For just about ever, schools and cheating students have battled over how to cheat in their exams. While those savvy students who wish to get further without having to actually do the work, continue to think of new and eventful ways to pass their tests, schools are equally continuing to try and preempt ways in which students might cheat in an exam. As a result, over the years we have seen a number of products being banned or disallowed from an exam room. In some schools and universities, you cannot bring calculators, bags and in extreme cases, even pencil cases into an exam. That said, the smartphone changed the landscape completely.
These small little devices held the power of knowledge, along with everything else. Who needs to write the answers on their arm anymore when Google is only a click away. So it was not that much of a surprise when schools starting implementing protocol, which meant you could not bring your smartphone into an exam. It had to be either left in your bag or placed in a transparent bag and left underneath your desk. Well, smartphones are old hat now and the new wave of information is coming through wearables, such as smartwatches. What you could do then, you can now do on a smartwatch and now it seems schools and universities find themselves in the position again of having to decide what they should do. And now we are starting to see the repercussions of those fears, as some universities have announced students will not be able to wear smartwatches during exams. In fact, universities seem to have gone into overdrive a little and have announced that students will not be able to wear any watch during an exam. If you are wondering why, then it seems universities are concerned they will not be able to tell the difference between digital watches and smartwatches and as such feel a blanket ban across the watch sphere will limit the chances of a smartwatch being used.
In short, universities will treat watches as they do smartphones and insist students either keep them in their bag, placed in plastic bags along with their smartphones or simply not brought into an exam. If you are a student and worried that you will not be able to tell the time, then it seems some universities are reporting that they are bringing in extra wall-hanging clocks and also a number of individual desk clocks, for those that request them. So what do you think? Is a blanket ban on all watches the right way or simply overkill? Let us know your thoughts.