gpa
Latest
Researchers use an app to predict GPA based on smartphone use
What a person does on their phone call tell you a lot about them -- including their GPA. Researchers from Dartmouth College and the University of Texas at Austin have developed an app that tracks smartphone activity to compute a grade point average that's within 0.17 of a point. The software is called smartGPA and using it alongside "periodic self reports" keeps tabs on how hard a student is studying and partying -- on top of physical activity, sleep, attendance and social interactions. Members of the research team were also responsible for the StudentLife app that kept up with mental health and its effect on grades, and this goes a step further by taking into account a broader picture of daily life. "We show that there are a number of important behavioral factors automatically inferred from smartphones that significantly correlate with term and cumulative GPA," the study explains. Installing the app, which is built with cloud and machine learning algorithms, monitored a group of undergrads 24 hours a day for 10 weeks.
Study: Video games affect studying time; Us: *gasp*
A study found that students who had a video game player to distract them in college studied 40 minutes less and it translated to a first-semester drop of 0.241 points on a 4.0 scale. The study by two professors at Univ. of Western Ontario and Berea College wasn't looking at video games, just the effects of studying on grades. The study had 210 subjects and gathered information by having them fill out "time-use diaries."The study says that students who had a roommate bring a game console to school showed a substantial drop in time spent studying. These students did "not exhibit different levels of class attendance, partying, study efficiency or paid employment - all factors that also could affect grades ... This means that the lower grades of students whose roommates brought video games can be attributed to the fact that these students studied less." The simple lesson to walk away from this is that if you're going to play video games, make sure it doesn't affect your study time. That's it, lesson learned.
