Georgian purges paper with launch of pioneering fitness form app
Oct. 30, 2015
Georgian College recently launched Canada’s first Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) app. The app, dubbed 2015 PAR-Q+, allows full-time students to fill out the seven-question PAR-Q online, then instantly swipe their student cards to get into the gym.
PAR-Qs are mandatory for all members of Georgian’s fitness centres in Barrie, Orillia and Owen Sound. Until this fall, Georgian Athletics was printing and storing up to 5,000 paper PAR-Qs a year.
“When the students’ association decided to integrate gym memberships into full-time student fees, we worried about the impact of the influx of paper forms on customer service,” explains Michele McConney, Manager of Georgian Athletics. “We asked colleagues in IT if there was an easier way and the result was the PAR-Q+ app.”
The app is connected to the systems that manage the college’s gym membership records and student cards. The organization that oversees the PAR-Q has a form online, but because it isn’t connected to any gym records systems. People have to fill it out, print it out, and bring it in.
“That’s the innovation,” says McConney. “There’s no printing, no paper, no scanning, no handwriting – it’s all connected electronically, making it so much easier for everyone.”
PAR-Q+ is useable on all smartphones, tablets and laptops – and accessible at any time and from any place with internet service. Students are filling in the form daily, many right at the fitness centres’ front desks.
“The PAR-Q+ Collaboration Team that oversees the 2015 PAR-Q+ has a form online, but because it isn’t connected to any gym records systems people have to fill it out, print it, and drop it off,” says McConney. “With the support of Dr. Darren Warburton, Dr. Norman Gledhill, Dr. Veronica Jamnik and Dr. Donal McKenzie we were able to move the project forward into a popular app.”
“By making it easier, we’re removing a barrier to student wellness,” enthuses Michele.
The app is also contributing to Georgian’s environmental sustainability efforts.