Studying from the computer (transitioning to)

[bclover]

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As more and more of our notes & lectures go electronic (particulary in vet school itself!), I am struggling to figure out if or how effective I can be studying from a computer when I have always been a hard copy/written notes types of person - and, being in my early 40's this has been quite awhile 🙂. Right now I appreciate the functionality of a tablet pc, but can see myself still printing things out when actually studying and committing things to memory for exams, and so forth. Is that wasteful - or even possible? Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Ideas on making the transition or sticking with what works, etc., etc... (Particularly in light of the functionality of the tablet.)

 

[Electrophile]

I am the same way as you and I'm just 25. I had an old school middle school teacher who was VERY big into making sure everyone knew how to take outline style notes themselves. That just got engrained and so if I have to print stuff off, I tend not to write as much and I tend to space off in class more. So this semester, I went back to good ol' pen and notebook for note taking for most of my classes. If they are very diagram heavy notes, I'll print that off usually, but I'm paying more attention in class this semester that way. It gets a little frustrating because I am a fast note taker, but sometimes the professors get going a little too fast, but I can usually leave a little space in my notebook and look back online to the posted notes and fill them in myself later. So really...do what works for you! Vet school is not the best time to randomly change your learning style (unless it happens to work better!). Good luck!

 

[hoodle]

I think there's a big difference btween taking notes and studying... If I get a tablet, I see the tablet's use being circling, drawing, writing directly on the powerpoint during lecture - but NOT a substitute at ALL for printing out, writing, and rewriting in order to study.

I think I'd likely take my notes during on the tablet in powerpoint, and then print out any or all that I needed to have in my hands for exam studying. Even if I didn't print things out, I'll have a little spiral notebook that contains my handwritten notes for the class - from textbook, going over my class notes, from group study sessions, etc. There's no substitute for writing material out - the tablet will just facilitate organization for notetaking during lecture!

 

[bclover]

I think there's a big difference btween taking notes and studying... If I get a tablet, I see the tablet's use being circling, drawing, writing directly on the powerpoint during lecture - but NOT a substitute at ALL for printing out, writing, and rewriting in order to study.

I think I'd likely take my notes during on the tablet in powerpoint, and then print out any or all that I needed to have in my hands for exam studying. Even if I didn't print things out, I'll have a little spiral notebook that contains my handwritten notes for the class - from textbook, going over my class notes, from group study sessions, etc. There's no substitute for writing material out - the tablet will just facilitate organization for notetaking during lecture!

That's sort of what I was thinking - use the tablet in class for the diagrams, etc., but print them out to re-write, study from, etc. - I just can't really imagine my learning any other way, but everyone is SOOO sold on the tablet PC for everything - I wondered if I was missing the boat somehow (re:efficiency). For now, I think I will continue to stock up on paper and printer cartridges so I am ready...😀

 

[wi girl]

As I just bought a new $2200 macbook pro -- i personally will NOT be moving to the tablet PC. I don't care how things are done at the schools -- I will print out the notes before the lecture and write on them just like i do now. Like electrophile said -- if its not broke, don't fix it (okay, that wasn't it exactly, i've just never really had a chance to say that, and i love it when my grandparents do).

 

[Angelo84]

I take notes on paper and its working well for me. I will study from the powerpoint slides because they are a good guide for what the exam will focus on. But I do a lot of talking myself through the slides. I can't just look at the slides and actually understand anything. I do refer to my written notes to clarify what is on the slides--more so in some classes than others. A good chunk of my class brings their computers to class and takes notes on them--I need the action of writing things down for them to stick.

 

[wi girl]

For now, I think I will continue to stock up on paper and printer cartridges so I am ready...😀

I just read this and pictured this armageddon in vet school where there are no printers, no paper, and all we have are these tablets (which happen to look like rocks, to facilitate the vision). hahahahahaha

Or a 1950s bomb shelter built under the anatomy labs, where you lift the hyperbaric chamber door, and instead of water and food, you just see shelves and shelves of paper and cartridges.

Obviously I'm a little hopped up from my admittance today. (yay) back to the real discussion.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

I cannot study off the computer or from powerpoints - I just can't! You're not alone 🙂

I type notes on the powerpoints during class and print them out afterwards - I essentially use class time to pick out the most important information from the slides and create my hard-copy "study sheet" as I go. I absolutely NEED to have it on paper so I can study, write extra notes on, highlight, etc.....

 

[CalpardNY]

I have to say - I am one of those people that definately learns by doing...i always studied by rewriting notes, recopying diagrams, redoing problems etc and gain very little from reading a textbook. I started transitioning to typing notes after every class to help me learn and have even transitioned to typing notes while in class (even though im a fast notetaker helps me keep up and i keep a binder for drawings, etc). I have to say - now that has become my mode of studying. The molecular genetics class I am in now is all over, the professor posts powerpoint slides but doesn't lecture straight from them, and I have notes on the computer, on printed power point slides, on my binder, its a mess. And im having issues figuring out how to study since i can't do what has become my normal routine - so we adapt!

