Students used to have to log a point-based value for any physical activity.
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For years, this meant Oral Roberts students had to quantify fitness levels. ORU, on the other hand, is grading its students on their individual performances, meaning they won’t even be afforded that meager protection.
Oral Roberts said The Fitbit requirement is a first of its kind for colleges and universities, Oral Roberts said. Students who fail to make “satisfactory progress” in their fitness requirement will be deemed “deficient” and will need to enroll for more fitness classes the following semester. Let’s say a student’s heart rate is suspiciously high after he leaves a party with a mystery companion at the end of the night.
All students are required to meet strict fitness goals. The school implemented the system in September, and will now be incorporated with each new class until every single student is using the monitors.
‘ORU offers one of the most unique educational approaches in the world by focusing on the Whole Person – mind, body and spirit, ‘ ORU President William M. Wilson said in a statement.
The representative also confirmed to Ars that while students in the fitness course are required to purchase and use a Fitbit with heart rate-tracking capabilities, they are not required to use a model that tracks or syncs Global Positioning System data.
The Fitbit data will be automatically logged on a school computer and shared only with the single professor tasked with giving out grades for the program. The university mandates that students buy the $140 FitBit themselves, which is a nice twist.
Provost Kathaleen Reid-Martinez said the school was sensitive to privacy concerns.
As long as they’re going to be doing this, we might as well consider some fun practical applications.
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Will other schools adopt ORU’s policy of no premarital sex, drugs or smoking? However it was not mentioned exactly how much physical activity students are required to do, although a report from The Tulsa World suggested that students need to walk at least 10,000 steps a day.
