Ipad for DPT Program?

[oscar1034]

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I'm starting my DPT program this summer and I was wondering if any current students have ipads? Are any of you prospective students planning on using one? If so what apps are best? Or is it not even worth it?

 

[track11]

I would go with just a MacBook instead, no need for an iPad for school-related purposes if you have a laptop.

 

[DPTRVTCCRP]

I'm starting my DPT program this summer and I was wondering if any current students have ipads? Are any of you prospective students planning on using one? If so what apps are best? Or is it not even worth it?

I will be getting an iPad 2 to assist with anatomy, scheduling and recording lectures - there are some great apps on there. For the record, I also have a macbook pro, that I intend to leave at home. I am not all that great at time management and hope that with the applications I can get better.

 

[arvest25]

I was debating this too at one point, but at the end of the day I asked myself this question: "What would I use more? Macbook Pro or Ipad??" I'm going with the Macbook Pro for educational purposes (take notes in classroom, ebooks, etc.) and a cheap PC desktop for everything else!

 

[PTapp]

I have an ipod touch 4G 32GB and I have been recording my lectures throughout the semester, and it is absolutely amazing. Maybe you should take the cheaper, lighter, and more portable route. I don't know.. Just a suggestion.

 

[DancerFutureDPT]

Unless you want to spend a ton of money on printer ink and paper, I'd definitely suggest bringing something with you to class (at least at our school, at least two classes per week required having extremely long PDFs in class...either electronically or paper copies). I got sick of trying to read them on my iphone, and didn't feel like wasting that much paper, and my 3 year old Macbook is too heavy/annoying to carry around.

My solution? I bought a $250 netbook. I love it. It's a 10inch computer, super lightweight. It also has insanely good battery life (9 hours or so), so I can leave it at school in my locker for days on end. It's also easy to take with me if I'm going to my parents' for the weekend, or out of town or whatever. That way, I don't have to bring my larger, heavier one.

If you already have a computer that's functional, use that and get something cheap to use as a supplement if you want to. Personally I still don't get the point of IPads...I know people who swear by them, and I've spent many hours playing with them at the Apple store, but I don't get it. No one in my class has them, but I don't know if others find them useful?

 

[truthseeker]

have you watched any of the recorded lectures? Seems like alot of memory space taken up.

I used a pen and paper but then again I'm old.

 

[jesspt]

have you watched any of the recorded lectures? Seems like alot of memory space taken up.

I used a pen and paper but then again I'm old.

Ha Ha!

Some of my classmates chose to record the lectures (on analog min-cassette tapes no less). This never made sense to me. Who the hell has time to re-listen to a two hour lecture?

 

[PTapp]

Ha Ha!

Some of my classmates chose to record the lectures (on analog min-cassette tapes no less). This never made sense to me. Who the hell has time to re-listen to a two hour lecture?

lol. I do. There's nothing better than going over over the material again while listening to the lecture. I have found it very helpful.

 

[goyo1010]

Hmmm... Honestly, I don't think it's really quite that necessary--having an iPad for classes. I think if you have a notebook/netbook/mac book/etc., that should be fine, unless you just really want to get one. I don't think you would want to carry an iPad AND a notebook computer. I think you would use the notebook more frequently than the iPad. Plus, as other posters have said, recording a lecture requires quite a bit of memory, unless of course you actually take the time to transfer that file to an actual computer to save space on the iPad.

lol, PTapp. I tried recording lectures then stopped after I noticed I never listened to them once. Good 'ole pen and paper or typing has served me well since high school.

 

[kcrat21]

I'm not in PT school yet...but I have been using my iPad to take written notes with a stylus for my pre-reqs. It works amazingly and I haven't used a pen and paper since I got it in December. I have an awesome app that lets me write over .pdf files and take notes just like I would on paper and it also records (but I never listen to the recordings). It has some great scheduling and anatomy apps on it as well, and I've been able to find some e-texts as well. It's a good tool, but I also have a laptop for writing papers and lab reports because word processing isn't the iPad's big draw.

Anyway, I use and I like it--if you do some research you'll be able to find some great apps to help with productivity! 🙂

 

[wrennywren]

Not an Ipad, but definitely interested in an Android tablet. I hate, hate, hate having to deal with forced usage of Itunes on my computer with anything Apple. I'm looking at the Viewsonic G Tablet (you can get it for 300 bucks) which I will switch out the native ROM with a much more user friendly ROM. It can support Flash and Android market.

That said, I only want to get it for entertainment purposes, not for use in PT school. My laptop will work perfectly for school. 🙂

 

[Lizarde]

What app(s) are you using for notes/pdfs? I haven't used my iPad for school mostly b/c of the ppt limitations (I use my laptop in class), but for those annoying guest lecturers that use PDFs your iPad apps sound great.

