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UCLA Student: The iPad is INCREDIBLE for Lectures & Discussions!

HappyDude20

HappyDude20

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
3,688
1,479
Los Angeles, Ca
Okay, I know there are many threads about people asking whether the iPad can be a serious contender in a classroom setting.

I walked into the UCLA campus thinking no one would be using an iPad, only to discover a good amount of people did. Admittedly, a wide array of them have the wireless bluetooth keyboard. I too purchased one, however when iOS 5 came out and the split keyboard feature was added, I began to use only that.

I take all my notes using Pages and love it being synced with iCloud onto my iPhone, so I can review it when I walking to my dorm. One of my lectures, the professor has his Mac in front of him and records the lectures using keynote and uploads them nightly in case you miss class. I now have all the lectures in iTunes; with iTunes WiFi sync, it's something I don't even have to worry about. As for another course which takes place in a huge 300 person lecture hall, professional video cameras film the lectures and are uploaded by the end of the day to a secured UCLA site. The beauty here is that at this site, of which I have bookmarked, has the option of only listening to the audio of the lecture (professor talking), powerpoint slides, or actually video of the whole lecture.......all in "iPhone/iPad/iTunes" format.

I normally have an audio recording app in class, just in case too. The battery life trumps my MBP's 3 hours battery life.

The one thing it doesn't help with is procrastination. I should probably get back to studying.

But above all, all my classes require a lot of reading and the iPad is just great for the 500+ pages of PDF files I need to read. I have them all in iBooks or DropBox app and i'm set.

Back to studying. All nighter time.
 
OP, what's your major? Just curious if many people use iPads because you're in a "techy" major.

Also curious to hear if OP's experience is similar at other universities.
 
good luck in UCLA, I regret joining the UC system. you are much better off going to state and getting higher GPA, at least that is all that grad schools care about.
 
thelookingglass said:
OP, what's your major? Just curious if many people use iPads because you're in a "techy" major.

Also curious to hear if OP's experience is similar at other universities.
Click to expand...

I would think people who use iPads for note taking are in "soft" majors that don't require detailed technical notes.
 
at the universities i have been at the last two years a lot of people own iPads, but a surprising number of undergraduate and graduate students still use pen and paper, regardless of major. some use computers, but not as many as you might expect.

from speaking with these throwbacks to the 20th century, i think it is because they don't know how to use it well. i think you really need to develop an entire system that incorporates everything from handwritten notes to recordings.

for me:

1. handwritten notes: note taker hd (immediately sent to evernote after a lecture)
2. typed notes: evernote (use bluetooth keyboard)
3. recordings: recorder pro (saved to computer when i return home--files too large for evernote)
4. writing: elements (synced with scrivener through dropbox)
5. final drafts: pages (exported as pdf file to evernote when completed)
6. reading: iannotate and/or goodreader
7. annotations: pdf expert
8. pdf conversions: pdf provider
9. web: safari or icab mobile (encoding can be adjusted for non-western language sites)

yep. it is a whole lot of stuff. but, basically everything besides the recordings ends up in evernote, and i think that is the key to keeping it all together. these apps have a lot of overlapping functions, but i think that is good with the ipad, which suffers from poorly upadated apps and so forth on occasion.
 
matt90036 said:
good luck in UCLA, I regret joining the UC system. you are much better off going to state and getting higher GPA, at least that is all that grad schools care about.
Click to expand...

I went to UCLA and my gpa was fine. Got into professional school too
 
Add an N to UCLA and that's where I go. University Of Central Lancashire. When I first started taking my iPad people thought I had a piece of alien technology. I wish we had all these facilities like you guys at UCLA. We don't get video or uploads etc.The iMacs we use in photography are 2006 models.
 
Kimbie said:
Have you looked at the new drawing side to Evernote? Skitch I belive it is called, as Evernote have just bought it
Click to expand...

Evernote bought it a long time ago, but I still have not gotten around to trying Skitch. It is not available on the iPad, as far as I know. It is not a notetaking app. And, I don't see how it will make me any more productive (my main focus with the iPad). So, it really doesn't seem like something I would be interested in using. If anyone knows of a way to use this productively in an academic setting, then let me know :)
 
That's great.

I'll be using one soon to teach. I'm really excited. But I first have to have perfect, no-latency mirroring. There are options, but the only one that really makes sense right now is the Ipad2 and Apple TV. I think with the latest updates it can be done.

I need the ability to see what I'm writing without looking at the same screen as my students.
 
That's great. I'm waiting for the iPad 3 and then I'll use it to take notes in class. But I go to USC, so obviously my notes and everything about me in general will be better. ;)
 
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