E-evaluation system for physical fitness assessment of Malaysian school children

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Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Abstract
Administration of annual physical fitness assessment in schools provides the opportunity for large scale monitoring among children. However, obtaining measures of physical fitness in youth can be difficult, especially in large samples. The implementation of Standard Kecergasan Fizikal Kebangsaan (SEGAK) in government schools were found to provide challenges in the administration aspect which hinders the initial purpose of physical assessment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a wireless fitness assessment and monitoring system (WiFAMS) to overcome the challenges that were identified. This study used both qualitative and quantitative approaches. A needs analysis was conducted among physical educators using an open-ended questionnaire to first determine the challenges that exist and there was a great need for a system. The WiFAMS was then developed, its test-retest reliability was conducted on 40 secondary school students and usability was assessed using the IsoMetrics questionnaire on physical education teachers and other potential users. New national standards were then generated from fitness test results of 2400 students aged between 13 to 15 years via grading formulation. The major challenges that emerged were related to reliability of data, data management, support and resources, administration issues, as well as both teachers and students' perception on physical fitness assessment. The test-retest reliability gave reliability (r) values of more than 0.7 showing good and acceptable reliability and users agreed that this system is suitable to be used in schools; however some questioned its suitability to be used on a wide scale. Large amounts of data led to the development of a new national standard which was found to differ from the one previously used. This study showed that the use of WiFAMS can increase the levels of reliability by decreasing errors caused by human factors; save time by efficient data management; and motivate teachers and students to conduct and perform physical fitness assessment properly. The new national normative standard was also more suited to the Malaysian population since data used to derive the standards were obtained locally and can be used as future reference
Description
Thesis (PhD. (Health Science))
Keywords
Physical fitness, High schools--Malaysia--Administration, School management and organization
Citation
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