Syllabus

Overview

We are still confirming specific lecture topics and some guest speakers. We like to wait on some of this so that we can adapt the syllabus to the topics most relevant to student projects and interests. The syllabus below will be updated.

Content will include

• Theories of well-being, resilience, behavior change, etc. that fit with digital systems

• Using multimodal sensor data and machine learning to identify mental health symptoms and monitor condition severity

• The problem of engagement: Why do most people not use mental health apps? How can we make them more engaging and effective?

• How to plan and analyze your own novel research project, and how to conduct ethical human subjects research

• And much more!

Class Schedule:

• Wed Feb 2

  • Intro to AI for Mental Health

  • Examples and opportunity for Impact. Course mechanics. COUHES

  • HWK1 assigned: Behavior Change

• Wed Feb 9

  • What factors can AI address to bring about better mental health?

  • Overview of past AI for Mental Health projects including COUHES human subjects studies

  • Project ideas discussion: Your ideas and team-building

  • HWK2 assigned

• Wed Feb 16

  • Students present project ideas & interests; class brainstorm & form project teams

  • HWK3 assigned: Project Proposal and completed CITI certificates

• Wed Feb 23

  • AI and prevention and intervention of mental disorders, Guest: Chelsey Wilks, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, University of Missouri St. Louis

  • HWK4 assigned; start to draft COUHES forms

• Wed Mar 2

  • Students present "final" project plans & experiment/study designs

  • HWK5 assigned

  • ***Submit your final COUHES forms for department approval/sign off by Mar 10***

• Wed Mar 9

  • Tips for successful human-participants studies for technology-related class projects, Guest: Neska El Haouij, PhD, MIT

  • Multi-modal wearable data for digital phenotyping, part1, Guest: Szymon Fedor, PhD., MIT

  • no new HWK ***Absolute final deadline for submitting signed forms to COUHES is March 15th***

• Wed Mar 16

  • Guest: Daniel Barron, MD PhD, Brigham & Women's Hospital Psychiatry

  • HWK6 assigned (two weeks to complete one week of work)

• Wed Mar 23

  • NO CLASS -- Spring Break!

• Wed Mar 30

  • Guest: Munmun de Choudhury, PhD, Assoc. Prof. School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

  • Multi-modal wearable data for digital phenotyping, part2, Guest: Szymon Fedor, PhD., MIT

  • HWK7 assigned

• Wed Apr 6

  • Guest: J.P. Onnela, PhD, Assoc. Prof. Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

  • HWK8 assigned

• Wed Apr 13

  • NO CLASS -- students focus on project work (Media Lab Members Meeting Day)

• Wed Apr 20

  • Final lecture topics: Meaning, Religion, Spirituality and can or should AI help with these powerful drivers of mental health? (Picard)

  • HWK = Focus on project

FINAL REPORT DRAFT (Without any results in it) DUE 4pm ET Tuesday April 26

• Wed Apr 27

  • Students present Final Project Presentations Part I (background, design, methods)

• Wed May 4

  • Students present Final Project Presentations Part 2 (results, learnings, discussion). Celebration.