Sort of? I can’t claim that the information I’ll share will help you make a case for your department chair or dean to pony up money for this (or to allow you to use any educational funds already allotted to you for this purpose). But, when I’m making a decision to divert the Game of Thrones action figure portion of my paycheck to an expensive tech gadget, coming up with a professional reason to buy a toy always helps ease the stress of the decision.

Disclaimer: So, yes, I woke up at 2:00 am April 10 to put in an order for the Apple Watch. I didn’t make an appointment to see the watch in person – I knew I wanted the Apple Watch Sport, since my primary reason for purchasing it is to replace my FitBit, and I also knew I wanted the smaller watch face size, since I have chicken-leg-sized wrists. A colleague of mine made an appointment with her husband and said it was well worth it, since they both ended up choosing different watch options from what they had anticipated purchasing.

There are many, many reviews out there (some of which will be linked below, and Mashable’s is my favorite) from folks who have actually had this thing on their wrists for a week or so. My focus here is on helping you – and me – justify the purchase as “for my job as a teacher”:

Do you pride yourself on being ahead of the curve with all things education-technology related?

There are many smartwatches on the market, but as with most technologies, the “waiting with bated breath” was reserved for Apple’s entry. Most reviews I read compared the Apple watch to another product (Pebble Steel, Samsung Gear S, Sony Smartwatch), but all noted features where the Apple Watch still had an edge (*cough* not battery *cough*).

One glaring issue for teachers is the limited nature of apps. Even tablet and phone app designers haven’t yet figured out how to deliver a comprehensive educational experience within one, all-powerful app. For example, in a foreign language class, students might use Quizlet for memorization flashcards, a translation/dictionary app for quick reference, and FaceTime to practice with a language partner, but they’d still need to access their course somehow, and learning management system apps don’t yet allow students to complete all course tasks. That’s four apps for one course, and the key LMS app doesn’t work that well, so how could we expect a smartwatch with even more streamlined and limited apps to even tiptoe into this arena?

But, just because I can’t imagine exactly what educational applications a smartwatch might provide doesn’t mean that getting in the game early is pointless. When I got an iPad, I was certain I wouldn’t use it for reading, but I’ve eventually come around to doing selective reading on the device, and I prefer to read there when I know I’ll be annotating. I don’t know what comparable, work-related task the Apple Watch might help me do more effectively, but I’m willing to buy blind to figure it out.

If you agree, BUY IT, and be part of the exploratory group that the Apple and app designers will listen to.

Have you tricked out your course with gamification or badges?

One of the features I know I’ll like is the “taptic” feedback, described best by The New York Times’ Farhad Manjoo:

The Apple Watch’s most ingenious feature is its “taptic engine,” which alerts you to different digital notifications by silently tapping out one of several distinct patterns on your wrist. As you learn the taps over time, you will begin to register some of them almost subconsciously: incoming phone calls and alarms feel throbbing and insistent, a text feels like a gentle massage from a friendly bumblebee, and a coming calendar appointment is like the persistent pluck of a harp.

Let’s say you were able to set up a course that communicated with students in this way: a quiet tap to remind them of homework due; a firmer (or, more annoying) tap to warn of a high-stakes assessment coming up; a friendly nudge to encourage them to start studying early for that midterm! Just as I’m excited for my Apple Watch to remind me to stand up at some point during my day in front of a screen, I’d appreciate some reminders (or rewards!) to keep me on pace in other areas.

Oh, you’re interested in some validation or friendly nudges from a piece of gadgetry on your wrist? BUY IT, and bask in the tiny screen’s glow of incremental feedback.

Do you feel like your teacherly life is in a constant state of notification-interruption?

Most of the reviews I read talked about how the wrist notifications impacted them socially: could they subtly check their watch instead of committing the social faux pas of looking at their phone in the middle of dinner? The results were mixed – some felt the watch allowed them to quietly stay on top of notifications, while others found checking their watch to be just as rude.

What I’m more interested in, though, is the philosophical purpose of the Apple Watch described in this long-form Wired piece: the design team recognized that we had become slaves to our phones, constantly checking and responding and sensing “phantom vibrations,” so one of their goals was to design a wrist-worn device that could help you filter out the noise, freeing you from your tyrannical phone. I don’t think wearing this watch will automatically release me from my phone, but since I’m striving to find better balance between time that I’m online and off, I’m really interested to see how the Apple Watch community will develop these filtering best practices.

This one’s a toss-up: BUY IT if you need an excuse/toy to help you untether from your phone; if you already have healthy work-life balance and boundaries, PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK and DON’T BUY IT.

Are you interested in new technology trends but prefer to only invest in the tried and true?

The smartwatch market is still pretty nascent, and almost every smartwatch out there has some major negative that would likely annoy you once you actually had it on your wrist. (*cough* Apple Watch battery life *cough*)

I expect that Apple Watch 2.0, or whatever the competition brings to the table after the release of the Apple Watch, will be far superior in function.

WAIT TO BUY, and feel more confident that the next round of smartwatches will have a lower barrier to entry.

Do you like shiny things?

Don’t we all?

BUY IT, and don’t even bother coming up with some sort of professional-justification-schema. Apple Watch may not end up being the gold (pun intended, if you’re in that $17K market) standard for smartwatches, but it’s certainly the prettiest out there right now.