Lesson Plan: The Quantified Self

QS pic

Group Members: Rajan Singh, Lisa Cromwell, Samantha Gradle

Presentation slides: Big Data & The Quantified Self

Day 1

Readings:

  1. Why Counting Your Steps Could Make You Unhappier by Jordan Etkin
  2. The Beginner’s Guide to the Quantified Self by Mark Moschel

Class:

  1. Activity – Word Association: After a brief introduction, students will be asked to list off all the words that first come to mind when they think of the term “Quantified Self.” All words from the discussion will be written on the board and used as a gauge of class understanding of Quantified Self, class interest of Quantified Self, and class misconceptions of Quantified Self.
  2. Video: “The Rise of the Quantified Self?”
  3. Activity – App Inventory: Students will be asked to go through their phones and take an inventory of the apps that fall under the category of QS. This could be fitness, health, dreams, moods, sex, medication, heart rate, smoking cessation apps, calorie counters, etc. We will then take a poll of how many self-tracking apps each person has and average the number of self-tracking apps the class has. After, we will ask that everyone give us a “category” that the majority of their self-tracking apps fall under. We will explore what kinds of things people like to track and what types of things they would like to track in the future. This will set us up for our activity tomorrow.

 

Homework

To be completed before the 2nd Class:

For this 400-500 word long blog post, you will be analyzing your own methods of self-tracking, and then discuss how you feel about self tracking. Due Sunday night/before class on Monday, February 22

Pick a way that you self track and analyze it. This could be an exploration of an app in your phone.

  1. Explain what the app is and what you intended to track upon getting the app/beginning to tracking yourself.
  2. What information must you put in in order to use the app? How often do you input?
  3. Is there any information that the app does not need to function, but might suggest you input to “better” the app’s function?
  4. What is the future of this app? Do you see it changing anything in medicine, health, education, romance, etc?
  5. Does the app/do you post about this to social media? Why?
  6. Last, explain how you feel about self tracking. Does this make you feel happier? Do you feel happier when you track this (or any) aspect of yourself? How do you feel when other people post about their quantified self on social media?

 

Day 2

Readings: “THE QUANTIFIED SELF: Fundamental Disruption in Big Data Science and Biological Discovery” by Melanie Swan

Class:

  1. Reading Debrief: Unpack the lengthy reading with key discussion questions. Shift conversation from “What is the Quantified Self?” and “How does the Quantified Self affect us today?” to “How will the Quantified Self affect us in the future?” and “How does the Quantified Self relate to big data?”
  2. Introduce Activity: Ask the class what they would be interested in tracking. Use the conversation as a brainstorming session.
  3. Activity – App Development: We will put people into groups and they will “invent” an app that self-tracks anything they would like, whether it be feasible with modern technology or not. They will have to decide something that people will be interested in tracking, clearly state the inputs and outputs, identify how much data they need to give to be accurate, and classify the app as self-tracking or automatic. Each group will also need to identify how much potential the app would have to change human lifestyle.
  4. Activity – Class Sharing: Each group will present their idea to the class, and critique/comment on the ideas of their peers.