Laptops in optometry school?

[hoosier1]

Hi I'm looking for a laptop for optometry school (entering this fall) and I'm wondering how often you guys take them to class or lab. Thanks.

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[JMU07]

Never to lab, I'm not sure how you could. Some people bring them to class if they want to take notes on the computer, but most people just use the paper version of the notes.

 

[OpticalBlackOut]

Hi I'm looking for a laptop for optometry school (entering this fall) and I'm wondering how often you guys take them to class or lab. Thanks.

Well, did you take your laptop to class during college? I would think it's about the same situation.

 

[SarahNC]

Never. Nobody in my class does either. I do however take it to the library to flip through power points when I am studying.

 

[WoodyJI]

Hi I'm looking for a laptop for optometry school (entering this fall) and I'm wondering how often you guys take them to class or lab. Thanks.

Laptops can be extremely useful in optometry school. Buy an external HD and make backups of your notes at least a couple times a month (if you're an apple person, this is especially easy &#63743😉.

Here's a list of observations I've made while using my laptop to "markup" or "comment on" course power points, make outlines during class, etc.

1. Power point files are free if you ask the professors for them. Course packets cost money and waste paper.
2. Your backpack will be much lighter (especially if you consider how heavy someone's pack would be if they tried to carry all the info you can on your laptop, haha). You'll never forget to bring the course binder for that class which is only offered once a week and found its way out of your backpack to save space.
3. Digital notes can be indexed and searched later. THIS IS HUGE. You'll be able to pull up that reference your professor makes to material taught 6 months ago in class.
4. Powerpoint handouts don't have the slides that the professor added last minute the night before the class. They also don't have the "presenter notes" that your professor is using to explain things to the class in them.
5. Powerpoints have full-sized color photos. Course packets have small, black & white images (read: near-solid black squares of useless ink).
6. Typed notes can be revised freely, for that moment when your professor mentions something later that would have been better mentioned with the stuff s/he said 3 minutes ago, but it just popped into his/her head.
7. Pharmacology tables in excel (or  numbers) can be searched in that moment when you say chlordiazapoxide when you mean chlorpromazine...but what was chlordiazapoxide again?
8. Typed notes can be much more neatly color-coordinated, bolded, italicized, and all the rest.
9. Digital course materials can be much more easily shared/collaborated on. You can help your classmates out, and later they'll share their study-guides with you too.
10. You can sort and re-organize your instructor's notes, and cut down on the shuffling papers around for that one you cannot find anywhere in the stack.
11. You can build your own library one course at a time, which will pay big dividends when you sit down to get organized for boards.
12. You can type faster than you can write—you're using both of your hands. The rest of your class will get a hand cramp during that review session when the professor is lecturing at break-neck pace to get the whole thing in before the period is up.
13. You can pull up wikipedia in class.
14. You'll always have your calendar with you when your professors go on a lecture trading frenzy.
15. You'll be able to download that resource that your professor put on the course website right before walking from their office to class.
16. It's really easy to integrate material taught across different courses. That picture of the iridocorneal angle from ocular anatomy first year would be great for your glaucoma course notes later...
17. Your computer can be used to record lectures when you're worried that you might miss something, or if you've got a friend who couldn't make it to class and would like to listen to the recording at 1.5 to 2x speed later on their iPod.
18. You can buy the course textbook online when the professor goes over the syllabus on the first day. You'll probably find it for cheaper than at the bookstore, which might not even have the copy in yet when you get there (or may have run out already).

I could go on, but I don't really have the time at the moment. I probably don't even need to elaborate, I bet other people could post more examples. Maybe later I'll post again with the "con's of using laptops in optometry school" list. To make it clear, I don't discount the pen and paper...the key is finding the right balance between using the computer and writing things down. Sometimes it's really helpful to jot written notes while you review typed study guides, etc.

 

[JMU07]

Woody - you guys are lucky you're not forced to buy all the coursepacks and textbooks from the bookstore. 😡

At our school the profs automatically put their presentations and the audio recording of their lectures online, so it's nice not having to worry about that.

