Charity Miles Team Spotlight: Blue Saw Nation

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This week’s Charity Miles Team Spotlight is on Blue Saw Nation. Dr. Andrew C. Guyader started the team to encourage his students to get moving before his 7 am class. For logging Charity Miles students can unlock “insider information” for exams as a reward for making their miles matter.


I (Dr. Andrew C Guyader) teach engineering mechanics and created a teaching pedagogy using colors  – one of them being “blue” which has morphed into The BlueSaw (@bluesawatx) (engineering talk removed)  I need my students to find internal forces and The BlueSaw gives them the ability to do it! I

We have class early in the morning –  7 am early and for 180 people to file into an auditorium to listen to me….. We have two hurdles to conquer.  One is waking up BUT a better one is going to sleep.  Exercise is a part of that. Students walk around campus more than they realize so collecting these miles could and should add up quickly and maybe it will get someone to get a little more exercise than what they normally do – a great thing for college-age students!  Maybe that gets them to bed a little earlier and eat a bit more healthily. Hopefully, the snowball rolls downhill and momentum drives the group.  Macro-level group dynamics.

The students have a great opportunity to develop a sense of charity and donation even though they probably do not have much exposable income. Charity Miles is a great way for this group to be a vehicle for charity – they have the energy and time to do it. Better yet. everyone can contribute.  Even if they do not have a cell phone or one that can carry this app, they can get someone else to do it.

I’m offering some “insider information”. for the entire class based on the performance of the team: BlueSawNation.  If we hit some goals then triggers happen in terms of say a hint sheet heading into an exam or number of questions on an exam or practice problems released heading into an exam, etc.

It is an all-or-nothing proposition for the entire class. Yes, is all about leverage but this is very soft pressure. It’s easy for me to keep them thinking about internal forces in engineering mechanics. The BlueSaw says it all.

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