Effects of using mobile application–assisted integrated physical education on physical activity and functional fitness among students: a randomized design

Background and purpose Current trends show an increase in the use of mobile application-assisted teaching (MA-AT) in physical education, but there are still few reports from previous studies on the effects of MA-AT on physical activity and functional fitness among university students. This study aims to evaluate the effects of MA-AT on physical activity and functional fitness among university students. Material and methods We adopted an experimental method with a pretest-posttest design. Eighty participants were involved and divided into MA-AT (n = 40) and CG (n = 40). Results Repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant effects of the condition factor (p < 0.001), the time factor (p < 0.001), and the condition × time interaction factor (p = 0.003) for physical activity. We found similar results for strength components, with significant effects of condition (p < 0.001), time (p < 0.001), and condition × time interaction (p = 0.005). There were significant effects of condition (p < 0.001), time (p < 0.001), and condition × time interaction (p = 0.007) on the power component. There were significant effects of condition (p < 0.001), time (p < 0.001), and condition × time interaction (p = 0.004) in the balance component, and a significant effect of the condition factor (p < 0.001), time factor (p < 0.001), and condition × time interaction factor (p = 0.005) was found in the agility component. Conclusions Thus, our study highlights that the application of MA-AT is proven to be effective in increasing physical activity and functional fitness among students.