Online gym? Sounds like an oxymoron, right? Well, it's not! The May/June 2006 issue of Teacher Magazine discusses P.E. class for the 21st century.

This is how it works in the Minneapolis public school system: Students design a thirty minute workout routine that they commit to performing four times a week. They record details of their chosen physical activity in a journal and submit weekly reports to their teachers by e-mail. A parent or coach must also sign a form, certifying that the student is indeed engaging in exercise.

"It’s difficult to pinpoint how many other schools currently offer online physical education classes, but judging by the popularity of the idea elsewhere, the number seems likely to grow. At Florida Virtual School, for example, which first offered online PE in 1997, enrollment in the course has exploded. 'Personal fitness,' a course that fulfills the state’s phys ed requirement, was the most popular class in 2004, enrolling 4,500 of the school’s 21,000 students.

Susan Patrick, president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit North American Council for Online Learning, predicts the idea will catch on. 'This is the digital generation,' she says. 'Just because the medium … is some piece of technology, that shouldn't matter.'"

Personally, I think it's a brilliant idea. The appeal of creating your own schedule (maybe it was strictly a female idiosyncrasy, but I didn't exactly give 6th period gym class my all for fear of going to 7th period Algebra all sweaty) and working out however you like (for instance, choosing yoga, weight lifting, swimming, biking, running, horseback riding, you name it!) certainly breathes new life into the traditional vision of sour-smelling gymnasiums, the squeaking echoes of sneakers on parquet floors, and being picked last for a miserable, uninspired game of volleyball. [Not that that was me, I swear.]