Can technology to improve health habits be used to improve study habits?

I study hundreds of these kinds of articles and often do further research into the white papers to get more details.

“Smart Phones Help Manage Chronic Illness” is an article about how smart phones are used to help remind people test their own blood sugar or blood pressure to manage their health. It’s easy to forget to do these things or to be a bit lazy about them.

To repeat, It’s easy to forget to do these things or to be a bit lazy about them. Hmmm, sounds like the problem a certain percentage of our students have about studying English.

If students had a simple coaching system like this, to what extent would it improve their study. Certainly it is not going to completely solve the problem but it is quite possible that it will reduce the problem.

I am currently working with an IT company to develop a platform, a coaching system, that will coach students to do their online lessons and will communicate with the students by phone message.

This is a module of my Bob platform which I have talked about here before. Once study goals are established with the student, Bob will remind the student in a friendly way. If the student is unable to do it, the student will inform Bob and set another target with Bob whereupon Bob will send another reminder at the appointed time.

Because the study is online and Bob can access the online data, Bob will know when the lesson is finished and be able to congratulate the student and remind the student of the next scheduled lesson.  Typically a student will work through 3-4 lessons per week.

If a student continually postpones the lessons or fails to do them, Bob will let me know and I’ll be able to give the student a friendly call to see what is happening.

This is a pervasive technology approach inspired by the research into these technologies to help people take better care of their health. Research into these sorts of technological systems can be adapted to our English teaching needs to help student do better.