Cooper Institute and GreenLight Team Up to Bring a Blockchain ‘Digital Locker’ to Student Fitness » Dallas Innovates

[Image: Bezvershenko/istockphoto]

What does blockchain technology have to do with a sixth-graders’ pushups or a sophomore’s 50-yard-dash? A lot more today, thanks to a new partnership between Dallas-based GreenLight Credentials and The Cooper Institute.

The team-up will combine the research and science of Cooper’s  FitnessGram student fitness software solution with GreenLight’s blockchain-powered software, operations, and records management capabilities.

Together, they will leverage GreenLight’s “digital locker” solution, which allows students and schools to securely administer, store, and share fitness records. While GreenLight brings the tech to the partnership, FitnessGram is providing its user base of more than 10 million students in over 10,000 schools across the US.

“As physical activity and physical education levels continue to decline during the pandemic, it’s extremely important to keep youth fit as our research has demonstrated that it is associated with better academics,” said Dr. Laura DeFina, president and CEO at The Cooper Institute, in a statement. “This partnership will help students, their families, educators, and administrators ensure they have the necessary data to drive decisions related to activity and PE and to live healthier lives.”

GreenLight’s worked with DISD, Dallas College, and UNT Dallas

GreenLight is a self-funded startup bringing blockchain’s distributed ledger tech and its security, verifiability and trust to education. Early GreenLight adopters include Dallas ISD, Dallas College, and UNT Dallas, with students sharing records with other higher learning institutions and employers.

In 2020, we wrote about GreenLight being chosen to provide its platform to the Texas College Bridge, a collaboration of the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Impact Network, The Commit Partnership, and institutions of higher education in Texas.

Last year, Dallas Innovates named GreenLight CEO Manoj Kutty one of the Future 50 in Dallas-Fort Worth, and wrote about his firm’s partnership with UT Southwestern to launch software tools to identify depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses in primary care settings.

FitnessGram: the ‘first student fitness report card’

FitnessGram was launched in 1982 by The Cooper Institute as the “first student fitness report card.” It’s used to assess and drive student fitness decisions by students, parents, teachers, and administrators.

GreenLight sees the partnership as broadening the impact FitnessGram can offer nationwide, while helping students achieve their goals.

“Our partnership with the Cooper Institute broadens GreenLight’s commitment to using, storing, and sharing data vital to advancing student success,” said Bill Searight, president of GreenLight Fitness, in the statement.

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