Predicting GPA

There are many ideas out there to predict a college student's GPA, but what about something real time?  What about an app?

A smart phone app can guess how college students are spending their time and predict their end-of term grades, according to a Dartmouth experiment.

Andrew Campbell, the lead investigator, admits to NPR that it sounds “creepy.”

A smartphone generally has Wi-fi, GPS to detect location, an accelerometer which detects motion and a microphone, which can pick up nearby sound. The phone also senses whether or not it’s being charged or being used.

Using this information and a map of the campus, the researchers designed an app that can guess whether the student is sleeping (phone is charging, no interaction), walking or running, studying (low noise level, 20+ minutes in same place, low interaction with phone) or partying (at a fraternity or sorority house but don’t live there, loud noise, typical party night).

Not surprisingly, students who studied more got higher grades.

They say it's a "Fitbit for the brain."