Discussion
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Comments
This is a great proposal you have created. I was quite surprised to learn that currently teachers are not being compensated for teaching those types of classes. I completely agree and think that creating a group fitness class at EOU would be extremely beneficial to many students and it would create alot of interest. As a student myself, I know I would definitly sign up for such a class, so hopefully it becomes a reality!
I think that this is an awesome idea. I think that a group fitness idea is a great way for promoting a healthy lifestyle, especially in a college setting. College has many different ages of students, a group fitness program would bring many students together to achieve the same goal. This would be a positive addition to EOU, and would provide fitness opportunities to different age groups. Great idea, and great presentation.
I realizee that things are expensive to keep going these days, but for the individuals to be completely volunteering all of their time without any compensation is a bit harsh. I hope that the school looks at this as a way of increasing the health of their students and a new part of the programs available.
I like the idea that you have proposed here, and the issue you brought up of INTACT teachers not getting compensated for their time! An issue that should be addressed! A couple suggestions/questions: One thing would be to send out a questionaire to all the students at EOU to determine if there would be enough interested in the class to hold the class. Another thing would be to see if there would be a way that local community members could join the class for a fee that doesn't include tuition costs just for one exercise class. Some kind of agreement on a fee for community members might encourage more community members to join a class like this to help stay active and healthy.
Good point Matt. It is very important to assess the wants and need of the community or group involved before a program in started.I also like the idea of involving the local community as well.
Thanks for the great feedback everyone. Matt, I agree that a questionnaire around campus would be a great tool in finding out the interest in a program like this. I also think it would be nice to be able to offer the classes to community members at a fee. I know that there are many community members that buy passes to the fitness facility and maybe this could be a slight optional, additional fee with that payment. The only reason I did not suggest this was the fact that many of these classes are already offered in the community at the local club and I didn’t want to be completing directly with them. But, if we were to offer different types of classes on campus you could not get at the club or maybe at different times so appealing to people with different schedules, they wouldn’t be hurt by loosing business.
You did a great job on this proposal!
Carla's right about the competition. I know that EOU tries to not to compete with Grande Ronde Fitness Center so opening the classes up to the community might be more complicated. I also was suprised to hear about INTACT teachers not even getting credit. That's ridiculous! But as you mentioned Chelsea there is a PES 409 practicum class that I'm sure would count. Physical Activity & Health majors are required to have 3 different PES 409 practicum experiences. It would be good to market teaching a group fitness class as an option.
Since EOU already has a format for teaching group fitness set up, is the basis of you proposal saying that INTACT teachers should be compensated, in order to provide motivation, and then proposing that a practicum be that compensation?
Do you know of people who are interested in teaching these classes? I've always known of the the option of teaching an INTACT class, but have never felt qualified enough to teach one. Are there enough EOU students (or atleast one) who feels like they know enough to teach a class like this? (Once it is started that teacher can take it upon theselves to "mentor" someone to take over when they are gone.)
How then do you propose this actually gets started?
Angela, I was also appalled when I found out INTACT teachers were receiving no from of compensation. And yes, I propose that in order to get some sort of compensation they be allowed to use this experience to gain practicum credits through the PES 409 practicum class. As far as a person on campus to teach this goes, it would need to be advertised to find one. I know that there are students who teach these types of classes at the Grande Ronde Fitness Center already who may be interested in also teaching them at Eastern if they know they would at least receive credits for their time. As you said once there are instructors in place the plan is to have them be able to mentor others taking the class to eventually take over the instructing.
With this proposal of the instructors being compensated through practicum credits, I would hope that in the future if this picks up more compensation could be provided, such as payment. But the current INTACT procedures would have to be changed in order for this to happen and from my research and discussion with the INTACT director they have attempted this, but the administration did not pass it. I know the people who teach fitness classes at the local club are paid $9 an hour (although they also receive a free membership to the club) which is a pretty small amount. It would seem fair to pass payment for these instructors eventually even if it is a small amount such as this, but that could be a whole other proposal in itself!
Thanks for the great comments and questions