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iPad good for college students?
- Thread starter California King
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I try not to, but sometimes I need to. Usually I'll try to find readings online if I can...I'm a Political Science major and a luckily lot of them are. I had a class that required a $30 Course Pack that turned to be entirely pages printed out from Lexis. We have full access to Lexis through school.
I try not to, but sometimes I need to. Usually I'll try to find readings online if I can...I'm a Political Science major and a luckily lot of them are. I had a class that required a $30 Course Pack that turned to be entirely pages printed out from Lexis. We have full access to Lexis through school.
I'm also a Poli Sci major. At UCSD we don't need to bring books to class. Readings and lectures are always posted online. We do have "discussions" which is like a subordinate class of a class. But still, why do you need to bring books to class? When I do go to lecture we just take notes.
I tend to write in the margins a lot when I'm reading, that's usually why I'll bring mine. I don't always, but I do that's why. Most of my Poli Sci classes are discussions as well.
Some teachers post everything on Blackboard, some don't at all. It sucks when they don't.
New York and San Diego. Both Poli Sci majors, how funny. I'm studying Theory, what's your emphasis?
Haha, same here. I couldn't decide for the longest time whether to major in Poli Sci or History.
In almost all of my classes, the teachers have power points for each chapter. I usually just bring up the notes thing in power point or keynote and take some notes. Should work well for my purposes. But for math driven courses, I will be using paper.
just thought about this teacher who makes grades us on a "notebook" we keep during the semester...
does iPad allow printing? if not, this would actually hurt me...well in that class.
does iPad allow printing? if not, this would actually hurt me...well in that class.
I've heard conflicting reports about this. Early builds of the SDK apparently had references to printing over a network. If it doesn't ship with this ability, the iWork guided tour videos on apple.com makes clear that you can email and even export directly to your computer, which you could then print from. If you don't have a computer, email it to yourself and print it out from a library computer during a study break.
OS 4.0 should support printing at the latest (if it doesn't then Apple sucks), so before next semester seems likely. Unless you have summer session.
Find these text books for me in electronic format:
Mechanics 1 (Cambridge Advanced Level Mathematics) by Douglas Quadling
Core 1 and 2 for OCR (Cambridge Advanced Level Mathematics) by Douglas Quadling and Hugh Neill
Advancing Physics AS: Student Text Book: Student Book by Jon Ogborn, Rick Marshall, and Ian Lawrence
AQA Biology AS Level: Student's Book by Glenn Toole and Susan Toole
AQA AS Chemistry: Student's Book by Ted Lister and Janet Renshaw
Chemistry in Context Fifth Edition - Paperback (6 July 2000) by Graham Hill, John Holman, and Graham C Hill
These are some of the books I carry around daily with me to school - they will not or ever be available on the iPad - maybe in PDF but I seriously doubt it.
In fact, it'll be interesting to see what's on the iPad becuase I currently hate carrying over 6KGs everyday on my back for A Levels. (If you haven't noticed from the above, I've taken maths and the three sciences).
On a plus side, I like PBL (Problem-based learning), since I'm more active.
Mechanics 1 (Cambridge Advanced Level Mathematics) by Douglas Quadling
Core 1 and 2 for OCR (Cambridge Advanced Level Mathematics) by Douglas Quadling and Hugh Neill
Advancing Physics AS: Student Text Book: Student Book by Jon Ogborn, Rick Marshall, and Ian Lawrence
AQA Biology AS Level: Student's Book by Glenn Toole and Susan Toole
AQA AS Chemistry: Student's Book by Ted Lister and Janet Renshaw
Chemistry in Context Fifth Edition - Paperback (6 July 2000) by Graham Hill, John Holman, and Graham C Hill
These are some of the books I carry around daily with me to school - they will not or ever be available on the iPad - maybe in PDF but I seriously doubt it.
In fact, it'll be interesting to see what's on the iPad becuase I currently hate carrying over 6KGs everyday on my back for A Levels. (If you haven't noticed from the above, I've taken maths and the three sciences).
On a plus side, I like PBL (Problem-based learning), since I'm more active.
