JEFFREY WISHONITEC 7445

MyFitnessPal

Technology Vision-Cobb County Schools

Mission: Technology, as an integral part of curriculum, instruction, assessment and learning, prepares students to succeed in a global community. Our students will be equipped with twenty-first century technology skills to demonstrate, apply and communicate their learning. College and career ready graduates must have these skills.

Vision: Students will use next generation technology tools to access, analyze and apply increasingly complex information to draw conclusion and make informed decisions.

MyFitnessPal

Application for Smartphones and Tablets that helps student’s track their food intake, nutritional content of their foods, and exercise.

Allows students to set fitness and safe weight loss goals.

Allows students to invite friends to support them and also get healthy with them.

Allows students to post their success to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

For student’s who do not have access to a smartphone or tablet, they can receive the same benefits on MyFitnessPal’s website at http://www.myfitnesspal.com

MyFitnessPal and Cobb County’s Vision?

MyFitnessPal is an app that has all necessary tools to support the Technology Vision of Cobb County Schools.

Access-Student’s can access a variety of information from both the app and the website. Access to information includes calories contained in foods they eat, calories burned doing varying exercise, calories necessary to consume daily to support safe weight loss.

Analyze-Both the application and the website chart the weight loss or weight gain of the students as they use the app. This allows students a place where they can go to see what results they are getting. For example, if a student lost 2 pounds in one week, they could look back to that week and see what they ate and how much they exercised. Then, if they have a week where they gain 1 pound. They can access the information from that week, compare the two, and analyze what areas they need to address moving forward.

MyFitnessPal and Cobb County’s Vision?

Apply-With all of the data that is collected by the application and the website, students can use that data to make changes to their diet and exercise routine. This data provides relevant information that students can apply to their lives.

Draw Conclusions-After a period of time, students can look back to see where they were successful and where they were unsuccessful. They can then draw conclusions as to why they were and were not successful.

Make informed decisions-This is probably the strength of the application and website. Students can use this resource after they leave the teachers class to make dietary and exercise decisions long after they leave class.

What age is this appropriate?

This application will be most effective for students in 9-12 grades students between the ages of 14-18 years old.

To ensure all students have equitable access, the teacher must reserve a computer lab if possible, once per week. Students who have access to Smartphones will be able to enter their data daily. Students without Smartphones could be allowed to use other students with permission of the student.

Cobb County School District Schools have a BYOD wifi network where students can access the internet throughout the school day.

Equipment and Software Needs

A minimum of internet access would suffice. Student’s can input data one day a week for the entire week. Student’s can also access information from their home computer via the internet.

It would be nice if students were able to access the internet via smartphone, tablet, or computer lab daily to input data.

Technical Support

The MyFitnessPal website provides technical support at http://myfitnesspal.desk.com

It would be beneficial for one teacher from each school to attend a training on the application and website so they could be the point person at their school.

Limitations and Safety Concerns

Each child will have to have parent permission to participate.

The main concern I have would be bullying of students who post their achievements on social networking sites. Teachers must discuss this from the forefront, and also let students know that they are not required to post anything to a social media site. That is only if they want to use it as a means of encouragement and support.

From a health standpoint, the application is designed to only allow students to lose at the maximum, 2 pounds per week, which is a healthy range.

$$$$ Cost $$$$$

The application and web based access are free to all students. Training of the point person for each school would require minimal funding, and a video tutorial could be created which would eliminate the need for a point person.

Funding Opportunities

At Hillgrove High School, teachers are encouraged to write grant proposals to the Hillgrove Foundation. Grant money could be used to purchase a couple iPod touch or tablets to be kept in class for students to input data.

There are also local Grant opportunities available to teachers.

Teachers could reach out to healthcare providers, local fitness centers, and dieticians to secure funding or donations in support of the project.

Health Standards

HE H.S.3: Students will demonstrate the ability to access valid information and products and services to enhance health.

This application and website is focused around students accessing the information contained in the app and on the website. The information accessed allows students to use the services provided by the app to make informed decisions that have the potential to change a students life forever.

Health Standards

HE H.S.6: Students will demonstrate the ability to use goal-setting skills to enhance health.

The application and website allow students to set both weight loss goals and fitness goals. While they are working to achieve the goals they have set out for themselves, the application tracks data that they can use to pinpoint what made them successful or unsuccessful. This leads students to a greater understanding of what it takes to be healthy and live a life where the habits they form are health enhancing.

Student Learning Goals

In health, the overarching goal is for students to make informed decisions in relation to their health. There are several different areas where learning goals are set for the students. Disease transmission from risky behaviors, alcohol and drug abuse, tobacco use, as well as dangers of obesity and living a sedentary life.

This application supports the goal that students will be able to make informed nutritional and dietary decisions in relation to their health that will lead them to living a health enhancing life long after they leave the class they are in.

Project-Based Learning

This application would be a great application to use in a fitness planning, weight management unit where Project-Based Learning was being utilized. Students could take knowledge gained in the classroom and use the app to track their improvements. Weekly weigh-ins could be conducted and following the weigh-ins, students could analyze the results, make assumptions as to why they reached the outcome they did, and make changes to the program for the following week.

As an extension of the project, the teacher could provide resources where students could further research on their own time things that promote weight gain and weight loss, and make necessary changes using what they learned.

This application would be highly functional in a constructivist classroom.

Collaborative Learning

The social networks allow students to get healthy together, plan workouts together, and compare things that worked and did not work with members of class they feel comfortable working with.