Everyone has their own way of studying. As wi girl said, I also just bought a brand new macbook pro and that was supposed to last me through most if not all of vet school (fingers crossed). However, when I went to Illinois i was really fascinated by their way of teaching. As far as I could understand (feel free to correct me if i get something wrong) at the beginning of the semester you get a cd with all your notes (called e-notes). These consist of power points, lectures, whatever the professor wants to give - some lecture straight off these some don't. Most of the class (100 out of 117) have tablet pcs as the school suggests. This allows them to take notes right on these computerized notes through the class. They say that students do sit there with a regular laptop and a piece of paper, but some students find this harder because u have to figure out what note matches what slide, etc. Also, when someone mentioned printing it out the student we were talking to pulled up a 265 page file that was the notes for 1 section (out of 3) for 1 of her classes that semester. Now not only is that a lot of paper and ink to print ALL ur notes, but thats a hell of a lot to carry around compared to a 3-4 lb computer. While standard teaching methods could still allow for a lot of success with old fashioned notes, I could definitely see how a tablet pc would be advantageous because of how illinois sets up their teaching.

Just thought id add another point of view!

 

[dyachei]

I have to say - I am one of those people that definately learns by doing...i always studied by rewriting notes, recopying diagrams, redoing problems etc and gain very little from reading a textbook. I started transitioning to typing notes after every class to help me learn and have even transitioned to typing notes while in class (even though im a fast notetaker helps me keep up and i keep a binder for drawings, etc). I have to say - now that has become my mode of studying. The molecular genetics class I am in now is all over, the professor posts powerpoint slides but doesn't lecture straight from them, and I have notes on the computer, on printed power point slides, on my binder, its a mess. And im having issues figuring out how to study since i can't do what has become my normal routine - so we adapt!

Everyone has their own way of studying. As wi girl said, I also just bought a brand new macbook pro and that was supposed to last me through most if not all of vet school (fingers crossed). However, when I went to Illinois i was really fascinated by their way of teaching. As far as I could understand (feel free to correct me if i get something wrong) at the beginning of the semester you get a cd with all your notes (called e-notes). These consist of power points, lectures, whatever the professor wants to give - some lecture straight off these some don't. Most of the class (100 out of 117) have tablet pcs as the school suggests. This allows them to take notes right on these computerized notes through the class. They say that students do sit there with a regular laptop and a piece of paper, but some students find this harder because u have to figure out what note matches what slide, etc. Also, when someone mentioned printing it out the student we were talking to pulled up a 265 page file that was the notes for 1 section (out of 3) for 1 of her classes that semester. Now not only is that a lot of paper and ink to print ALL ur notes, but thats a hell of a lot to carry around compared to a 3-4 lb computer. While standard teaching methods could still allow for a lot of success with old fashioned notes, I could definitely see how a tablet pc would be advantageous because of how illinois sets up their teaching.

Just thought id add another point of view!

I absolutely love my macbook pro though there are a couple of tiny problems since the newest OS is so new. Get the applecare program if you want it to last you through vet school. Its really good value and the RAM sometimes goes bad unexpectedly.

Tablets are also nice because you can write on them as if you were writing notes but have them saved to a computer so you can access them through email, etc. - I also learn by doing. But until they make a convertible mac tablet, I'm going to use the one provided by my school.

 

[CalpardNY]

I absolutely love my macbook pro though there are a couple of tiny problems since the newest OS is so new. Get the applecare program if you want it to last you through vet school. Its really good value and the RAM sometimes goes bad unexpectedly.

Tablets are also nice because you can write on them as if you were writing notes but have them saved to a computer so you can access them through email, etc. - I also learn by doing. But until they make a convertible mac tablet, I'm going to use the one provided by my school.

Thanks for the suggestion! I have applecare (no way was my mom letting me leave the apple store without it!) so im glad to know its good to have.

Just cause i looked into it. Supposedly apple is coming out with a tablet (ive heard 2 names...one i forgot and one is - yup you guessed it - itablet!). By coming out i mean february 2008. You can find lots of info on it online, but no purchasing info. I might be skeptical about getting it SO soon being that its new technology - but its said to be technology similar to the iphone - so maybe they worked out kinks! But yay for mac stepping up to the game. Of course its more money and macs are more expensive than pcs...but from what ive seen they are worth it! Just some info FYI!

 

[BartonVet87]

Illinois does seem very geared toward the tablet PCs... I loooove my Mac and don't want to spend three grand on the tablet that I would get.

*However*

I know some of the third years and they ALL mentioned that their profs are very unorganized and don't post the lecture notes until ~5 min before class. 🙁 My friend Katie (also a Mac fan) just had to buy a tablet that she is only going to use for another year and a half so she could keep up...

Is this discrimination against Apple?? j/k

Also, the new Macbook Air has the same technology as the iPhone. It just allows you to zoom in, move things around, and such with you fingers. That would be fab if they came out with a digitilized tablet!

**Hope to see everyone at Illinois in the fall!!**

 

[alliecat44]

Here at Kansas State, my class is the first to be completely "paperless."

We received a convertible tablet PC at the beginning of the school year. A bunch of our notes were pre-loaded onto it, and some of our profs wouldn't get the PowerPoints for their lectures up until mere hours before classtime. Eh, whatever...it would be MUCH more convenient to have everythng in the same place, but sometimes life isn't perfect.

