Are video games appropriate in phys ed classes?

A few days ago Dylan posted a video to twitter (shown below) where a school has started having their students wear heart monitors in phys ed so they could "properly track their activity".  They also shifted the focus away from what we would traditionally see as ganes and activities in phys ed towards video games like Dance Dance Revolution.

Around the same time I got a tweet from Edutopia linking to an article talking about the same techniques. Using DDR and other video games to get students moving in phys ed.

Both the video and the article are somewhat dated (the video from 2007, and the article first appeared in 2008) so I am interested to know if these techniques are still being used today.  If so, what successes (or failures) are being observed?

The idea of using video games is one that I worked with a few years ago as the executive director of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award in Saskatchewan.  One of the components of the Duke of Ed program is physical fitness and we had an applicant who listed wii fit as their physical activity.  Does that, or should it qualify?

I think that as long as children are up and moving there is a positive physical gain. I have participated in DDR games and played Wii Fit and worked up a sweat.  It is entirely possible to get a good workout by following along to video games and dances.  If this is what it takes to motivate students to get active why would we put the kibosh on any opportunity for physical activity?

The one caution I would have though is that this type of activity in phys ed class can't be at the exclusion of all else.  If as phys ed instructors we rely solely on video games to get students moving what will happen when they go home and don't have these tools to use?  What about students who come from lower socio-economic situations and will never be able to afford expensive video game systems?  How will we create lifelong active individuals if ALL they know is playing video games.  I think this is a tool in our arsenal and if we can use this tool to get students up and moving, and sweating and increasing their physical fitness then that is GREAT!  We should not forget about games and activities that can be played outside in the fresh air using few or no supplies.  We need to be able to supplement a video game activity with something that all students can do together even if they don't have hundreds (thousands) to spend on technology.

Agree? Disagree? Please share your thoughts with me on using video games in phys ed.

Technology as a Tool for Physical Education?

Last term Brian Lewis visited our health class to introduce himself to us and to encourage us to all sign up for twitter so that we could connect with him and he would have an easy way to pass information along to us.  Because it was the end of term I didn't think too much about it and thought I would connect with him in January when class started.  Well, we had our first class on Thursday and I guess now is the time to make those connections :)

As Brian was talking about the professional relationships that can be built on twitter and through blogs I kept thinking about my friend Joanna.  She is an expert in the field of integration of technology in Regina having attended both Google teacher training and YouTube teacher studio in July of 2011.  The night of our class I sent her a text asking if we could meet up this weekend to talk about twitter, blogging and technology and thankfully she said sure!  I hope this meeting will be fruitful and help me see how using these technological tools will help me be a better teacher and how to use them effectively without becoming a slave to the technology or needing to spend too much time reading tweets or following links.  I know it's easy to get bogged down in "trying to catch up" with all of the blog posts or tweets of someone you follow and I hope she has some tips to avoid this.

I am sure I will come back on Sunday night after our meeting with lots more to share.