For a long time, teachers have been doing a good job of preventing students from using their phones to cheat on their tests and quizzes. However, smartwatches have been increasing in popularity and it is only a matter of time before students start using these devices to cheat.

Smartwatches are relatively new devices that are basically wrist watches that have touchscreens and work like smartphones. Teachers have been telling students to put up their phones, but they have never told students to put up their watches. That is because they assume students are wearing normal watches that cannot contain information useful enough to cheat with. Teachers may not be wise enough with technology to realize, but there are many ways students can cheat off their smartwatches

A student can easily look on a notes app that is connected with their phone and copy the information from their wrist. They can also send or receive messages from their classmates on their watches and copy off that. And if students are not allowed to use a calculator on their test, they can use a calculator app on their smartwatch.

So far, the only kind of test that seems to ban the wearing of even normal watches are tests like the SAT, ACT, STAAR and AP tests. They even go so far as to regulate calculator use and approve which kind to have. But these are the only kind of tests where administrators have recognized the clever use of smartwatches.

Many tech companies make their own smartwatches, such as the Apple Watch by Apple Inc., the Moto 360 by Android and the Gear S by Samsung. There are many others as well and anybody who is tech savvy can use them to cheat. There are some that are not advance enough like the Fitbit by Fitbit Inc., since it is almost entirely a fitness tracker.

Teachers have done a good job preventing phone use but now they need to do the same thing with their students’ smartwatches before they get smart enough to c