I'm not in PT school yet...but I have been using my iPad to take written notes with a stylus for my pre-reqs. It works amazingly and I haven't used a pen and paper since I got it in December. I have an awesome app that lets me write over .pdf files and take notes just like I would on paper and it also records (but I never listen to the recordings).

 

[karma1031]

Is it really necessary to bring a laptop/Ipad to class? I'm going to PT school this fall. I plan to take notes with pen and paper, and after class I plan to type the notes on the pdf or powerpoint lecture that the professor posts for the class.

 

[PTapp]

lol, PTapp. I tried recording lectures then stopped after I noticed I never listened to them once. Good 'ole pen and paper or typing has served me well since high school.

Hey whatever works for us right? 🙂 I still do take notes in class, but who pays attention to class 100% of the time? I know I don't. Our class actually video-recorded every single examination, special tests, biomechanical analysis, mobs, DFMs and Tx. Our ortho prof collaborated throughout and we have an excellent product in our hands. We can now always refer back to those videos and not worry about any copyright issues. 1st years have our videos too and they love them. They were also very helpful before our practicals.

 

[Lizarde]

Half my class prints out the notes and is completely computer free. I personally can't see 6 slides on a page and prefer to have it in full color on my laptop. I'm also rather unorganized with paper. Up to you and your learning style for my program at least.

Is it really necessary to bring a laptop/Ipad to class? I'm going to PT school this fall. I plan to take notes with pen and paper, and after class I plan to type the notes on the pdf or powerpoint lecture that the professor posts for the class.

 

[dizzy88]

Is it really necessary to bring a laptop/Ipad to class? I'm going to PT school this fall. I plan to take notes with pen and paper, and after class I plan to type the notes on the pdf or powerpoint lecture that the professor posts for the class.

This is what I do. I have a heavy laptop that I don't feel like taking to school with me everyday, and I didn't want to spend money on a new one. I've actually found that taking handwritten notes and then going home and typing them into the pdf's is a great studying tool. Forces me to review!

We only have 1 person that has an ipad. 80% of class brings their laptops. The remaining take handwritten notes. Unless you have some extra cash, I probably wouldn't actually recommend that anyone buys one.

 

[kcrat21]

What app(s) are you using for notes/pdfs? I haven't used my iPad for school mostly b/c of the ppt limitations (I use my laptop in class), but for those annoying guest lecturers that use PDFs your iPad apps sound great.

I use Note Taker HD in order to write over .pdfs and save them as .pdfs again. I used Notes Plus for everything else--once Notes Plus supports .pdf import, I'll probably stop using Note Taker HD. Notes Plus is by far the best notetaking app I came across during my exhausting (and expensive) search. Check them out! Note Taker HD is great with the .pdf import though, I just like Notes Plus' other features and user interface way better. 🙂 Good luck!

 

[goyo1010]

i actually bought a tablet pc a while back for undergrad stuff. great stuff. i took physics, chemistry, statistics, literature, etc. notes with OneNote. Great stuff. i was practically paperless. but my tablet pc is now outdated, but it still works great!

 

[markelmarcel]

Hmm.... now I'm debating what I want to do... I was planning on just taking notes as I always do (printing off the slides, or old school in a notebook) but maybe I should think about at least bringing my laptop...

I really like handwriting things though to commit them to memory versus typing... Hmm... Something I'll need to think about!

 

[pumpkinpatch]

I plan on recording lectures so that I can listen to them on my 45 minute commute each way. I saw someone recommended the ipod touch... any other suggestions? I'd like one which allows me to record a lecture and play it back again on the same device.

 

[DancerFutureDPT]

I wasn't clear in my last post, so I'll add to it now 🙂

NO ONE in our class uses their laptop/netbooks/whatever to take notes...no one. And very few people use notebooks. I don't even have notebooks or notebook paper (if I really need a blank sheet I'll go steal one out of the copier in the lounge haha). All of our professors print out powerpoints and/or give us their notes in a packet, so we just write directly on there. I would find trying to take notes on a laptop or by hand cumbersome and unnecessary, since everything is already on the page (or maybe just a few details need to be filled in).

But this could very well be school-specific, so I don't know about other schools. My suggestion would be to wait at least a week or two after class starts before buying any new expensive products.

The only time anyone has their laptops out for "notetaking" is during really boring lectures when people decide to retype other notes. (Some people do retype everything off the powerpoints, but that's an after-class study tool, not something they do during the initial lecture).

The only reason we have for laptops in class are when we're presenting papers, talking about online/PDF readings, etc., and don't feel like printing out everything. (Each student in our program is given 150 pages of printer access per trimester, so we use them sparingly...especially because our printer is notorious for not always printing so then it wastes your paper lol. I only print when I have to actually hand in a paper/can't submit it online).

But yeah, long story short...wait a bit before buying anything with your student loan money. 😛

 

[wrennywren]

My school requires all students to have a laptop.....