The information contained within the application and the website could also be used with the students doctors where doctors could make recommendations for improvements based on the data the students have collected.

Learner-Centered Strategies

The application itself is learner-centered in nature. Students using this application will “learn by doing” because they will learn from their successes and failures.

The best thing about the application, in my opinion, is that it creates individualized plans for each user. The knowledge gained will not be broad knowledge of their peers. The data derived from the program is a direct reflection of what the student themself has been doing.

Writing Process and Language Domains

Listening/Speaking-Student’s will be able to share within their groups as well as with the whole class if they choose. While all students are not comfortable sharing information that is of a personal nature, all students will be able to listen to the students who are presenting. They can take notes about what worked for others and make changes to their program.

Weekly Journal-Students will write weekly journal entries about why they believe they were successful or unsuccessful. They can use examples from their weeks experiences.

Differentiated Instruction

The application is designed to be tailored to their individual users. Differentiated instruction is just that. Instruction that is tailored to students to best meet the needs of that student.

The application will design an appropriate plan for each individual student based upon their height, weight, age, and activity level.

Communication

Locally-Students can communicate locally through communicating with their classmates and the members of their group. Clubs can also be established using members from the class where they invite students not enrolled in health classes. Students in health classes serve as mentors for other students.

Globally-Success stories can be shared via social networking sites.

Current Research

In a study conducted on online self-monitoring for weight loss “The study demonstrated that participants who consistently self-monitor early in a behavioral weight control program were significantly more likely to achieve clinically significant weight loss at 6 months” (Krukowski et al., 2013).

If the trials included are considered sufficiently clinically similar, as might be inferred from the meta-analysis by Liang, then it can be stated according to Van Tulder there is strong research evidence for medium-term weight loss through use of mobile technologies as part of intervention delivery (Bacigalupo et al., 2012).

Current Research

As highlighted in this research, the use of mobile phones and mobile fitness apps can be used as one of the many tools to encourage people to become more physically active (Vickey, Breslin, & Williams, 2013).

Simple mobile devices can function as an inexpensive, accessible and powerful trigger towards behavior change without the need of overly complex and expensive applications or devices (Foster et al., 2010).

Implementation

1. Train On Site Coordinator or Create Training Video2. Train other Teachers on uses of MyFitnessPal3. Introduce Application to students in class4. Create WebQuest for student’s to research various

nutrients, quantities of each they should have daily including total calorie recommendations.

5. Allow student’s to set weight loss and fitness goals.6. Begin using application with students.7. Weekly check’s, reflection where student’s analyze

data and compare to their results to ask questions and adjust fitness and nutrition plan.

8. Continue this throughout the semester.

Implementation-Change Model

Create Urgency-Using statistics about childhood obesity, I would inform staff members of the imminent threat to the health of children today and the need for change.

Form a powerful coalition-Each school that implements this program needs to form a team that consists of health educators, administrators, other content area teachers, as well as parents and students who will be advocates for the program.

Implementation-Change Model

Create a Vision for Change-I will work with the coalition to create a vision for how the implementation will look in my school. This step will be different for any school who does this. It is necessary at this step to determine resources that are available and also conduct a needs assessment to determine the areas where support will be needed.

Communicate the Vision-I will disseminate information through our PTSA e-News, Hawk Talk (school wide news show), and on the LCD TV’s located throughout the school about the program.

Implementation-Change Model

Remove Obstacles-It is difficult to know the obstacles of a program like this without implementing it. The main thing that must be done before implementation is to ensure members of the implementation team are buying in to the program. If an obstacle arises during implementation, it is important to remove it as quickly as possible.

Create Short-term wins-I think this will be the largest key to success especially early on in the program. Nothing will motivate the student’s to embrace the program more than success will. It is imperative that students set goals that are attainable. It is also important that the teacher be able to help students work through issues when they do not see success to keep motivation high.

Implementation-Change Model

Build on the Change-Reflection upon program implementation will be the key to long term success. It is necessary to evaluate the program at the end of implementation the first time and make improvements to the program that help future success be greater.

Anchor the Changes-I will record and interview students who saw huge benefits from program use and continue adding to this. This will be used to show future students about the implications for using the program.

Reflection

The emerging technology of web-based fitness applications is something that I am highly interested in. I have used these to become healthy and I believe the accessibility they provide and data they compile help enact lasting change in users. I believe advances in this space are only going to improve and I am excited to continue my research into these technologies. This experience improved my professional practice because it opened my eyes to the opportunities that are out there for not only students, but for teachers and staff members as well. This project is something I will share with members of my own faculty, and given the opportunity, other health and physical education colleagues across my district.

References

Bacigalupo, R., Cudd, P., Littlewood, C., Bissell, P., Hawley, M. S., & Buckley Woods, H. (2012). Interventions employing mobile technology for overweight and obesity: An early systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Obesity Reviews, 14, 279-291. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111

Foster, D., Linehan, C., & Kirman, B. (2010). Motivating physical activity at work: Using persuasive social media for competitive step counting. Retrieved July 13, 2014 from http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-690/paper3.pdf

References

Krukowski, R. A., Harvey-Berino, J., Bursac, Z., Ashikaga, T., & West, D. S. (2013). Patterns of success: Online

self-monitoring in a web-based behavioral weight control program. Health Psychology, 32(2), 164-170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0028135

Vickey, T., Breslin, J., & Williams, A. (2013). Fitness—There's an app for that: Review of mobile

fitness apps. The International Journal of Sport and Society, 3, 109-127.