The Apple watch can be used for many different activities, the newer versions are even waterproof.  They even have a place in the school setting.  They can be used in PE to see how active you are being, or even in biology to measure your heartbeat.  As always new technology has its pros and cons.  The upside is it can be used as a tool in class, the downside is text messages are now available on your wrist.

With cheating becoming more and more prevalent in school and teachers becoming smarter and smarter, the Apple watch has really given an upper hand to the students.  This new gadget gives the person wearing it the ability to do almost anything they can do on a phone.  There is just one catch, it’s small enough to fit on your wrist.  This means kids can wear this watch under their sleeve and access content they may have failed to study during a test, when their teacher isn’t looking.

The reality of cheating with the Apple watch is unrealistic.  To type out a message takes a long amount of time because you have to use the Scribble feature.  Also since privacy folders are not used at our school it is incredibly obvious to see a student cheating.  Mrs. West, an English teacher at Wilsonville High School, believes, “We should find a way to work with it instead of always saying to put it away.”  This would make the relationships between the teacher and student less strained.

Caleb Larsen, a student at Wilsonville High School, said, “I love my watch because I use it for tracking my fitness.  It does not distract me during class because I put it on the do not disturb setting.

In my opinion the Apple watch is a great tool for students to use.  I personally set timers on my watch to make sure that I am using my time accordingly and efficiently.  It is extremely durable with the series two version being water proof.  I use it to track my exercise during the day, if I was required to take it off during school then I would lose six hours of activity.  The best way for the school to manage this is to work with the students, instead of avoiding the natural evolution of technology.