Some instructors get stuck in ruts, just teaching the same old material year after year, while others are open to trying new ways to capture students’ attention. For Judy Springer, who teaches Active Approach to Wellness, using the latest technology and teaching her students to be teachers was her attempt at changing up the classroom.Springer, who has been teaching for six years, decided to add GPS units and pedometers to one of her classes. She used money from an Innovation Grant that is available through the MATC Foundation to help instructors try new teaching curriculum methods in the classroom.

According to Springer, the GPS unit is a Garmin Forerunner 205. This device not only can help someone if they ever get lost during a walk, but with the included software, they can get a readout of their time exercising.

Springer explained the device informs you how many calories were burned, highest speeds, average speed, and even elevations. “So if you go up a hill, and you slow down and think ‘Why am I such a wimp?’ well, you climbed how many feet during (the walk),” Springer said.

There were other advantages to students using this device, Springer stated. First, they were able to use their own calorie-in calorie-out information in the exercises versus some fictitious person.

This helped personalize their learning. Also, because it involves the use of a computer, students who lacked experience were now gaining computer skills. “This is a good way for people who just don’t care for computers to have something that means something to them and they can apply it to other things,” Springer stated.

The other device students were able to use was the pedometer by New Lifestyles. It’s a much more inexpensive item at $20 compared to the Garmin’s $175 price tag. However, according to Springer, it still made for a great exercise-encouraging tool.

After the students had walked for 30 minutes, “it was just like they opened a little Christmas present to see how many steps they walked,” Springer said. She was really excited at their responses.

The other innovation in her class doesn’t add technology, yet it still encourages students to learn. As a requirement, each student had to go to some outside site and teach wellness to children.

Afterward the students will turn in a reflection paper about what they did. As preparation of this, Yvette Ardis, an Early Education teacher, came and worked with the class.

Some taught at the YMCA, while another, Colleen Floryance spent time at Irving Elementary School. For Floryance, this became interesting when she was able to teach in a class for a teacher she once had while in grade school. Springer hopes this experience will encourage “them to support physical activity for their kids.”

Most of the class seemed to favor the Garmin. “It gives you more information and you can do different exercises,” Jessica VanderLinden said. Another student, Ginnie Robinson, loved the idea that if you ever get lost, it can tell you how to find your way back.

However, Ashley Chavez preferred the pedometer because she wasn’t as interested in so much information. “I just want to know how many steps I take,” she said.