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im sorry but aside from the truth in the rest of your post, which I can relate on, the first part about the books is just a reach.
give Apple some time, EVERY COLLEGE BOOK is not instantly gonna just be available on the iPad, some books are irrelevant to be on the iPad. okay the iPad isnt to obsolete books, we still need lab manuals, study guys, etc which statistically help a person perform well when written than..electronically.
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If you really use it all the time, you are allowed to scan it and make an electronic copy of it. Even 300-400 page shouldn't take you more than 2-3 hours. It's an electronic copy for life, your books might not survive that long.
As for those books, most likely they'll wait until the next edition or version of those books to come out and they'll be in electronic as well. Majority of the publishing industry is moving toward electronics, that's a fact. It's just a matter of time.
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Even though I am getting the iPad.
I know that Eso just hit everyone with some serious truth, lol.
I know that Eso just hit everyone with some serious truth, lol.
"And so it begins... Seton Hill University to give all students an iPad"
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/30/and-so-it-begins-seton-hill-university-to-give-all-students-a/
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/30/and-so-it-begins-seton-hill-university-to-give-all-students-a/
what is giving students in the technology program an iPad supposed to do?
lucky birds, nonetheless.
lucky birds, nonetheless.
Well, scanning the books is not an option, unless it is done for me - due to my little time prior to exams. Might be an option during the summer holidays, if I get the books.
Well, given that some of the books are in their 6th revision, at least 4 of mine were revised last year, and from what I've been told, there are no plans to convert them to electronic form :/
Ultimately, there will be some books left behind. A quick kindle search yield no useful resources for me, but I'll wait to see what's on the Apple bookstore to make judgement.
Still having trouble figuring out why it's better than my MacBook Pro.
If you had actually read my post, I said that I didn't think it was "better," but it was meant to compliment another Mac. Having a very capable touch screen device with a large screen is VERY appealing to college students with money to burn. The device is so portable and light, so taking it to class is a no-brainer, especially if you can load all your textbooks onto the iPad, reducing the weight of your backpack drastically.
I see teachers marking work quite fun...
Honestly, I think it's easier to write than to use a keyboard to write.
I agree, I don't take notes on my computer at all, and doubt I will with the iPad. I think that the iPad is great for having textbooks on though, packing an entire semester's content into a very slim device.
A lot of textbook publishers are very slow to adapt to changes, they'll get it done when they have to, but only in later times. If not the 6th, it'll be the 10th or something.
Apple or Kindle or any of the book stores aren't going to be the place to get textbooks in electronic forms. You need to look at the specific services like CourseSmart or Safari Books Online (For IT/CS/SE mainly) and others like it. They are the one that's going to convert the books into electronic forms and sell it to people. Apple or Kindle are not going to be doing that (except Kindle Digital Publisher program but its for indie kind of books), they merely take the master copies from the publishers directly and upload it to the store. They won't be doing any converting or something like that, which is why you won't find any of them in iBook either.
Some of these books aren't college books, they are university level books. Granted it will take some time, but it will take quite a long time.
In terms of budgeting within the schools, it seems impractical to use eBooks - what's just as bad is that in some of the book revisions, so many things have been reordered that it is a mess to maintain both within a class. Some of the books, one in particular, the Chemistry in Context book has had over 5 years to adopt the electronic format - from the conversation I had with the business that publishes them, it is these books which won't get translated to electronic format within the next 5 years - by then we could well be looking at something different.
I wonder if they'll ever print the 10th of one of the specific books - the school relies heavily on them.
I haven't looked into places to get textbooks in elec. forms - but thanks for telling me - I honestly didn't know of any.
Oh well, only time will tell, until I use my time machine....
You may see a few people using iPads in your classes during your first semester. You won't see them in your second semester (unless you fail the class too).
Who of you have actually been to college, seriously? Do you have visions of being on campus 12 hours per day? Do you think you are going to be carrying every text book around campus all day so you can do your math in the student union, U.S. History in the library, and Philosophy on the quad? Do you think you will be laboring over 4 classic books and an English textbook while you write your 10 page term paper at the library until midnight?
