Written by Karen Dennis
The Active for Life program contributes to the school by providing outstanding teaching of both academic and practical skill and fitness building activity classes for the university community. We proudly offer more than 100 sections of 20 different activity classes ranging from recreational classes such as golf and fitness-based classes such as Personal Fitness, to lifesaving skill classes such as First Aid. Almost 5,000 students enroll in these activity classes each year, all of which are taught by School of Kinesiology and Recreation graduate teaching assistants.
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KNR Point of pride: Amy Hurd, College Outstanding Service Award [/alert]
A major accomplishment this year included the initiation of an online learning management system for many Active for Life classes. McGraw-Hill’s Connect Get Active learning management system offers convenient e-books in addition to allow for teaching consistency across multiple sections of classes by multiple instructors. Additionally, KNR 125 Indoor Group Cycling and KNR 140 Touch Rugby were added. These classes were so popular, in fact, that additional sections had to be added to the schedule to meet the demand. Finally, Liana Suhadolnik was awarded the University Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant award. Liana came to us with a wealth of knowledge and experience that contributed to her outstanding teaching. We are very fortunate to have highly qualified and skilled graduate teaching assistants in a variety of sports and fitness-based activities.
Initiatives for next year include continued excellence in teaching by our assistants. We plan to review and revise all course syllabi in our program to ensure delivery of current content and practice. Additionally, we plan to integrate Polar technology into all our fitness-based classes thanks to assistance from the Exercise Physiology Lab Staff. Polar Heart Rate technology provides feedback on exercise intensity during activity, and Tri-Fit software provides comprehensive health and fitness data.