 

[track11]

I wouldn't go out of your way to buy an iPad if you don't already have one. Most people already have a laptop. Roll with it unless you come to find another resource that would better suit you 🙂 I have a feeling you will be FINE with just a laptop.

 

[PTapp]

I plan on recording lectures so that I can listen to them on my 45 minute commute each way. I saw someone recommended the ipod touch... any other suggestions? I'd like one which allows me to record a lecture and play it back again on the same device.

One other thing you can use is a tape recorder. I have seen people using their iphones and android phones. I also have a little netbook but i dont use it for note taking. I always write on powerpoint slides then go over them again while listening to the recorded lectures.

 

[DPTRVTCCRP]

I'm not in PT school yet...but I have been using my iPad to take written notes with a stylus for my pre-reqs. It works amazingly and I haven't used a pen and paper since I got it in December. I have an awesome app that lets me write over .pdf files and take notes just like I would on paper and it also records (but I never listen to the recordings). It has some great scheduling and anatomy apps on it as well, and I've been able to find some e-texts as well. It's a good tool, but I also have a laptop for writing papers and lab reports because word processing isn't the iPad's big draw.

Anyway, I use and I like it--if you do some research you'll be able to find some great apps to help with productivity! 🙂

What app do you have that lets you write notes and all over PDF files?

 

[kcrat21]

Notes Plus for taking notes with a stylus and recording; Note Taker HD for writing over .pdfs. Notes Plus will probably integrate the .pdf writeover feature soon, its the better app of the two but they're both cheap!

 

[ptootles]

My school requires all students to have a laptop.....

Same here - they call it a "green campus" in that there are no paper materials distributed and there are no printing facilities on site. So, you're expected to have a laptop/netbook/whatever and connect to the school's network to receive and submit electronic documents.

 

[Danae00]

I wasn't clear in my last post, so I'll add to it now 🙂

NO ONE in our class uses their laptop/netbooks/whatever to take notes...no one. And very few people use notebooks. I don't even have notebooks or notebook paper (if I really need a blank sheet I'll go steal one out of the copier in the lounge haha). All of our professors print out powerpoints and/or give us their notes in a packet, so we just write directly on there. I would find trying to take notes on a laptop or by hand cumbersome and unnecessary, since everything is already on the page (or maybe just a few details need to be filled in).

But this could very well be school-specific, so I don't know about other schools. My suggestion would be to wait at least a week or two after class starts before buying any new expensive products.

The only time anyone has their laptops out for "notetaking" is during really boring lectures when people decide to retype other notes. (Some people do retype everything off the powerpoints, but that's an after-class study tool, not something they do during the initial lecture).

The only reason we have for laptops in class are when we're presenting papers, talking about online/PDF readings, etc., and don't feel like printing out everything. (Each student in our program is given 150 pages of printer access per trimester, so we use them sparingly...especially because our printer is notorious for not always printing so then it wastes your paper lol. I only print when I have to actually hand in a paper/can't submit it online).

But yeah, long story short...wait a bit before buying anything with your student loan money. 😛

Second this!

No one in my class uses a computer / ipad in class. No computer plugs, you are constantly moving around and changing positions and sometimes rooms for group work, many classes are a mix of note taking and practical and there is no appropriate place to even put a computer, and often notes would be handed out in class before being posted online a day or two later. Writing on the handouts/printouts is what 90% of my class does. The other 10% just reads the powerpoint online to save ink/paper and they make additional notes on looseleaf.

Besides, most of my course website doesn't display properly on the ipad not to mention then many resources we are supposed to use that are in flash (grrrr!). So if I was going to use a computer in class the ipad would be one of my last choices.

But as a fun toy, and a source of great medical apps, the ipad is great! Just not so much for school work.😛

 

[Litlwarrior08]

Didn't see anyone mention this:
Pulse pen / smart pen
here is a link http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/smartpen/
I have used it in various undergrad classes.......I take crappy notes. the special notebook allows me to reference a point in lectures and play back. There are a few different models. Pretty small device could be helpful in addition to your lap top. You can upload to your computer.

 

[dptstudent2014]

There are a few students in my class that use an Ipad. Everyone else just uses a laptop. At my school you really need some sort of electronic that you can take notes on. Otherwise, you will spend way too much time and money printing hundreds of pages of notes each day. The professors just provide the notes in an electronic format that is easy to add text to. Before you invest in an Ipad to record lectures, I recommend calling the school to ask if you are even allowed to record. My school and a different PT program that my good friend attends strictly forbid any recording devices inside the lecture rooms. Maybe it is best to wait until after orientation so you can ask some previous students what they used. Good luck!

 

[Lizarde]

I read all pdfs on my ipad. I use "drop box" to transfer files from my computer and "noterize" to highlight the pdfs. I hate reading on my laptop and I don't want to print a tree's worth of paper every week.