Information and digital educational environment for sports at a university (Russian experience)

Abstract

Purpose: to experimentally confirm the concept of information and digital educational environment for sports activities at the university to increase physical activity and improve the functional status of students. Materials and methods: the study involved students (n = 6812). The experiment was performed from 2017 to 2020 at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (Moscow, Russia). Physical culture facilities were transformed, and fitness training was increased. Digital tools and diagnostic measures were expanded to improve students independent training, level of knowledge about their health, means of monitoring physical activity, use of mobile applications in monitoring nutrition, body composition, and functional status. Results: the proportion of students who regularly participate in sports changed from 20.2% to 38.4% for young women and from 52.0% to 71% for young men. Sport preparedness indicators, obtained by the «Omega-M» method, changed in the group of girls from 33% to 48%, while the maximum values of athletic form were 100%. In the group of young men, the athletic form at the beginning of the study was 62%; at the end of the experiment, it was 73%. Owing to the expansion of fitness tools in the physical education of students, the «low» level of reaction to physical activity changed from 33 to 17.1%; the «satisfactory» level changed from 33 to 28%; the «good» or «average» level of reaction increased from 25.3 to 41.2%. The dynamics of the «excellent» level increased from 6.7 to 12.8%. Conclusions: this experiment, that which was performed carried out among students, showed that the adequacy of the regulation processes in both young men and women significantly changed. The positive dynamics of the level of regulation of cardiovascular system and other morphofunctional indicators was observed, which confirmed the effectiveness of the applied means of physical culture, means of stimulating classes in sports sections, as well as information and digital technologies that help to quickly assess health indicators and allow, to manage their health status.