Genius Hour: Week 1

Genius Hour Progress

This semester my Genius Hour project is designed to help me improve my skills as a coach and an athlete. I am investigating how I can use video and video review software to help my athletes improve their rowing technique. My motivation for this project is to improve my abilities as a coach, with an intention to increase my athlete's self-awareness and understanding of their technical form.

I believe this is an important project based on what I have been learning so far in my education program. Many of our courses have dealt with differentiating instruction in order to reach more students. I believe the same process should be applied to coaching. It may be difficult for an athlete to comprehend exactly what their coach is telling them if they are not an auditory learner. Using video review software can allow me to better communicate errors and changes to visual and kinesthetic learners.

As a whole, I personally find the Genius Hour project and student inquiry learning to be incredibly innovative. Through my own personal experience, both in practicum and as a student, I have found that knowledge often sticks if students are engaged in the discovery process. Many of the lessons I taught on block included a brief investigation before I introduced the physics behind the concepts. I believe this lead to a deeper understanding of the concepts, as students had a grasp on a practical application of the physics equation.

In terms of progress, this week I investigated the Technique app by Hudl. This app is available for all smartphones and can be used to directly take video or import video into the software. Using this app, you can slow down the video or play it frame by frame. You can also draw reference lines in the video to better discuss and visualize technical flaws. Below is a sample video taken within the app that can be slowed down.

When I slowed the above video down, I was able to pick up on a technical flaw. To make the flaw more evident, I have drawn a green line on the image below. You can see that when my body is fully compressed, my upper and lower back are aligned before I take my first stroke.

As I initiate the stroke, you can see below that the angle of my upper back has changed relative to my lower back. By imitating my stroke with the upper back, I am placing unnecessary stress on my back and taking away from the effectiveness and efficiency of my legs (the primary power muscle in rowing). My focus for the next week will be to minimize the amount of movement out of my upper back to make my stroke more efficient.

Educational Technology

Of the activities we have done so far, I have found the online assessment to be the most useful for my future practice. A sample of an online assessment quiz for a video of a short story can be seen on my Google Site. I could see myself adapting online assessments for many purposes in my classroom. Primarily, I would modify the online assessment and use it as an exit card for my lessons. I would prepare sample problems related to the material covered that day. Student answers would then guide my lesson planning for the next day. If a great deal of concepts were missed, I would be able to modify my lesson to properly address them. Additionally, I could use the online assessment in the format presented to quiz students on videos related to course content. Video quizzes would be difficult for concepts presented in the senior physics and math courses, but I think they would be a great fit for the grade 9 and 10 classes!