So I’m thinking about making my iPad my primary college device for the upcoming semester, but I’m not convinced yet that it can keep up.
So far I’ve found a couple of places offering ebook versions of textbooks for much cheaper than even used versions of the physical textbooks available on campus. This could potentially save me money and some back pain. It’ll come down to whether all of the books I need are available on at least one of the services.
The other issue is note taking and multi-tasking. I might be able to use the iPad as an eTextbook reader, but I can’t both follow along on the textbook AND take notes - two different apps, and no multi-tasking. Further, drawing diagrams with my finger is not anywhere as easy as using a pen on paper and typing on the touchscreen (regardless of what Mr Jobs says) is an exercise in frustration.
So maybe the iPad + paper and pen for note taking (feels so 1990’s)? Or maybe a netbook? Or should I just leave the ipad for reading at home/lunch hour and get a laptop for school?
Basically I’m looking for opinions, and if you’ve got actual hands on experience using the ipad in a school setting, I’d really like to hear from you!
I’m testing out an iPad and really can’t see it having much practical use. The textbooks might be useful, but you’d probably be better off with a Kindle or other reader: they’re better for reading books – lighter, less glare, and cost less.
I wouldn’t use the iPad for entering any data – the touchpad keyboard is about the slowest input device since the dial typewriter. By the time you enter anything as class notes, you’ve lost the gist of it. Also, it’d be madness to try to type a paper on it.
I’d definitely go with a laptop for school. It may even be the best way to make notes for your books – you could open two windows at once. Another option is a real tablet computer with a stylus – that will let you write down notes like on paper (though the ones I’ve seen never worked as well as advertised).
Basically, the iPad manages to combine all the disadvantages of a tablet computer with all the disadvantages of a PDA, then adds a poorly designed text reader. There are reasons why these devices are designed the way they are, and mashing them together doesn’t create anything better.
But it looks cool. If that’s the most important thing to you, then get one.
Sounds like you already have the iPad? You’re probably in a better position to answer this than anyone else.
For what it’s worth, I tested an iPad for my academic use (professional, not student) and found it to be useless. I just sold it on eBay. I’m back to using my “real” tablet PC; it has an active digitizer so I can actually write stuff on it. I use Microsoft OneNote for handwritten lab notes, and PDF Annotator for reading and annotating PDF documents.
iOS 4 is not available for the iPad. It’s supposed to become available this fall.
If the books are available for the iPad, and you have the cash, I say go for it. Notes are better taken by hand anyway, and this would be a net-loss of weight carrying around.
Do eReaders like the Kindle or iPad allow you to make notes IN the book you’re reading? If so, what sort of format? (i.e. just written words, or can you sketch something out if you need to?)
The Kindle does not have a touchscreen or stylus. It does allow text annotations, in their proprietary format (i.e. only readable on the Kindle, though there is a way to make a backup).
There are some eReaders with active digitizers (e.g. enTourage eDGe, iRex DR1000) but they’re not cheap, and generally less refined than the Kindle.
I think it also depends on what you’re studying and what kind of notes you need to take. I never bring my textbooks to school, since there’s not much point trying to follow along - they supplement but are not equal to what is presented in class. Since engineering courses have a lot of math and diagrams, I really feel that there isn’t much better than pen and paper. To prevent having to carry around a ton of binders/notebooks, I use loose-leaf and a clipboard, and simply transfer the loose-leaf into duo-tangs at home, which later make for rather small and convenient things to carry if I ever need them at school.
I have a netbook and never bother to open it in class, though I use it a lot during breaks.
If you have a computer in your home or dorm room that you can use for heavy lifting like writing term papers or preparing presentations, I think an iPad would be an excellent supplement - the ‘carry around’ computer you take to class and study hall and whatnot.
I was helping my daughter prepare for her finals, and I was amazed by how useful the iPad was for that task. It’s sitting there, right beside your paper. It’s instant on, and connected to the internet. that makes it easy to just quickly check facts, or grab a formula, or look something up you need to know. As a reference tool, it’s wonderful.
And no, the keyboard isn’t as good for note-taking as is a real keyboard. But a real keyboard is useful only if you’re actually using it. In my experience, I never open a laptop or netbook to take a quick note or to jot something down that I know I’ll need later. It’s too slow and too much hassle to take it out of its bag, open it up, boot it up, start up a word processor, then shut it all down again. It’s also intrusive and calls attention to yourself. But the iPad? Press a buttton, tap the note app, and start typing. I use evernote, so everything I type gets saved to the cloud so it’s instantly available on my home PC and laptop. The thing is perfect for note-taking in class or a meeting, assuming you’re not one of those people who transcribe an entire lecture.
But it’s not powerful enough to be your only computer. Perhaps if you get the keyboard dock and you’re a light computer user it might suffice, but it would be a compromise.
Thanks for the thoughts and advice so far guys. I’ve got a powerhouse of a PC at home, so I’m not worried about any work I have to get done outside of the classroom.
I do already have the iPad, but it’s main use so far has been as an eReader and a place to catch up with my rss feeds/podcasts while on the go. Also, it served me pretty well on a road trip couple of weeks ago.
Next semester I’ll be seeing math. Math, math and more math. Since it’s mostly math, I suppose a laptop won’t be as helpful in taking notes as just plain old pen and paper. I’m leaning towards using the iPad for quick reference/to follow along in the texbook along side paper and pen to take notes.
I suppose I can scan my notes up after class at home, right?
This is pretty much how I use mine at work: a much more portable supplement to the computer on my desk for when I’m not. For textbooks (or in my case manuals), the iPad is a vastly superior e-reader than a Kindle – you need to find things in them all the time, and search on a Kindle (especially if what you’re looking for isn’t the first instance) is too painful to be believed.
For short notes and the like the iPad’s OK, but it’s really not a useful data entry device for any sort of volume unless you pair it with either a bluetooth keyboard or the physical keyboard dock – and neither of those is really portable enough to keep on you.
And if you don’t have a smartphone, having the Internet available in your hand is also very valuable.
I’d also add that I think most people would do better in their classes if they left their computers, with their attendant distractions, shut during class and just took notes the old-fashioned way. I’ve done it both ways, and learned a lot more without the computer.
I’m not sure if you were joking or not, but that’s not a bad idea. I don’t think you’ll get much utility out of it for the current semester of note-taking, but for classes that build on each other it could prove useful to have a resource to consult further down the line. (They’ll also be a hoot 15 years later.)
Regardless of what you choose, you’ll want some sort of side-by-side system, be that paper notes+iPad/eReader or paper notes+book. Like others have said, electronic notes aren’t nearly as effective as taking notes by hand.
If it were me, I would invest in a Livescribe pen - this will record both the lecture and the lecture notes and store them in a desktop environment. This can either be on Windows or OS X.
These don’t seem to cost much - especially for the utility they provide.
I had a friend who owned the LiveScribe (an earlier model of the Pulse, it looks like). He liked the pen, but stopped using it because it only works on special microdot paper, which is extremely hard to find and very expensive. It doesn’t just work on any old notebook.
