Marketing the Apple Watch: A Rotten Approach
From Inside Higher Ed (
https://www.insidehighered.com/...) based upon a report by 9TO5Mac (
http://9to5mac.com/...):
Apple has a new way of promoting its Apple Watch this fall: as a secret in-class communication device… retail workers are being encouraged to pitch the wearable to students as a means to sneak peeks at a screen without their instructor noticing. “I don’t think the teachers have caught on to the watch yet,” Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts reportedly said in an internal video to retail workers, adding that Apple Store employees should encourage students to “jump on it before the teachers do.”
As a history professor at a community college, I am dismayed that Apple would actively
market one of its products as a tool to assist students in cheating. True enough, an Apple Watch tethered to an iPhone inside a student's backpack can easily display course material on its small screen allowing that student to glance at his or her wrist and cheat on an exam. But should Apple be actively encouraging academic dishonesty? Using it as a selling point? If the reports referenced above are true, that is precisely what Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts has done. And it is just plain wrong.
Our high schools and colleges have a serious problem with cheating. A significant minority of students actively attempt to cheat… from plagiarism on papers to old fashioned crib notes and a myriad of other ways. Sadly, many succeed and grow up to become cheaters as adults. But a significant majority of students do not cheat and resent those who do and achieve grades that are not earned.
Apple should be justly proud that its products continue to enhance and improve education in America, but this approach to selling its Apple Watch is a serious misstep. Educators who work hard to teach ethical values should be supported not undermined. Telling store employees to point out to students that the Apple Watch can help them cheat is not something the company needs to do. Understanding that is called having a moral compass.
This will not affect my classes greatly because during exams I will make sure my students store their Apple Watches in a separate area out of sight. But as a professional educator, I just want to say to Apple: "Come on, we're supposed to be on the same side!"