Personal Fitness Professional - March 2009 - (Page 13) Online learning is also more effective. Learning is not a passive experience; it rests on the students’ shoulders. How many of us went to the first day of class not opening up our textbooks, expecting our instructors to work their magic? Instructors do not teach; they help people learn. Students must be motivated to learn in order to be an effective learner. That is the main responsibility of the student. Online training puts the responsibility of learning on the student. If they are motivated, they will complete the course. If not, then they often never start or finish the course. Three Options for You Cloud9Fitness offers continuing education for personal trainers and other fitness authorities. Founded in 2006 by graduates of Washington University’s Medical and Physical Therapy programs, their love of fitness found them offering exercise science classes to their classmates and the general public. The focus soon became the creation of Continuing Education Courses (CECs) to help student trainers complete school and personal training requirements. Cloud9Fitness found that individuals are hesitant to get involved with CECs because it was enforced, and the professional was not excited about taking the course. In their research, they also found instructors did not have the best personal approach or a way for people to contact them back. Here, you can always contact them. They conduct all the fitness research and create the courses themselves. Cloud9Fitness has also recognized the trend for online courses, allowing students to purchase home study course and have access to online videos. Educational Fitness Solutions (EFS), Inc. was founded in 2002 by a panel of industry experts specializing in providing two- and four-year universities as well as community colleges’ turn-key solutions in providing online professional certificate programs, specialized web-based health and fitness courses. What makes this program unique is it is instructor-led, meaning that you will listen to the instructor go through each slide presentation as if you were in a classroom setting. You can download it on to your mp3 player and listen to it again at your convenience. However, you do not have to be affiliated with a college to partake in this program; it is open to all allied health professionals who want to seek more specialized knowledge in other fields of health. The program began with the Certificate in Personal Training but now offers others, including Senior Personal Training, Women’s Exercise Training and Wellness, Nutrition and Fitness Management. Desert Southwest (DSW) Fitness is probably the most well-known online continuing education provider. They have been providing CECs since 1980, specializing in self-directed distance learning and offering the largest selection of home study courses from many recognized fitness and medical pros. Recognizing the need to form alliances with the medical industry, they also offer courses to medical and allied health professionals. DSW Fitness offers a variety of CEC opportunities from home study courses to webinars and online courses in all areas of health and fitness. As with Cloud9Fitness, DSW also realized the need for online education and began offering online courses in 1997. Long gone are the days of paper and pencil. We know trends come and go, but there are no excuses when it comes to keeping abreast in our industry. As our industry becomes more regulated, we must choose to find ways to foster our growth and development. The choice is not bounded by where you are located — only by our own motivation to better ourselves as fitness professionals. Jasmine Jafferali is the program coordinator and an instructor for Educational Fitness Solutions Inc. (www.edfit.com). She created the online professional certificate in Women’s Exercise Training & Wellness, an interactive online web-based certificate program designed to ensure the development of safe and effective exercise programs for women by personal trainers, allied health/medical and fitness professionals and the general public. Jasmine specializes in women’s health and wellness and is a master trainer for Resist-a-ball and Healthy Moms Fitness. ● march2009 · www.fit-pro.com 13 http://www.edfit.com http://www.bbupilates.com http://www.bbupilates.com http://www.fit-pro.com
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