At Oklahoma college, exercise is required

Students required to break sweat, use health monitors

They take exercise seriously at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla.

All students are required to meet strict fitness goals. And they are graded on how they do.

For years, this meant Oral Roberts students had to quantify fitness levels. They used tables and charts to figure out the value of a jog or a game of pickup basketball or even cutting the grass with a push mower. They had to remember to check their heart rates. And then they had to translate that activity using a point system. For example, running a 10-minute mile was worth about 3 1⁄2 points. And they needed to score 30 to 50 points a week. The system was complicated and cumbersome.

“The paper and pen method was not very accurate,” said professor Fritz Huber of the Health, Leisure and Sports Sciences Department.

Now, all 900 freshmen are required to use Fitbits, wearable fitness monitors. It’s part of a new requirement that began last fall and will be rolled out with each incoming class until all students are using them.

Huber said Oral Roberts studied the fitness monitors for a couple of years before deciding to implement the mandatory program. The only complaints Huber said he has received have been about the cost.

The $150 Fitbit Charge HR records a range of data, including movement and even how well a person sleeps.

At Oral Roberts, the student Fitbits wirelessly report only a user’s number of steps and heart rate information to a school computer, which logs the data.

Provost Kathaleen Reid-Martinez said the school was sensitive to privacy concerns. She said the data are limited and fit with the school’s mission of “whole person education.”

Students are required to average 10,000 steps per day and 150 minutes of intense activity (as measured by heart rate) each week. The data comprise a portion of their grade in health and physical education classes.