MIT News breed · Science

MIT Course "Hack Yourself" Focuses on Personal Well-being Through Data

A new course at MIT, "Hack Yourself" (6.C31), aims to improve students' college experiences by teaching them to apply computational thinking and data science principles to personal habits and well-being.

Developed jointly by EECS and the Experimental Study Group (ESG), the course teaches students to treat well-being and learning as systems problems, gathering and analyzing data to test interventions.

The curriculum covers personal interventions and analytical skills, emphasizing data collection methods like surveys and interviews, and critical evaluation of information, complementing technical training.

Common student goals include reducing smartphone use, improving sleep, and enhancing work habits and productivity, with no single intervention proving universally best.

Assignments often involve teamwork, incorporating research-backed strategies for collaboration, such as "pre-mortems" to anticipate project failures.

Students collect "Intention cards," tangible reminders of over 60 research-backed habits, which also serve as memory aids and encourage spaced repetition.

The course encourages students to experiment with personal goals in areas like relationships, sports, and motivation, developing hypotheses and analysis plans, and critically evaluating AI tools.

Instructors aim to equip students with the ability to ask better questions and understand the data science pipeline, a fundamental skill applicable beyond specific technologies.

AI-samenvatting op basis van de bron.