Using an iPad in college

meoklmrk91

Hey all heading back to college in September and hope to bring my iPad under my arm and use it for my note taking throughout the year, this was a big reason why I bought the iPad, plus with a 7-8 subjects less weight to carry around in my bag is vital, I have arthritis in my shoulders and so being able to carry notes on a device that is smaller than one note book makes a lot more sense for me and a lot less pain.

I downloaded penultimate and while it is a clever little app with an easy interface it's not for me, I think notetaker hd will fit the bill much more, simply because it has a zoom function. Anyone else recommend any other apps which might be useful.

Stainless_Steel

I think good reader app allows you to open PDFs and make notes on them. I haven't used it though.

meoklmrk91

Oh forgot to ask does anyone think I will have any issues with the college not wanting me to use the iPad?

freeze4real

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

Oh forgot to ask does anyone think I will have any issues with the college not wanting me to use the iPad?

Not at all.

meoklmrk91

freeze4real wrote: »

Not at all.

I hope not, currently at a college of further education so I doubt that hey will have had many if any members of the student body using them, obviously I will keep it as the lowest lighting level and with the sound off so it wont be a distraction for the rest of the lads.

darragh o meara

Been using one for the past 2 years at college. Very handy for subjects where there is lots of notes. Did have a problem with some lecturers not putting notes online to download but got around it by buying a scanner and scanning in all those unavailable notes. This year most of the lecturers either uploaded notes or gavel them on USB. A few of the lecturers have even embraced the iPad themselves !!

All in all I find it great for notes etc but useless for typing up reports and the likes. It can be done but it's time consuming, youd be a lot quicker on a laptop or pc. Another feature I found handy was that I was able to look up something I didn't understand there and then.

meoklmrk91

darragh o meara wrote: »

Been using one for the past 2 years at college. Very handy for subjects where there is lots of notes. Did have a problem with some lecturers not putting notes online to download but got around it by buying a scanner and scanning in all those unavailable notes. This year most of the lecturers either uploaded notes or gavel them on USB. A few of the lecturers have even embraced the iPad themselves !!

All in all I find it great for notes etc but useless for typing up reports and the likes. It can be done but it's time consuming, youd be a lot quicker on a laptop or pc. Another feature I found handy was that I was able to look up something I didn't understand there and then.

Our tutors refuse to put lectures up online or give them to us via USB so I will be writing and at times typing them, I am a faster typer then writer, I will be using it strictly for notes though. Assignments will be typed on the trusty windows 7 laptop.

quad_red

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

Our tutors refuse to put lectures up online or give them to us via USB so I will be writing and at times typing them, I am a faster typer then writer, I will be using it strictly for notes though. Assignments will be typed on the trusty windows 7 laptop.

You may be a faster typer on a laptop but have you tried speed typing for extended periods on an ipad?

Maybe a keyboard would help with this?

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/tablet-accessories/keyboards/ultrathin-keyboard-cover

meoklmrk91

quad_red wrote: »

You may be a faster typer on a laptop but have you tried speed typing for extended periods on an ipad?

Maybe a keyboard would help with this?

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/tablet-accessories/keyboards/ultrathin-keyboard-cover

Definitely would not be allowed to have a keyboard that would make noise, I did consider it! They tapping would be too disruptive. I can type pretty fast on the iPad, I find that I can actually type fairly fast with just a stylus, so I have a few options. I actually prefer typing with the stylus.

Kenno90

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

Definitely would not be allowed to have a keyboard that would make noise, I did consider it! They tapping would be too disruptive. I can type pretty fast on the iPad, I find that I can actually type fairly fast with just a stylus, so I have a few options. I actually prefer typing with the stylus.

What kind of college is this, when i was in college the whole class was using laptops, ipads even smartphones for note taking/viewing notes.

The lecturers certainly never gave out because we were typing too loud :eek:

quad_red

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

Definitely would not be allowed to have a keyboard that would make noise, I did consider it! They tapping would be too disruptive. I can type pretty fast on the iPad, I find that I can actually type fairly fast with just a stylus, so I have a few options. I actually prefer typing with the stylus.

Bloody hell. You getting lectures in a library?

A friend has an ipad keyboard (not sure what make) and it makes barely any noise.

meoklmrk91

Kenno90 wrote: »

What kind of college is this, when i was in college the whole class was using laptops, ipads even smartphones for note taking/viewing notes.

The lecturers certainly never gave out because we were typing too loud :eek:

College of further education, everyone takes notes in notebooks, I don't know why, I can see one of my tutors being a real stickler even about the iPad, classes anything with a screen as a distraction.

Brian017

Tell the Grandpa to move with the times and stop living in the 1800's. Screens are the present and future whether he likes it or not!

Bad Panda

Kenno90 wrote: »

What kind of college is this, when i was in college the whole class was using laptops, ipads even smartphones for note taking/viewing notes.