 

[4Eyes]

I didn't get my laptop until I was mostly done with the whole note-taking phase of optometry school. A few of my classmates had laptops...a handful of those brought them to class occasionally...and no one ever brought it regularly.

Our powerpoint presentations were available online to print at school for free. Almost every instructor, if not every instructor, posted the updated file after class if we printed an older version beforehand.

I love having a laptop, but I still prefer studying from paper notes, and I like being able to write (actually writing, not typing) myself notes off to the side. That being said, I had a study habit of typing out my own study guides anyway, but I printed those out, and I always had lots of things handwritten in the margins by the time the exam rolled around. A lot of it just comes down to personal preference.

The #1 reason I went back to re-download ppts was to search for key words, which is one of the advantages outlined above.

 

[WoodyJI]

So, lets talk negatives about bringing a laptop to class:

1. Facilities not in place for it. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that not all colleges are actively encouraging computer use in class. This means there won't be abundant power outlets, wifi access, table/desk space, etc.
2. It's a bigger temptation for distraction. However, I will say that sudoku from the campus newspaper works exactly the same. My thought is that we're in professional school now so the choice is ours, and so is the responsibility.
3. You might not be good at it yet. Lets face it, you probably spent most of your academic career taking notes in a trapper binder or composition notebooks like these:
   
   
   You're risking taking a hit in speed d/t the mechanics of taking notes on the computer at a time when you can least afford to fall behind.
4. You cannot draw easily on a computer (in all likelihood). If the professor wants to make a quick diagram, you gotta scramble for a pen and paper.
5. If you don't save your documents compulsively with a keyboard shortcut while taking notes, you risk the program crashing.
6. It's really easy to get caught up in the details. If you're working with a professor's power point presentation, you may start to notice that the formating is all crooked, text is misaligned, the "click here to insert text" boxes floating all over the place start getting on your nerves. The last thing you want to be doing when your professor is talking is comb through the document replacing the minus signs they've ghetto-rigged into bullet points, or the straight lines + text boxes they've used to create a "table."
7. On the flip side of that, there are some professors who do such a great job with their power points that they don't want to give them to you for fear that you might rip them off in the future (like you'll publish a text with their stuff in it before they can). I've gotten around that with a written contract in the past. PM me if you have that problem in the future and remember this post.
8. You might spend your time between classes surfing the web instead of socializing out in the halls with your peers. Maybe you'll eat lunch in front of the computer also.
9. It's possible to run into that problem of not being able to really learn something unless you write it down. This is something I chalk up to not having computers to take notes on in grade school. For me, sometimes I just have to use the pencil and paper if I want something to stick. There have been times when I've been able to do this with the computer, but not right away...I think it has to do with how we're wired (no pun intended).
10. If you don't have the right system, taking notes by hand can be far superior. You can more easily circle things, draw arrows to connect things, jot notes in the margins, etc. The system I use on my computer takes advantage of the comment and markup features. I essentially place pre-formated (20% transparent, appropriate font) post-it notes on the the presenter's slides using a keyboard shortcut. This is the same way that I'd write little notes in the margins if it were a print copy. It's really efficient, easy to read, and searchable later.

I think that's a good enough list for now. It really boils down to personal preference for finding the right balance. Even if you don't bring your computer to class, you'll still want to take the time after class to make computerized documents. However, I'll say that the more you can do right on the machine the better. It's faster to pull things into handwritten form from the computer than to go in the other direction. In any case, good luck with however you attack your studies!

 

[caliapp]

Do most schools provide podcast of the lectures online?

more specifically, pco?

 

[SarahNC]

Do most schools provide podcast of the lectures online?

more specifically, pco?

no podcast. powerpoints only.

 

[eyelady]

@Hoosier1: It depends on which school you are going to. For example, my school (IAUPR) pretty much requires that every sudent own a laptop, since all exams and quizes are administered online (Blackboard). We therefore have to take our computers to class everyday in case of a pop quiz, and absolutely so on exam days. I suggest you contact your school (or ask a student who goes there) for details on laptop use. I personally find it useful for taking notes within the powerpoints.