With their versatility as an educational device, it is no wonder that iPads have become a staple piece of technology in many classrooms around the world. The affordability, endless functionality, and features, along with the growing number of educational apps on offer make the iPad a great textbook replacement.

However, there’s always room for improvement. Technology is advancing every day, giving schools more and more opportunities to take advantage of new innovations. One such product is the smartwatch. Whether it is Apple’s own Apple Watch or one of the more affordable iOS-compatible smart watches that you can buy today, here’s how this trendy and functional piece of tech can make your school life easier.

 

An Instantly Accessible Class Schedule

Most schools leave students with cards or pieces of paper to glance at whenever they need to find out which class is up next. Of course, the next step would be having digital schedules on your iPad, but this means having to pull out your device and find what you’re looking for.

With a smartwatch, you can simply glance at your schedule on the go by having it saved as either an image or in an app such as Calendar. Here you can easily view your day at a quick glance. It’s much quicker and easier, helping you get wherever you need to be before you need to be there.

 

Better Time Management

If there’s one thing you should learn to master in high school as soon as possible, it’s time management. Piles of homework, projects and after-school activities can become quite stressful to handle on top of studying and a personal life.

With a smartwatch app like Be Focused (free, app link), you can break up your tasks and create custom schedules. You can also make use of a feature that cleverly adds short breaks into your activities to help you get through them more efficiently.

Finding Your Way Home

If you’ve just moved to a school in an area you’re unfamiliar with, finding your way home through public transport might become a little difficult. With an app like CityMapper (link), this is no longer a problem. It will let you know exactly when your bus is arriving and where to find it.

Keeping Up To Date With What’s Going On

For subjects like Business and Economics, knowing what’s happening around the world is often important. Newsfeed apps like BBC or Quartz allow you to view snippets of news through small text messages on your watch. This gives you quick and easy access to all the information you need at any time.

Built-in Apps

Physical Education teachers can make great use of both the stopwatch and timer functions on the Apple Watch. Within 1-2 taps, they can access these and use them efficiently for all their classes.

As a teacher of foreign languages for elementary aged students, I use a lot of songs during class playing off my iPhone. Since having the Apple Watch, I have loved being able to start and stop songs with it instead of disruptively taking out my iPhone or iPad to do so. I can choose songs from any playlist, and I am super excited that there is finally a Spotify Apple Watch app. Dance and P.E. teachers can definitely make use of this as well on the go in their teaching.

Reminders

Using its much improved Siri with the Apple Watch, reminders is an excellent tool that educators will love. Here are some suggestions for reminders:

One could remind themselves to:

• hand out specific assignments;
• go out on outside supervision;
• return quizzes and tests;
• email a parent
• make a last minute photocopy

TWO Must-Have Apps

Two apps that are probably the most important for Apple Watch users are Email and Messages. Instead of being distracted by the iPhone, you’ll get a slight vibration on your wrist every time you get a message or new email. Of course, these can be muted in the Settings, but, once again, if you’re one always needs to have the latest notifications, you can discreetly have a quick glance at any incoming messages and even use Siri voice dictation or set up quick replies to rapidly respond to them.

Conclusion

These are just some of the countless applications that you can utilize with a smartwatch to help you get through the toughest days in class. School aside, smartwatches are great for so much more. You can track your runs, play music, read texts and perhaps most importantly, tell the time. I’ve had an Apple Watch for over two years, and would say that I have worn it every day and definitely make use of a lot of its features.

Have an Apple Watch and use it differently from the ideas here? Please let us know in the comments! 

Like this post? Please share it!