Online design facilitation during COVID-19: Recommendations for future virtual sports innovation camps

The concept of 21st-century learning proposes critical skills necessary for operating in the future work market. The skills include e.g., critical, innovative and creative thinking, problem-solving, communication and collaboration and the skills are gaining relevance in sports and health science to discover new ways to counter the pressing health-related challenges, e.g., sedentary lifestyle. To incorporate these skills in practical learning processes, a two-day movement-based sports innovation camp was held for 54 K12 PE students. The camp was designed and facilitated by four master sports students in collaboration with local PE teachers. Due to the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown of the Danish society, the camp was forced to undergo a rapid transformation into an online-format. We utilized a qualitative single-case study approach to examine the students' motivation to participate in the online camp and provide recommendations facilitating similar workshops. The Self-determination Theory provides a legitimate ground to analyse the students' motivational perspectives of autonomy, competence and relatedness. A 6-step thematic analytical model was used to analyse the data from the students and teachers reflections and interviews, based on SDT. The analysis revealed four key recommendations in executing a movement-based innovation camp. I) Be well prepared and provide templates for the students to generate and visualize insights, and thus concretize student assignments. II) It is highly recommended to ask the participants to turn on their laptop cameras at all times, to strengthen their relatedness and communication. III) Facilitators should not refrain from using constraints, such as tight timeframes, as the creative output of some individuals flourishes under such conditions. IV) It is recommended to separate the individual groups, so they cannot be influenced by each other's ideas. Thus, gaining a higher reliance on the groups own creative competencies, and leading to greater novelty in the creative solutions.