Virtual Physical Education: Google Meet as an alternative platform for learning skill-based concepts

Abstract

Background and Study Aim. Google Meet has been the most highly sought videoconferencing platform utilized by various educational institutions worldwide to facilitate synchronous classes. The said videoconferencing platform is highly efficient based on previously published scholarly works. To further assess these claims in the current study’s situation, this paper is designed to explore the factors linked with students’ acceptance and observation of Google Meet as an alternative educational platform to learn concepts in various Physical Education courses which are skill-based by adopting the Technology Acceptance Model. Material and Methods. The selected respondents were composed of 2nd-4th year undergraduate students taking Bachelor of Physical Education at City College of Angeles, located in the City of Angeles, Philippines. The respondents for the study were identified by using the purposive sampling technique. From the 467 entire populaces, 250 students answered the online survey, and all responses were accepted after data cleaning. The Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling or PLS-SEM through SmartPLS4 was used to explore the factors affecting students’ acceptance of Google Classroom as an alternative platform to learning skill-based concepts in various Physical Education courses. Additionally, outer loadings and the average variance extracted (AVE) were scrutinized and the Fornell-Larcker criterion, cross-loadings, and HTMT were assessed to establish convergent and discriminant validity. Also, a full collinearity assessment on the outer model was performed to determine if the model is free from Common Method Bias. Meanwhile, PLS Predict was utilized to determine the model’s predicting validity and power. Lastly, the structural model was evaluated through path coefficients and the coefficient of determination (R2). Results. After obtaining data from the samples (N=250) of Bachelor of Physical Education students (Female= 42.0% and Male= 58.0%), the results displayed that: perceived ease of use is positively and significantly associated with and triggers perceived usefulness; perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are significantly linked with and leverages students’ behavioral intention to use; and, behavioral intention to use is positively interrelated with and affects the actual use of the videoconferencing platform. Conclusions. The findings of this study would be used by the Physical Education Department and the college administration to examining further if the said videoconferencing platform may continuously be used in all skill-based courses in PE since the current setting of the investigation is still in a full-online learning modality. Proposals concerning the students, teachers, and future research directions are also presented.