CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

New App Measures Students’ Moods and Mental Health

Wired Campus - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher Education: A computer-science professor at Dartmouth College is building a smartphone application that can detect users’ levels of happiness, stress, and loneliness, he says, with the hope of helping students monitor their mental health.

The app, called StudentLife, draws on sensor data from smartphones to “infer human behaviors,” says the professor, Andrew Campbell. It was inspired partly by the mental-health struggles that Mr. Campbell’s brother experienced while in college. The professor also wants to test his hypothesis, based on classroom observations, that students’ fluctuating stress levels correspond to their behaviors.

9 comments:

Olivia LoVerde said...

At first I thought this would be a cool concept but then after reading through the whole article it seems a little strange, Trying to find moods of people that you can associate with them being depressed. Why is it really necessary for a teacher to have this kind of information? If a student is able to choose who sees the data what is the point of getting the data. I can tell when I am in a good or bad mood and don't think I need an app to tell me this. I find this to be a weird app and would not be thrilled or even think about using it.

Jess Bergson said...

I agree with Olivia that it seems odd for a professor to feel as if they need this information about their students. The only real application I can see for a tool like this is for a psychologist to analyze their patients activities. Even still, this application does not necessarily tell whether or not a person is depressed. I think this application could be extremely groundbreaking if there were some tweaks made to it. However, I do not see this app being useful except for a strictly medical setting. I understand that professors may feel a gap between themselves and their students, but I think it would be way more effective and accurate for these teachers to simply reach out to students who are struggling and have an adult conversation with them.

Katie Pyne said...

You know, this is definitely interesting technology, but I feel like it's a waste of effort. This is definitely useful in order to understand your students, I guess....... However, I think that actually talking to your students and helping them with their problems would be a better use of time. There's one part where the author talks about using the microphone in their smartphones. That, to me, is really creepy. I wouldn't want my teachers to be spying on me without my consent. Yes, they'd be trying to help me, but I'd much rather talk to my teachers directly instead of having my phone spy on me.

Zoe Clayton said...

I think it is wonderful to be able to check in with yourself and see how you're feeling both mentally and physically. It is always beneficial to be in tune with your body and state of mind.

That being said, I think it is highly inappropriate to demand or even politely ask for any of that private information. If a student decides to monitor their stress levels, that is their business and their business alone.

Part of a teacher's job is observation and the ability to read their students' moods. Obviously in a lecture hall there is a different dynamic, but for smaller classes the teacher should be automatically alerted by any out of the ordinary or depressive behavior. They should not rely on data or technology.

Technology removes personal experience and all situational concessions. It is impersonal and impersonal materials are not what should be associated with mental and physical health.

Evan Smith said...

Is it just me, or am I not grasping what this app is trying to do. I mean how does it monitor when you’re awake at night, is it if you use your phone? I think an app like this is still in its development phase. It just makes it hard to understand how it’s able to track as well as it does. That would almost be as if the person were on the app all the time updating what it is they have done throughout the day. I’ve dealt with a different app that tracks eating habits, and I’m sure this work in the same but different way. There are so many unanswered questions about the article with the app that needs justification for the app to be as legitimate as it says it is. Of course you’ve got other outside factors that don’t include the app such as the doctors and researchers involved. There is still what seems to be quite a bit of work to be done, in order for the app to play out its function.

Unknown said...

I do not think I would be comfortable with this. It sounds like it is recording you all the time. That is more than a little creepy. It would be much more appealing if you entered the data yourself and I'm sure with the right incentives you could actually get students to do that. However I think the time and money spent on this could probably be better used actually trying to help the students instead of just monitoring them. It sounds like the justification for the project was that it would help the students but really the professor running it just wanted the data

Alex Reed said...

I really appreciate that people are starting to pay attention and asses the needs of student. For the longest time it seemed as though the privilege of attending university out weight the importance of a students mental health. With the pressure of academics the future and familial expectations weighing on underdeveloped minds constantly I believe that it is easy to slip in to a depressed state. Now with all this technology and new knowledge of the human brain this generation has definitely stepped up its care of its mental health. The staff has become well trained and with people constantly making advances like this app I believe one day we wont have to worry too much on student health.

Kat Landry said...

I appreciate the intentions of this application, but I find it a little excessive and unnecessary. As others have said, it's a little absurd that teachers should know these kinds of things about their students. As for the students- are we not able to detect our own stress levels? I know whether or not I am in an okay place. If I'm worried about being depressed, I'll see a psychologist, not consult an app that spits out the same information for everyone and not on a case-by-case basis. I am not even a little bit interested in this app, and frankly, I'm getting pretty annoyed by all these apps trying to take the place of skills (such as monitoring mental health) that we should be learning on our own.

Zara Bucci said...

This application could go one of two ways. It could be good for some students who feel that they need their mental health monitored. Or, it could be looked down on- as well as the professor- for being too personal.I feel as though meetings might work better in detecting your students mental health level and helping them keep it on track. I just feel like if an app told me how mental stable I was- I would not listen to it. Since the app is just an app and is not mandatory, I suppose people can do with it what is will and from there we can have no true say. It could be good for some-it could be bad for some.