett Online Campus. During exercise the student needs to be working out within and/or above their target heart rate zone for 70% of their workout. Therefore, many students find online PE very challenging. Late work, which includes workouts, is not accepted unless the student has a documented emergency or an excused absence from school.
If at any time the student has equipment issues, it is imperative that they contact Polar along with their PE Instructor. A parent, coach, personal trainer, etc. cannot ‘vouch’ for a student’s workout. The online PE workout grade is based on how long the student worked out along with how long they were within their target heart rate zone. This can only be monitored by the Polar equipment. If the equipment is lost, stolen, or damaged, the student will need to replace the equipment at the price of $285 prior to receiving another set of equipment.
Online Chats/Virtual Classes
All instructors will hold at least one chat a week according to the schedule posted in each course. These chats are designed to enhance student mastery of the AKS and to provide an opportunity for remediation, reinforcement, and extension. Students are required to attend these chats or listen to the chat recording within 48 hours. Students will then complete an assignment that accompanies each chat. Each of these assignments will be factored into the classroom assessments category of the student’s grade.
Face to Face Requirements
Health students are required to attend a mandatory face to face final exam at the end of the semester. Since this is our only face to face assessment of the students’ understanding of our content, any student who does not take the face to face final exam will not be awarded credit for their health course. Health students have the opportunity to attend the Alcohol Drug Awareness Program (ADAP) which is needed prior to receiving their driver’s license. ADAP is offered at Gwinnett Online Campus one time in the Fall, Spring and Summer.
PE students are required to attend the mandatory pre, mid, and post fitness testing. During the fitness testing students will be graded on the pacer run, sit-ups, push-ups, as well as sit and reach. Students will receive their heart rate equipment during the pre fitness testing along with instruction on how to operate it. PE students are also required to attend the mandatory face to face final exam at the end of the semester. Since this is our only face to face assessment of the students’ understanding of our content therefore any student who does not take the face to face final exam will not be awarded credit for their PE course.
Please click here to view a copy of a sample syllabus and calendar from the Online Introduction to Lifetime Fitness course.
Please click here to view a sample online health syllabus and here to view an example due dates for this course.