Wake up. You actually have a home. You will probably have a car. You don't need to set up camp at the library to write a paper. Believe it or not, professors tend not to have you follow along the textbook as they read it aloud to you. You don't need the book in class (if you do, register for a different section - you won't regret it). For the most part, you don't spend a large part of the day on campus without being in class. You have an hour or two between classes that is great for preparing for class but not very productive for actual studying.
You don't need to carry all your books on you. You will rarely need to carry any of them, and when you do, it will usually just be one in particular. Professors do not tell you to open to page 18 and follow along. They summarize and explain the material. You read the book later, which reinforces the lecture and provides more in-depth information.
What is all this nonsense about a netbook? You have a backpack for crying out loud! If you want to take your notes on a computer, buy a 13"-15" laptop that weighs 5 pounds. It's less massive than all those books you don't need to be carrying around. Your backpack will spend 80% of the time on the floor anyways. You can load up all those ePub textbooks that other people think make their iPads so fancy. You'll even be able to switch from textbook, to textbook, to internet, to whatever with a click of the mouse.
If you don't use a laptop for note taking (my recommendation), you will rarely even need to bring it with you. There are computer labs on campus. Save your files on a flash drive and you will have a place to work on them if you need to. You may even need a particular lab anyways for specific software you don't have. You will able to easily swap files with classmates too (except your iPad toting friends). For the occasions you want to bring it with you? Good news, you still have that backpack!
If you think you won't need anything but your iPad in class, you are in for a rude awakening, my friend.
Have fun hovering your hands over your iPad for 50 minutes while you hunt-and-peck the virtual keyboard that is laying flat on your desk. I hope you are comfortable leaning over your desk and staring directly down at the screen too.
You want to keep your notes in Pages?! You will spend more time correcting typing errors, formatting notes into something with any bit of organization, and shifting your attention between your desk and the board than you will spend time paying attention to the lecture! Heaven forbid you ever have to switch apps to your textbook, copy of the lecture slides, a different pages of notes, or a graphing calculator!
Suppose you are keeping notes and you need to reference material from a previous chapter (formula, concept, whatever). You can't flip between the two documents with a single mouse click (tap). You can't even open the two documents at once! You can't view them both on the screen at once. You can keep all your notes for a class in one, long document and scroll back and forth, I suppose. Good thing you have a scrollba... oh, wait
What if you want to copy/paste from a source into your notes? With a laptop, you switch programs with a mouse click, select with a single drag of the mouse, and copy and paste with two keystrokes. On the iPad? Close the first app, navigate to and launch the second app, possibly navigate to the source, double tap and hold to bring up the selection quotes, drag one handle to the end, drag the other handle to the beginning (hoping the "smart" selection actually grabs only what you are intending), wait for the balloon pop-up, tap copy, close the app, navigate to and re-launch your original app, tap the text field to bring up the keyboard, drag the cursor to the location you need it, tap the cursor for the balloon pop-up, and tap paste.
I almost regret having just graduated because now I won't be able to see how many weeks into the semester it takes before anyone with an iPad stops pulling it out of their bag.
This is the honest truth. As someone who is graduating in a couple of weeks, I can attest to the opinions of college "life".
To be honest, it direly needs printing services on the iPad. It needs to be built into the OS so in any app you can print. Not this "HP Digital Printer App" stuff, I want to printing to be native.
Secondly, I am waiting for the app that has a word processor, and "widget" like screens for wikipedia, or general web browsing that can be closed or reopened in the word processor app. This would be absolutely huge. I am pretty sure there is a Webkit view that you can call in an app. Something simple. I hope Apple looks into something like that so you don't have to close out of Pages to just double check something in safari.
Printing and more robust word processing would make this a serious contender to me. However I am graduating soon. Will be going to grad school, I look forward to more leisure reading, like keeping up with the economist, some books, and other things on the iPad.
I have to admit at first I wasn't crazy on the idea with no flash, to my surprise, the websites are following Apple's lead. I did not think CBS, NBC, and most likely Hulu will be going HTML 5 just because of the iPad, but they are.