Fitbit Fitness: University Makes Trackers Mandatory -- No Exercise, No Grades

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An Oklahoma University is requiring its students to wear Fitbit fitness trackers. Their activity will be logged at a system in the school and they will be graded for it.

Fox News reported that Oral Roberts University (ORU) is making students log 10,000 steps a day on their Fitbit devices. However, it should be pointed out that the required fitness assignment is not new to the school. ORU has been making fitness mandatory since it opened in 1965. The only difference is that, back then, the students were asked to keep a fitness journal to write down their activities.

Today, the school would only have to look up their data via the university computer to verify if they are meeting the requirements. It's a lot less tedious and the students cannot log inaccuracies on their data compared to when they used to do this manually.

Apart from the 10,000 steps required daily, the college kids also need to log 5 miles of walking on their device and engage in 150 minutes of intense physical activity weekly. Mandatory Fitbit fitness tracking makes for 20 percent of the grades in the Healthy Fitness I class that all freshmen students have to complete.

"Our university is world renowned for its focus on body, mind and spirit, and ranks in the top five healthiest universities in America," said Mike Matthews via Tulsa World. He handles the data that the university computer collects.

"ORU students can keep using their trackers during school breaks too. Our students can be in Africa for spring break and the system will still be recording data," he added.

NBC News reported that the school does also not monitor the students' weight and diet. They only need the record of the students' fitness activities, the number of steps taken and heart rate. The school also doesn't access Fitbit's GPS tracker.

While the class is only for freshmen students, older undergraduates have been encouraged to take part. In fact, ORU's bookstore have sold over 550 of Fitbit gadgets to its student body. This device cost about $150 each.

A professor divulged to Fox News that the only gripe the students have is the cost of the device; other than that, the program has been doing well and it's setting the school apart from other universities. It has pushed other students to change their lifestyle but, for the most part, the system has been widely accepted.

ORU hopes to use the data for further studies, particularly in linking exercises to academic success.