The lecturers certainly never gave out because we were typing too loud :eek:

People just want to justify an iPad despite how impractical it is.

Buying a scanner so you can use an iPad!? :pac:

bertie4evr

Bad Panda wrote: »

People just want to justify an iPad despite how impractical it is.

Buying a scanner so you can use an iPad!? :pac:

If he used a laptop he'd still need a scanner to get the notes onto it.

solarith

bertie4evr wrote: »

If he used a laptop he'd still need a scanner to get the notes onto it.

I have both iPad and Mac, as any good Apple fanboy has. :P

I honestly don't think I'll get much use out of the iPad in college in Sept. Reading PDFs on it is about the best case scenario, I hope there are some Apps which allow you to write onto a PDF, taking notes, like you would write on a physical page.

quad_red

solarith wrote: »

I have both iPad and Mac, as any good Apple fanboy has. :P

I honestly don't think I'll get much use out of the iPad in college in Sept. Reading PDFs on it is about the best case scenario, I hope there are some Apps which allow you to write onto a PDF, taking notes, like you would write on a physical page.

+1 on this.

I have an ipad, an iphone, a macbook... a total victim for apple ****e.

But functionally, the ipad sucks for fast text entry.

solarith

quad_red wrote: »

+1 on this.

I have an ipad, an iphone, a macbook... a total victim for apple ****e.

But functionally, the ipad sucks for fast text entry.

Have the iPhone 4S too and bought an Apple TV, more for the laugh, never ever use it. I will with AirPlay Mirroring in Mountain Lion though.

darragh o meara

Bad Panda wrote: »

People just want to justify an iPad despite how impractical it is.

Buying a scanner so you can use an iPad!? :pac:

I didn't buy a scanner so I can use the iPad I bought it so I could put notes on it from lecturers who do not publish the notes on our moodle system. 90% of our lecturers upload the notes to moodle in PDF form and it's easy to download to the iPad but there are one or two who don't and usually give out photocopies of photocopies tgis is when I scan them in and ablaze as PDF and onto the iPad. I even scan in my own handwritten notes so they are close to hand when needed. So instead of carrying around a bag full of notes ( and we get lots of them ) I carry my iPad, a refill pad and a few items of stationary.

solarith

darragh o meara wrote: »

I didn't buy a scanner so I can use the iPad I bought it so I could put notes on it from lecturers who do not publish the notes on our moodle system. 90% of our lecturers upload the notes to moodle in PDF form and it's easy to download to the iPad but there are one or two who don't and usually give out photocopies of photocopies tgis is when I scan them in and ablaze as PDF and onto the iPad. I even scan in my own handwritten notes so they are close to hand when needed. So instead of carrying around a bag full of notes ( and we get lots of them ) I carry my iPad, a refill pad and a few items of stationary.

How do you find using the iPad? What's your biggest fault with using it in this way? What would you change?

darragh o meara

solarith wrote: »

How do you find using the iPad? What's your biggest fault with using it in this way? What would you change?

If I was to be honest organisation of handwritten notes can be a little time consuming but I've recently found a way of getting them into order skittle easier. The only other faults I could say is where some lecturers hand out in PDF format which is great but some notes come by word doc format or PowerPoint presentation files, these need certain apps to be installed to read them properly.

And finally a decent stylus is a godsend for these. I went through a good few cheap eBay jobbies before getting a mate to make me one integrated into a proper steel pen. This one has outlasted all.

dmcg90

Great for note taking, mock-ups and audio recording of lectures.

My tips are:

Your university probably uses Blackboard as their online study centre, they have an awesome app. Really handy having all lecture notes, content etc.

Get dropbox, get a shared folder up and running with your class and share notes between you. Have a 3 hour bus journey? Then spend the time studying, its really great.

Get a good document editor, Pages works fine for me and lets me do quick edits on there. Wouldn't dream of typing a full document on there but its handy if you spot a mistake or you have a short piece to write.

Get keynote and the adaptor to hook it up to presentations, really handy to be able to create a presentation anywhere (alternatively you can email the file and open it but its great for presentations I find).

Thanks to PC suites, you can comfortably never bring your laptop to college. I don't now which certainly lowers the weight of my bag. In terms of books, it depends, its not there yet. Around 5 of the books I needed for my year were available to buy online as PDF, which saved me a lot of hassle (and trust me being able to search for something in the book so easy is a lifesaver) but do make sure to check your college's library site, it sometimes has the full version to download for free (with restrictions).

Overall, its a great supplement to university life. It'll never replace a laptop, but it cuts down on the amount of stuff you need to bring and is great for study, quick edits, presentations and chilling out.

BanzaiBk

GoodReader or iAnnotate are great apps for editing/highlighting PDFs. Lots of my lecturers put up notes in PDF forms because they use those apps too :pac: