Smartwatches help students beat system

● Not long ago, this would have been the stuff of science fiction: students cheating in exams with tiny computers on their wrists, and outwitting plagiarism-detection software with well-developed cut, paste and blend skills.

Today, however, these are a reality. Research reported in the South African Journal of Science says smartwatches are the latest problem in the fight for academic integrity.

Narend Baijnath from the Council on Higher Education and Divya Singh from tertiary education investment company Stadio Holdings said universities had recognised smartwatches as “wrist computers”.

The universities of Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal ban them from exam rooms. At Stellenbosch University students can bring them in but must switch them off and place them face-down on the desk.

At Pretoria University they must be switched off and put on the floor, and at Rhodes, “students found wearing a ‘questionable electronic device’ are required to clarify its function or remove it”.

Beyond the examination hall, students have become adept at simply lifting content off the internet, rewording it and submitting it as their own work.

Wits University spokesperson Shirona Patel said: “Our academics have found that ‘cut and paste’ plagiarism has become more prevalent.”

Wits uses plagiarism detection software and ensures students who are accused of plagiarism “are dealt with appropriately”.