Do your third level students use an iPad for taking notes in lectures?

[ShmartyPants]

My son is about to start studying maths in uni and thinks an iPad would be best for taking notes as it would make it easier to organise his notes on his computer.

Do your kids(particularly maths students) use an iPad and if so which one?

DD does natural sciences. She uses an iPad (with pen and keyboard) for many lectures but still prefers to write on paper for equations etc.

It would be worth checking with the department in case he will be using programmes such as Matlab or others. They should have a course spec etc in the website.
Dd used a remarkable for writing notes- and a laptop for programming/ matlab

F

DS2 has a Lenovo Idea Tab Pro 12.7" (8GB 128GB) with pen and Bluetooth keyboard for schoolwork. He really likes it. It's a good size, can sync to laptop.

Has anyone used one of those remarkable paper pad things?

I used an iPad Pro with the keyboard case and an Apple Pencil when I was studying a few years ago now. I was doing Speech and Language Therapy and, while generally I prefer to type as I can do this much quicker than writing, we had a lot of phonetic transcription type activities to do which I found were absolutely fucking awful to try to type into notes - so being able to flip into handwriting mode and handwrite these using the pencil was very helpful indeed.

I think I used Goodnotes as an app with mine but there are a load of other note taking apps now and I've since switched to Noteful.

Would you mind kindly linking to this product - we need something similar!

I tended to write when I was at uni. Back then (1980s/90s) there were no laptops but I dont do linear "notes" in situ because my mind doesnt work that way. Mine were in the form of a brainstorm mind map which I subsequently transferred to a desktop. The act of transcribing them into notes was part of the revision process. I could then open up the notes to add observations from my own reading and research. If your mind operates in this way a tablet you can write directly onto would be better.

@ShmartyPants my son did a stats degree..His department told them to get a Windows laptop with a particular minimum specification, suitable for the software they would need to use in some classes. We therefore got him a Microsoft Surface so that it could double as a tablet for note taking.

Most employers of science/maths students use Microsoft technologies not Apple technologies, and most universities provide students with Microsoft accounts, so an MS Windows laptop would seem the most sensible to me (as well as probably cheaper than an iPad).

However, note taking is less of a thing now that all lectures tend to be recorded.

Is that true that lectures are recorded?
My son is going to Imperial.

DS uses an iPad Air and an Apple Pencil for taking notes (Comp Sci). He has a MacBook Pro for working at home.

It's very common now, since Covid. Mine was at UCL. He re-watched many of the lectures as part of his revision. It's also helpful if they miss a lecture due to illness etc.

Lots of maths students take notes on a tablet for all the reasons mentioned above.
Many will also have a Windows laptop for running applications and programming. Not an apple laptop.

But they presumably only have both because they don't realise they can get an MS Surface which can do both jobs. 🙂 I put that down to some people having more money than sense.

We use them at work too. The keyboard detatches to turn it into a tablet.

I don’t like a surface because they run very hot. The screen is also small and the writing functionality isn’t as good as on my iPad. (I had one as a work issued device). The keyboard isn’t attached like it is to a laptop - the device needs a flat surface, you can’t use it on your knee like you can a laptop.

If it's running hot then it needs to be replaced. Maybe you had an old model. MS Pro screens are generally larger than iPad screens, though I think there is some overlap depending on the model.

My dd has a laptop for uni however in third year she bought an iPad and it’s been so much easier to carry around, take notes and do workings on it( she’s doing a maths and physics based course and she says she wishes she bought it for 1st year.

Possibly it was old, in terms of the size - an iPad Pro is 12.9” and I don’t think a surface goes to that size? They also don’t have the sort of keyboard that an iPad can have or that a laptop has though that attaches on with a hinge and that you can use on your knee. The keyboard is flappy and needs a flat surface. And I hated that.

Yes my daughter uses hers for notes

Recent models are 13 inch or 12.3 inch. Biggest ipad is 12.9 inch.

I use mine on my lap, though rarely. It has a stand at the back so works fine. You can also put it on a stand. The keyboard can be attached or detached to switch from laptop mode to tablet mode.

Anyway, horses for courses, but my point is that you don't need to spend ££££ on an ipad just to take notes. Apple don't have a monopoly on tablets.

My DD uses an iPad with a Logi keyboard that has a trackpad on it. She will often use it with software like Notability which is where you can write on blank pages, and import slides or papers and write on them with an Apple Pencil - you can get similar pencils on Amazon for about £30 that work just as well. She also has a ‘paper feel’ screen protector which makes writing on it much easier. She’ll use that in class and then use her Macbook for homework and studying. Everything is backed up to iCloud so they’re almost interchangeable.

This is true but I still don’t know how you’re typing efficiently on the keyboard when it’s so flappy?!!! Horses for courses isn’t it :)

That’s the one thing I do love is the iCloud - onedrive doesnt seem to work the same way as iCloud, it’s not so seamless.

The lecturer may record them for students who can’t make it to class. They can be useful for students who have disabilities or if English isn’t their first language. However, the quality is generally pretty rubbish and they’re a poor substitute for attending the lecture. Students may also have access to pre recorded materials that provide additional support and information about how to complete assessments or additional explanations of key theories that they don’t have time to cover in class, but this is at the discretion of the lecturer.

I find OneDrive seamless 🙂
It's just what you're used to.