Smart Calendar: Integrating AI for Student Mental Health and Wellbeing

^1,*Akshay Narayan, ¹LI Jiayao, ¹Bimlesh Wadhwa, ²Alex MITCHELL, ³Eric KERR, and ²Weiyu ZHANG

¹Department of Computer Science, School of Computing (SOC)
²Department of Communications and New Media, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS)
³Tembusu College and Asia Research Institute (ARI)

*dcsaksh@nus.edu.sg

Narayan, A., Li, J., Wadhwa, B., Mitchell, A., Kerr, E., & Zhang, W. (2024). Smart Calendar: Integrating AI for student mental health and wellbeing [Poster presentation]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-anarayan-et-al/

SUB-THEME

Opportunities from Wellbeing

KEYWORDS

Smart calendar, AI, Time management, Rest and recovery, Wellbeing

INTRODUCTION

University students face high cognitive loads and often feel they lack time for academic activities (Kyndt et al., 2014), increasing their stress levels (Kausar, 2010). Time management is a suggested coping strategy (Macan et al., 1990) that enhances academic performance and reduces anxiety (Razali et al., 2018). However, many students struggle with time management due to juggling academic, extracurricular, and personal commitments (Xu et al., 2014).

Good time management helps students analyze tasks, plan effectively, and understand task priorities (Nonis et al., 2006; Sauvé et al., 2018). It leads to academic success and enhances life quality beyond university (Wang et al., 2011). However, students need support to develop these skills (Van der Meer et al., 2010).

THE CORE CHALLENGE

Despite its importance, studies haven’t focused on effective intervention mechanisms for time management or directly considered students’ mental wellbeing. Research often mentions stress reduction as a side effect but doesn’t address it directly. With AI advancements, we can now provide targeted interventions. AI can offer personalised scheduling and proactive reminders, including breaks and relaxation periods, to support both time management and mental wellness.

OUR PROPOSED STRATEGY

Our proposal results from discussions within a Technology for Social Good learning community. Recognising student mental wellness concerns at NUS, we explored technological solutions. We suggest a two-pronged approach using AI with a “smart calendar.” First, automate task planning and scheduling to reduce cognitive load and include intervention mechanisms. Second, incorporate mental wellness by automatically scheduling “recovery time” in the task schedule.

Addressing mental health and wellbeing

It is assumed that better time management improves mental health by reducing stress from unfinished tasks. However, most studies overlook the need for recovery and relaxation after demanding tasks. Research shows regular micro-breaks and sufficient sleep enhance productivity (Kim et al., 2018; Kühnel et al., 2017).

We propose incorporating sleep schedules and explicit micro-breaks, proportional to the duration and the demand of the cognitive task, automatically in task scheduling. For example, a two-hour core-course lecture should be followed by a thirty-minute recovery break in the schedule.

Automating time management

We believe AI can enhance task scheduling by automating it using the following inputs:

System input: Fixed academic schedules from university sources like timetables and LMS.

User inputs: Personal schedules defining non-academic and extracurricular activities.

We solve the task scheduling problem algorithmically, treating it as a constraint satisfaction and resource optimization issue. Given the fixed, limited available time, we aim to optimise its utilisation. Tasks and micro-breaks are modeled as constraints for the schedule. Additionally, the system can learn user behavior and preferences to refine the schedule.

The smart calendar also nudges students (Caraban et al., 2019) to record task completion and follow scheduled micro-breaks, providing targeted interventions for mental wellbeing.

THE PATH FORWARD

Currently, we have formulated a Master’s thesis project for developing an AI-driven smart calendar that addresses the intertwined challenges of time management and mental wellness for university students. Under this project, we are prototyping a calendar application based on the discussions arising out of the learning community focused on Technology for Social Good. The calendar aims to provide personalised, proactive support, helping students manage their busy schedules with ease and confidence. Going forward, we intend to perform a user study to measure the effectiveness of such a calendar application among university students. We believe as educational institutions prioritise mental wellness, adopting AI calendaring solutions could significantly foster a healthier, more productive student community.

REFERENCES

Caraban, A., Karapanos, E., Gonçalves, D., & Campos, P. (2019). 23 ways to nudge: A review of technology-mediated nudging in human-computer interaction. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems,

Kausar, R. (2010). Perceived stress, academic workloads and use of coping strategies by university students. Journal of Behavioural Sciences, 20(1). https://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/doap/PDF-FILES/3rd-article-Vol-20-No-1-2010.pdf

Kim, S., Park, Y., & Headrick, L. (2018). Daily micro-breaks and job performance: General work engagement as a cross-level moderator. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(7), 772. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/apl0000308

Kühnel, J., Zacher, H., De Bloom, J., & Bledow, R. (2017). Take a break! Benefits of sleep and short breaks for daily work engagement. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 26(4), 481-491. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2016.1269750

Kyndt, E., Berghmans, I., Dochy, F., & Bulckens, L. (2014). ‘Time is not enough.’ Workload in higher education: a student perspective. Higher Education Research & Development, 33(4), 684-698. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2013.863839

Macan, T. H., Shahani, C., Dipboye, R. L., & Phillips, A. P. (1990). College students’ time management: Correlations with academic performance and stress. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(4), 760. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-0663.82.4.760

Nonis, S. A., Philhours, M. J., & Hudson, G. I. (2006). Where Does the Time Go? A Diary Approach to Business and Marketing Students’ Time Use. Journal of Marketing Education, 28(2), 121-134. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475306288400

Razali, S., Rusiman, M., Gan, W., & Arbin, N. (2018). The impact of time management on students’ academic achievement. Journal of Physics: Conference Series. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/995/1/012042

Sauvé, L., Fortin, A., Viger, C., & Landry, F. (2018). Ineffective learning strategies: a significant barrier to post-secondary perseverance. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 42(2), 205-222. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2016.1224329

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Wang, W.-C., Kao, C.-H., Huan, T.-C., & Wu, C.-C. (2011). Free time management contributes to better quality of life: A study of undergraduate students in Taiwan. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12, 561-573. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-010-9217-7

Xu, J., Yuan, R., Xu, B., & Xu, M. (2014). Modeling students’ time management in math homework. Learning and Individual Differences, 34, 33-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2014.05.011