Incoming freshman at Oral Roberts University will be required to don Fitbit wearable watches which will record their physical activity.
Prior to the latest directive, students were required to manually log aerobics points into a fitness journal. ORU President William M. Wilson stated:
ORU offers one of the most unique educational approaches in the world by focusing on the Whole Person – mind, body and spirit. The marriage of new technology with our physical fitness requirements is something that sets ORU apart. In fact, when we began this innovative program in the fall of 2015, we were the first university in the world to offer this unique approach to a fitness program.
Even the leftist Daily Beast admitted in 2013 that Oral Roberts, a Christian university, was the fifth healthiest college in America.
The fitness tracking program will be available to all students; the device measures the amount of exercise, food, calories burned, weight, and sleep and records when the various activities occur. The students might need to enroll in classes distant from each other; the school may require them to take at least 10,000 steps each day.
The university’s website asserted, “The Fitbit trackers will feed into the D2L gradebook, automatically logging aerobics points. Before this breakthrough on the campus in Tulsa, the University successfully integrated wearable technology in their online programs. The university inspired and encouraged all online students to track physical activity through wearable technology in the spring of 2014. This allowed them to save, plan and share progress.”
Professors may have access to the information gleaned from the devices.
ORU’s website added, “Oral Roberts University (ORU) has maintained a fitness component as a part of their unique Whole Person Education since the University opened in 1965.”
According to the school, over 550 of the roughly $150 Fitbit devices have already been sold in the on-campus bookstore.