The evaluation of the net based learning environment and program 68

The net based learning environment gave some extra value to the course. It gave me as a teacher ideas for the future development and life-long learning. Even so, it seemed that the net based learning environment did not work as well as I planned.

Despite of students’ knowledge of the e-based learning (the school uses it in various subjects), students’ activity in that site was minimal. Students seemed to be shy on that e-learning environment. Maybe my instructions were too scarce or the students did only what they needed to pass the course; they did not put any extra effort in writing or commenting to the questions I as a teacher and partly as a researcher, put there. So, that way the usage of the net environment and my operating instructions were something that needs to be improved before the next course.

The goal of this program was to plan and implement a PST course for the high school environment. The planning of the course was time consuming but rewarding; the PST course seemed to fit in nicely in the high school context and students were eagerly learning these new skills. Interviews with the participants showed that this kind of PST course in high school setting is welcomed. The principal of the school announced that this course will be offered next year again and now we are already planning that (when to offer, how to promote etc.).

Feedbacks from the final inquiry showed clear positive impact the intervention had on these participants. All participants said that they would take this course again and they are going to promote this to other students so the overall evaluation showed that the course was successful and reached its goals.

The success that I felt after the course, in the course evaluation phase, clearly derived from the feelings of enthusiasm, excitement and joy that I felt during the journey. After the course all the reading what had been done in the planning phase, struggles between theory and practice within classroom sessions seemed to be nicely balanced. What I learned along the way, was that the teacher should always have a fallback; be prepared to anything and it is good to have some kind of a “tool box” from where to pick up ideas and practical exercises when needed. When I was planning this PST course, I did not know how many ideas would come up along the ride. After the course it was easy to say that this was an excellent ride and experience for me. Theory must be the foundation and base of a course like this even though practicing these psychological skills in the real is very important.

In the evaluation phase and through student learning logs it was easy to notice that especially practical parts of the course were something what was wanted and valued. The theoretical parts were also appreciated and that was something I invested in planning the course a lot. “Lots of practices, less of lecturing” seemed to work well with these student- athletes and the participatory teaching style (see e.g. Stringer, 2009) was experienced as suitable for this program and the course obviously answered to the need the students and other personnel set for the course.

The needs analysis in planning phase is something that should be done before planning further; by assistance of more experienced personnel or the target group, the planning is easier and the school curriculum is easier to understand.

There were a few setbacks to be considered regarding this PST program. One thing and probably the most evaluated thing must be the duration or timing of the course.

Something went wrong with the promotion and that is a thing that must be corrected next time. Students have to have enough time to make up their minds if they want to attend or not in course like this and they have to be told exactly about the contents and objectives of a course like this. They need better guidance for this and the course needs to be promoted better ahead. That was one of the main developmental issues in this course for me.

Another issue to be considered which was not successful was the usage of the net based learning environment (peda.net). In the future implications it will be one of my main concerns to be improved and project of development. Anyhow, overall experience from the course was highly positive. The feelings of flow during the whole process were something that described my feelings all through this 3 month journey and I am ready to improve the program for the next round.

I am so grateful to the high school principal of Teacher Training School, Kirsti Koski, for this great journey she offered me to travel. Six weeks was maybe too short period to teach and learn these skills but like one of the participant said, it was enough in a way that “this course showed the different methods and gave me a chance to use these learned skills later”.

4.4 Student expectations for the PST course

The second part of the results is dedicated to students’ expectations and views about the course. Student expectations were asked in the first classroom session and later within the interview. At first all students had few expectations towards this PST course but because the subject was not too familiar with them, these expectations were quite moderate; “I don’t know what to expect. This is so new to me”. Some of them were interested in sport psychology, someone wanted to learn more about herself, someone to enhance her self-confidence and someone participated to become a better athlete: “I want to study this field in the future. But I want to learn to use these skills in other occasions, not just in my sports”; “I participated because I wanted to learn how to relax and use breathing exercises”; “I

participated because I wanted to enhance my self-confidence”; “I want to be as good in my sports as I ever can and I believe this course can help me in that”.

Nevertheless, every single one of these students participated to gain something out of it. According to Sharp et al. (2013), sometimes client expectations of sport psychology sessions remain unclear, which in turn impacts on the individual’s ability to commit to participating in PST. This did not happen in my course because participating was optional and open to all students. Objectives, aims and everything related to this program was introduced at the first meeting and students also exposed their expectations for the program after the first session in their learning logs.

The feedback that was collected after course revealed more than the starting inquiry. Student responses highlighted two major themes in participating to this course. First, to gain understanding of psychological skills and techniques to be used to practice these skills: “Now I know how to learn to use these skills. I got so many tips from the course”; “I am sure that I will use these techniques from now on”. The other response described the meaning of practice: “This course went by so fast that I really couldn’t learn properly these techniques. But I will continue to learn these skills in my own time”; “Now it’s time to start practicing and using these taught techniques; it’s up to me if I learn these skills or not”.