pioneering! Dr. Gao is required to complete 100 kilometers of walking every semester

In order to encourage teachers and students to exercise more and promote the concept of healthy walking in daily life, Kaohsiung Medical University, with funding from the Ministry of Education's Excellence Program, has set a precedent among domestic university campuses by using its self-developed "RFID Physical Fitness Health Management System" to make health management more electronic. In addition, starting this semester, a 100-kilometer walking or running requirement has been added each semester.

Teachers and students of Kaohsiung Medical University use their self-developed "RFID Physical Fitness Health Management System" to monitor their own health. (Photo provided by Kaohsiung Medical University)

Associate Professor Guo Lanyuan from the Department of Sports Medicine at Kaohsiung Medical University pointed out that the school has opened a "Body Sculpting and Vitality Class" for students with a BMI greater than 24, and a "Healthy Physical Fitness Class" for those with high total cholesterol (greater than 200 mg/dl), in the hope of improving students' health and physical fitness and helping them to monitor their health. With this RFID physical fitness and health management system platform, sports enthusiasts can monitor their own exercise results, encourage faculty and students to exercise independently, and cultivate lifelong exercise habits. Since physical education is a compulsory course for high school medical students, starting this semester, it has been added that students are required to complete 100 kilometers of walking or running every semester. This system is the best assessment tool.

Looking back at history, RFID was developed in the UK in 1948 and is one of the top 10 technologies of this century. It was originally used in warfare, mainly to distinguish between enemy and friendly aircraft, and was later used in different industries to create the RFID technology that can be seen everywhere today. Everything related to the convenience of life, such as shopping, mailing, borrowing books from the library, taking the MRT, and ETC toll collection on highways, are the best reflections of how RFID has changed human lifestyles and behaviors.

The Industrial Technology Research Institute's Service Industry Technology Application Center has used RFID wireless transmission technology to develop a health management platform that integrates technology and humanity. Some domestic companies have used this technology for performance and timing management. RFID is also being used in various parts of the world for automatic measurement and timing, as well as athlete registration and entry management, to streamline event schedules and improve execution efficiency.

Associate Professor Guo Lanyuan pointed out that as long as teachers and students apply to the school to wear special wristbands (Tags), after running or walking along the outer track of the playground, the RFID system will detect within the sensing range and record the runner's mileage. The relevant records can be read at any time, and the exercise data can be calculated, judged, analyzed and stored as a basis for personal physical fitness and health management.

The addition of the RFID system will also allow sports enthusiasts to monitor their own exercise results. By setting up a sports-specific platform through the wireless radio frequency identification system, it will provide a record of the exercise mileage of all teachers and students in the school. It can also promote physical fitness certification, encourage faculty, staff and students to exercise on their own, and develop lifelong exercise habits.

Participants will be awarded physical fitness certificates based on their accumulated exercise volume of 100 kilometers per semester or 6 kilometers per week, and based on their personal sports passbooks that meet the record. Sports experts will be rewarded. At the same time, participants can also use e-portfoli to record students' sports logs, cultivate students' self-monitoring and evaluation of sports, and guide participants to design their own exercise prescriptions.