I can’t wait to get my hands on an Apple Watch, but there are a few people out there who are less than excited by the prospect of a miniature computer you can wear on your wrist. Case in point: exam moderators.
Ahead of the Apple Watch going on sale, universities in the U.K. are beginning to issue blanket bans on students wearing any kind of watch in the exam hall — based on the fact that those teachers charged with overseeing exams aren’t able to discern the difference between a smartwatch, which could be potentially used to help cheat, and a regular, dumb, tells-the-time watch.
In place, universities are said to be stocking up on small desk clocks for any students who want them. Presumably, said clocks will be disappointedly app-free.
This kind of behavior isn’t new, of course. The arrival of cellphones meant that moderators had to rethink exam policies, by asking students to leave their mobile devices at home, or else turn them off and place them in a plastic bag under their desk. It’s likely that Apple Watches will join them there.
For me, what’s so interesting about this is what it says about Apple and the mainstream awareness of technology. Smartwatches have been around for years (you can check out our history of them here), but it wasn’t until Apple announced it was entering the wearables market that people suddenly start to sit up and pay attention.
There’s good reason for this, too: at the end of last year, research firm IHS predicted that the Apple Watch will help swell the wearable tech market to an astonishing 7x its present size by the year 2019. If that number turns out to be accurate, it’s no longer going to be the odd techie who wears smartwatches, but rather your average student. Currently, around four-fifths (82%) of new university and college students are thought to own a smartphone, while at least 20% have a tablet. If the Apple Watch follows those kind of trends, that’s a whole lot of wrists for exam moderators to check.
And the exam hall’s not the only place the Apple Watch promises to cause problems, either. Motoring experts in the U.K. have warned that individuals caught checking their Apple Watch while driving will face the same penalties as they would for using a smartphone.
Given that virtually all of these lawmakers haven’t even glimpsed an Apple Watch in person yet, we’re sure that more challenging use-cases will emerge as we draw closer to the device’s launch.
Source: BuzzFeed
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
8 responses to “Apple Watch isn’t out yet, and already it’s being banned from exam halls”
Given that most people glance at their watch to actually tell the time, I wouldn’t say that is a ‘dumb’ thing to do. Also I think it is right that if people are going to be fiddling around with a watch whilst driving, they should be well and truly brought to account, bearing in mind the danger they would be causing to other road users.
I didn’t mean checking the time in an exam is dumb, but rather using dumb to illustrate the opposite of a “smart” watch capable of performing multiple non-time related functions.
I’m a college student and I plan on getting the Apple Watch. If I had this during an exam, I don’t know why I would use it for anything other than telling the time.
Yeah, it seems awfully inconvenient to try and text your friend and wait for them to send back answers, especially since most exams rely on thinking more than just knowing facts.
I would use my Apple Watch to check the time just like I use my normal watch.
The thing is that some of these tests are given to several classes and you might have someone on the other end that took the test just before you did. There was a stats course that I was a TA for and they had 3 classes in the same day and the professor handed out the exact same test for all three classes.
Any device that can be used to text message, communicate with others, etc. would be banned from using in an exam, so you’d just stick the thing in your pocket before you walk into the room.
Funny. There is another world out there. Smart watches have been around for long time now. So has nothing to with Apple watch.