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- November 14, 2014 | Fitnet | Leave a comment
It’s hard to believe that Fitnet has already reached the conclusion of our first #TechHawks project. As the project wraps up, we thought we would take a look back at what went well, and what we learned from this project. TechHawks is a partnership between Fitnet and Healthy Hawks, a childhood obesity prevention program in Kansas City that has been taking a family-centered approach to improving behavior around exercise and nutrition. The project was funded through the Mozilla Foundation’s gigabit Fund, and provided iPads, cellular data plans, and personalized childrens exercise content from local Kansas City trainers to Kansas City families.
As the project began, there was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm on all sides for the resources Fitnet could provide to families dealing with weight issues. Seeing the kids and their families interact with Fitnet during the first meeting was a real treat. A few of the parents were initially skeptical that their kids needed another electronic device to help them get fit, but even the most hardened parents were grinning when they saw their kids stretching and jumping with Courtney Collado’s “Strength 4 Kids”.
As the program progressed, our main challenges revolved around connectivity. The gigabit fund from Mozilla is centered on discovering the benefits of ubiquitous high-speed connection, and the fact that these connections aren’t yet everywhere proves how dearly this type of forward thinking leadership is needed. For us, an unexpected black hole of connectivity was the church where Healthy Hawks held their weekly meetings. The rebar and cinder block basement was a wonderful place for families to meet and play, but not so wonderful for the cellular based connectivity of the iPads. This meant that initially it was difficult for the Healthy Hawks staff to use Fitnet with the families to help them set their weekly exercise plan, review past activity, or do a quick workout.
Despite minor difficulties, however, we consider our first #TechHawks pilot a success. We now have Google Fiber-powered WiFi in the church basement, and a solid fraction of the kids have been using Fitnet as part of the weekly fitness routine. In total we have helped these families do over 30 hours of exercise at their home, and we are just getting started. This cohort of Healthy Hawks lasts another 3 weeks, and we will be continuing to provide iPads and data plans throughout that time. We are also looking into funding sources for a second Healthy Hawks cohort in January so that a new set of children and families can use the power of technology to get active and healthy.
Fitnet is excited to be on the leading edge of the mobile-health revolution, and are so thankful for the support of our partners at Healthy Hawks and the Mozilla Foundation who made this project possible. To stay up to date on all things Fitnet, follow @fitnethealth on Twitter today.
- September 8-12 | Week 7 | Mini Update
Our first week of an active Healthy Hawks program has gone fairly well. We gave out 15 ipads last Monday, and got all of the kids doings a Fitnet exercise that very day in the parking lot. We've been monitoring their activity over this past week, and in general things are going fairly well. We are working with the Healthy Hawks staff to address some minor issues that have come up, but all signs look pretty good.
- September 10
This week we want to let you know about our next exciting step for #techhawks. We have partnered with two amazing local Kansas City trainers to produce exclusive content for TechHawks families: Coach C (Courtney Collado, pictured on the left) and Coach D (Mandy DeLeon, pictured on the right).
Courtney has been passionate about movement since her first dance class at age three, and loves to find new and innovative ways to share her passion with others. A professional dancer from New York City, Courtney is a Master Pilates instructor for Pilates Academy International; a National Academy of Sports Medicine- Certified Personal Trainer; fitness educator and writer; AFAA-certified Group Fitness Instructor; and mom to a two-year old son (who is just as passionate about dancing and movement!). Coach C loves to learn new things and move her body in crazy new ways. When she’s not training clients, mentoring new instructors, teaching a variety of fitness classes, or having dance parties with her kid, she’s probably practicing aerial acrobatics, playing a pick-up sport, cooking an amazing meal, or learning a new group fitness format to bring to her community.
Mandy began teaching group fitness classes six years ago as a second career that gave her the flexibility to be with her daughter most of the time. She started mentoring under several of Kansas City’s most experienced yoga educators in 2007 and began teaching her own classes at the Gym KC, a locally owned gym with three locations. She remained there for five years teaching mat Pilates and yoga. She is Pilates barre certified and loves teaching fun, high-energy classes. She has also worked in a variety of large corporations in the last year teaching Beginner’s Fitness, PiYo and Yoga. Her passion for yoga stems from the fact that it helps our minds AND our bodies stay healthy.
Last year, Mandy had the privilege of teaching several kids bootcamp and yoga classes at her daughter’s school and loved the playful nature and fun kids bring to a fitness routine. Mandy strives to keep kids fitness fun and engaging so that they discover that a healthy lifestyle can and should be something that they enjoy!
These two fitness all-stars have already begun producing video fitness content tailored for our TechHawks participants. Each video is about five minutes long, and linked together into 30-minute sessions covering a range of styles and intensities just like all of our Fitnet workouts. Like our Kick It Up Kids series, these workouts have also been specially designed with kids in mind. We are focusing the content on two age groups: two through 10 and 11 through 17. This provides a workout appropriate for any of our participants, regardless of where they are on their fitness journey.
We are excited to get this content into the hands of our participating families. The first meeting for Healthy Hawks was this past Monday, September 8. During the meeting we passed out iPads, gave a demo of Fitnet, and answered questions on how to personalize the system for each family. Stay tuned for our next update to find out how things are going!
- August 25-29 | Week 5 | Mini Update
We hired 2 local Kansas City trainers and the first set of content will be produced on Monday. Next, we set the following Monday, September 8th as the official Healthy Hawks start date. That will be when the families get their iPads and are trained how to use Fitnet.
- August 18-22 | Week 4 | Introducing TechHawks
We would like to introduce you to TechHawks, a pilot program in partnership with the Mozilla Foundation’s Gigabit Community Fund to provide Fitnet’s mobile fitness app and iPads to families participating in the University of Kansas Medical Center’s Healthy Hawks program on childhood obesity prevention.
Healthy Hawks is a truly awe-inspiring program that aims to combat childhood obesity by focusing on the entire family unit. They have been providing comprehensive health service program to help Kansas City children, adolescents, and their families overcome issues related to weight since its creation in 2004, and hope to use Fitnet to improve the effectiveness and reach of their program.
During a 12-week program, families from Kansas City will use iPads provided by Fitnet to access Fitnet’s complete range of instructional videos, and work with Healthy Hawks staff to craft their own personalized exercise goals. We hope that Fitnet can provide a solution for these families’ weight management needs and help these families turn the corner on healthy living. We are excited to share the story of this pilot as it progresses and hope that Fitnet can be a positive force that helps combat the growing tide of childhood obesity.
So far we have just begun our process. We have bought the iPads and started coordinating with some local Kansas City trainers. Next time we should have an update on the workout content that we are developing specifically for TechHawks that showcases local Kansas City trainers and helps them connect with these families as they get fit and stay fit.
Follow our updates here, or on twitter with #TechHawks
http://vimeo.com/78830719 | http://vimeo.com/fitnet
Tweet:
Introducing #TechHawks - Fitnet used to scale the impact of a KC program for family-centered obesity prevention http://blog.fit.net/introducing-techhawks/
Tech Hawks Partners
Metrics & Outcomes
Tech Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
By participating in the pilot, X number of people will learn the Y...
We will measure these learning outcomes by X, Y, and Z methods.
Community Outcomes
We will share how our project impacts the KC community. Stay tuned!
Show & Tell
- More to come...
