An Education in Every Pocket

NPR ran a story this morning on mobile apps that folks in the mental health field are using to help better treat their patients:

These mobile technologies let users track their moods and experiences, providing a supplemental tool for psychiatrists and psychologists.

"It gives me an additional source of rich information of what the patient's life is like between sessions," says University of Pennsylvania researcher Dimitri Perivoliotis, who treats patients with schizophrenia. "It's almost like an electronic therapist, in a way, or a therapist in your pocket." 

And of course, after swerving the car over to the side of the road to barely miss the pickup truck that I'd failed to see breaking as I was lost in the radio story, I asked myself aloud in the car: WHY AREN'T WE DOING THIS WITH KIDS?

For considerably less than the cost of textbooks, we could set up every kid with a handheld wi-fi device full of personalized tutor-apps. And school/homework/fieldtrip/to-do-list reminder apps. And apps to track student progress and development -- just like the apps doctors are already using to gauge the experiences of their patients.

Ok, folks, I gotta know: anyone out there doing this already?