A lot of people are buying smartwatches, particularly
since the Apple Watch launched. The devices are a little too popular to suit
some educators.
A pair of universities in Australia issued warnings
against wearing wearable technology to class during final exams, and similar
policies could soon be in place at some American universities. La Trobe University
in Melbourne barred smartwatches from the exam room, while the University of
New South Wales required students to put all wristwatches in clear bags under
their desks, according to a report in The Chronicle for Higher Education.
The Educational Testing Service, which gives the
Graduate Record exam and the Test of English as a Foreign Language, has for
years used wands to make sure test-takers weren’t carrying cellphones. The
proctors now use the wands, which are like the ones used in airport security
lines, to check for cellphones and watches.
“As we get better at our educational systems, it will
seem less like we need to ban these things, because the kinds of things we’ll
be putting on an exam students won’t be able to store on a watch,” said Eric
Klopfer, director of the Scheller Teacher Education Program, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
