The transition of universities to distance learning, recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science in mid-March due to the situation with coronavirus in Russia, is not a reason to abandon activities such as physical education. St. Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO) has become the first and so far the only Russian university where students receive points for success in various eSports disciplines for physical education credits during the isolation period, RIA Novosti reports.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging people around the world to stay at home, read books or play video games to minimize the spread of the coronavirus infection. The management of ITMO Saint Petersburg listened to the advice and offers its students not only to play online games while sitting on the couch, but also to earn their credit in this way.
According to the head of the esports section of the university Alexander Razumov, initially the institution offered to organize esports tournaments in order to give students points and tests in physical education. However, the idea was developed into something more, which is why ITMO’s cyber physical education classes involve not only video games, but also quite familiar physical activity at home.
The selection of games for the test was carried out taking into account the opportunity to demonstrate their skills of strategy and tactics in them. There are several disciplines to choose from. For those who chose CS:GO, Clash Royale or Dota 2, the university organized leagues. For other games, tournaments are held. In addition, they offer to participate in chess tournaments and a sports poker tournament.
Andrey Volkov, head of ITMO’s department for physical culture and sports, notes that the current practice is rather an exception due to the current situation. Cyber-physical education is not able to replace physical activity, so the university also provided online training in yoga and fitness, running and cycling training. Students are encouraged to submit reports on the work done in the form of screenshots, certificates of completion of the course, and so on. Everything is written in the instructions provided to the students.
Source: 3dnews.ru