10 Reasons Not To Buy an iPad for Students

[whooleytoo]

MBA 11".

Oops.

That machine just isn't on my radar. For me, it falls between two stools. The iPad is more handy for casual browsing at home, the MBP is better at more 'heavy duty' tasks with larger screen, better graphics, more RAM etc.

But for students, it's probably ideal. Lightweight, good battery life (both important if you're moving about all day, and may not always have access to a power point).

All the weight and girth of a laptop, none of the power. Yeah... Clamcase has what you want :

http://clamcase.com/

The iPad just isn't made for long winded typing sessions like a classroom requires.

That's quite cool, and I like the flexibility of it. I'd prefer something a little more svelte (I think I lose my man-card for using that word) and instantly detachable; ideally a clip-on keyboard which uses the iPad2's magnet points.

 

[*LTD*]

Here's more, from today.

http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/09/01/adds.augmented.reality.to.learning.experience/

Count on seeing a lot more of this sort of thing.

 

[SidBala]

Having used an iPad for the whole last term (4months) at Univ, I can say I will be going back to pen and paper this year.

The iPad is great and all. But it can't beat pen and paper for note taking (at least in my major: Engineering). Too many drawings, mathematical notation etc. And the touch screen isn't good for fine input, even with a stylus.

eBooks, yeah sure. It makes more sense to use the iPad to do that. But it is still quite cumbersome. Most of the books we use don't have ebook copies. What we do have are the pdf scans of the pages. They are very hard to use.

 

[ucantgetridofme]

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/10-reasons-not-buy-ipad-students-174406688.html

My high school is actually considering getting an iPad for every student to replace textbooks in the near future.

I can think of a hundred better ways for the schools to spend taxpayers money than a tablet that'll be obsolete in a year or two. There must be some Apple fanboy/girls in that school district who aren't using common sense. The ipad would be more of a distraction than anything.

 

[*LTD*]

eBooks, yeah sure. It makes more sense to use the iPad to do that. But it is still quite cumbersome. Most of the books we use don't have ebook copies. What we do have are the pdf scans of the pages. They are very hard to use.

This might be some cause for relief.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...students_with_apples_ipad_perform_better.html

http://www.tuaw.com/2011/09/18/ipad-enabled-students-get-performance-boost-says-acu-study/

University study: Students with Apple’s iPad perform better than peers

“Students using the Apple’s iPad for their studies have been found to score higher than their paper-based peers and enjoy higher efficiency, according to a new study,” Josh Ong reports for AppleInsider.

“Abilene Christian University has been conducting extensive studies on the effects of mobile devices on student learning for more than three years,” Ong reports. “Prior to the launch of the iPad, the university undertook an initiative to hand out iPhones and iPod touches to incoming freshmen.”

“The university’s iPad-specific research results are ‘uniformly positive,’ as noted by TUAW after a preview of the data. One study found that ‘students who annotated text on their iPads scored 25% higher on questions regarding information transfer than their paper-based peers.’”

Ong reports, “Researchers who tracked ACU’s first all-digital class noted that the iPad promotes “learning moments” and helps students to be more efficient with their time. Graduate students in an online program responded with a 95 percent satisfaction rate to online iPad-based coursework.”

 

[KingCrimson]

This might be some cause for relief.
“The university’s iPad-specific research results are ‘uniformly positive,’ as noted by TUAW after a preview of the data. One study found that ‘students who annotated text on their iPads scored 25% higher on questions regarding information transfer than their paper-based peers.’”

Ong reports, “Researchers who tracked ACU’s first all-digital class noted that the iPad promotes “learning moments” and helps students to be more efficient with their time. Graduate students in an online program responded with a 95 percent satisfaction rate to online iPad-based coursework.”

I have no doubt that use of digital devices for note-taking can improve results on "Liberal arts" courses. But I fail to see how an iPad can help with math study where you need to have multiple sheets of paper laid across a table as you are solving complex problems. Of course if you never studies math at a university level, you will not know what I'm talking about.

 

[Sixtafoua]

THIS IS ********!!!

I've been using my iPad in class for almost a year now, and i can say that it's 100 times more useful than a laptop. Can you imagine trying to write the quadratic formula on a laptop?? You see, I can use a STYLUS with my iPad, therefore making it much more useful for expressing things that aren't on a laptop's keyboard.

 

[thewitt]

Two kids in college. iPad with their text books on it for this year alone was cheaper than buying their books by more than 50% - including sell-back money

Much easier than a laptop for note taking. Added a keyboard for both and neither ever hauls a laptop around any more.

They are actually the perfect device for students in my opinion..

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Two kids in college. iPad with their text books on it for this year alone was cheaper than buying their books by more than 50% - including sell-back money

Much easier than a laptop for note taking. Added a keyboard for both and neither ever hauls a laptop around any more.

They are actually the perfect device for students in my opinion..

I find that 50% kind of hard to believe to impossible to believe. I am a college student and in terms of saving money I have yet to see electronic books below the 50% marker of them new much less used. Normally I see them around 70% new book value.

Factor that in withe loss of sale back that with little effort I can get around 50%+ new book value out of it. So unless you are getting the book for less than 25-30% used book price which I do not see happening.

So all in all I find your claim complete bogus and not true.

 

[tjb1]

I find that 50% kind of hard to believe to impossible to believe. I am a college student and in terms of saving money I have yet to see electronic books below the 50% marker of them new much less used. Normally I see them around 70% new book value.

Factor that in withe loss of sale back that with little effort I can get around 50%+ new book value out of it. So unless you are getting the book for less than 25-30% used book price which I do not see happening.

So all in all I find your claim complete bogus and not true.

I also have never...NEVER seen a e-book cheaper than Amazon or renting the book.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I also have never...NEVER seen a e-book cheaper than Amazon or renting the book.

Yeah that is why when I see post like the guy I quoted I found it unbelievable and kind of fanboyish. At least they could provide a better argument than something as unbelievable as what that guy posted. Any of us who are students and have looked at it know that it is BS.

Now like I said I have seen Ebooks be around 70% new price and the cheaper than buying used and normally more costly when you factor in selling the book rates.