I'm an old(er) student who never had a laptop in college and was way stressed about the transition to studying off of a computer versus printed notes. I don't even own, nor can afford, a printer! I started off the school year taking notes with the pen stylus on the tablet. It's great--you can change colors with a single tap (so color-coding diagrams/notes is no problem), and I get the "learning-by-doing" kind of fix. I've had some problems with Microsoft's OneNote software, though, and this semester am trying to mostly type my notes on the powerpoints and adding in hand-drawn diagrams with the stylus as needed...seems to be working pretty well so far.

I find I can still re-write my notes and study from them. If I really wanted to, I could print out all 30+ powerpoint slides for each lecture, but I don't feel the need. Because time is at such a premium, when I re-write my notes, I end up creating an actual study guide that's in outline form and only contains the things I don't already know cold--so then I study from that hard copy. It works really well! I'm filtering information as I go through my notes, which reinforces concepts and makes me analyze how well I really understand information/point x, y, z...

You can make the transition, it's possible, it's rewarding. Sometimes it is a bit frustrating and I wish for the "olden days" of dedicated spiral notebooks for each class...but it is AWESOME that I can basically Google my own notes for anything related to, say, a certain enzyme or something. I have a feeling that's going to serve me well in clinics. Also, when studying, no flipping through pages saying, "I KNOW there was a slide that said something about this SOMEwhere"--instead, you just type in a keyword and it finds all incidences! Very cool and much more efficient time-wise.

Hope this helps! 🙂

 

[dyachei]

Thanks for the suggestion! I have applecare (no way was my mom letting me leave the apple store without it!) so im glad to know its good to have.

Just cause i looked into it. Supposedly apple is coming out with a tablet (ive heard 2 names...one i forgot and one is - yup you guessed it - itablet!). By coming out i mean february 2008. You can find lots of info on it online, but no purchasing info. I might be skeptical about getting it SO soon being that its new technology - but its said to be technology similar to the iphone - so maybe they worked out kinks! But yay for mac stepping up to the game. Of course its more money and macs are more expensive than pcs...but from what ive seen they are worth it! Just some info FYI!

Not to hijack the thread or anything....
But they're more expensive than PCs and more worth it IMO for a couple of reasons. Have you looked into parallels? Or Bootcamp? Whenever I have any problems running any programs that are made entirely for windows, I switch to one of those programs and make my Mac act like a PC. The cool thing about Parallels is the ability to keep your PC partition in a separate window so you can do Mac stuff at the same time. Also, their customer service is superb.

I swear, I'm not trying to sell anybody on anything, I just love my computer that much.😍

 

[Electrophile]

Just FYI everybody, if you've already bought a non-tablet PC, but you want the ability to draw or take notes like you have one, you can get a basic graphics tablet for around ~$100 at Best Buy. This is what most people who do graphic arts and design use to draw on Photoshop, etc without using a mouse. You just plug it into the USB port, and use the wireless stylus pen to draw. Pretty cool. The other cool thing is that the Wacom ones (what I have) come with a couple photo editing programs, like Photoshop Elements.

 

[CalpardNY]

Not to hijack the thread or anything....
But they're more expensive than PCs and more worth it IMO for a couple of reasons. Have you looked into parallels? Or Bootcamp? Whenever I have any problems running any programs that are made entirely for windows, I switch to one of those programs and make my Mac act like a PC. The cool thing about Parallels is the ability to keep your PC partition in a separate window so you can do Mac stuff at the same time. Also, their customer service is superb.

I swear, I'm not trying to sell anybody on anything, I just love my computer that much.😍

That is sooo cool! I am going to have to look into it! Thanks! And i agree - macs are worth it! YAY! Ok i believe we are done hijacking!

 

[nyanko]

I haven't gotten in yet, but during my last two years of undergrad I made the transition to taking notes on and studying from my laptop. I found it to be really convenient once I got used to it and it's really cool not to have to lug around a bunch of notebooks anymore.

I'm not sure how I feel about being required to purchase a specific model of laptop though. I can understand the reasoning behind it, but I'm a Linux user right now (yeah yeah more nerd points whatever) and I happen to like using the UNIX CLI and the structure of the operating system and such. I feel as though if we are willing to accept that our laptop/software is not supported by the vet school, we should be allowed to use what we want.

 

[dyachei]

I haven't gotten in yet, but during my last two years of undergrad I made the transition to taking notes on and studying from my laptop. I found it to be really convenient once I got used to it and it's really cool not to have to lug around a bunch of notebooks anymore.

I'm not sure how I feel about being required to purchase a specific model of laptop though. I can understand the reasoning behind it, but I'm a Linux user right now (yeah yeah more nerd points whatever) and I happen to like using the UNIX CLI and the structure of the operating system and such. I feel as though if we are willing to accept that our laptop/software is not supported by the vet school, we should be allowed to use what we want.

If it were just about that. I don't know about other schools, but UTK is a Windows-PC school and so many programs that they use (Photoparade comes to mind) don't work with Unix based systems. We have assignments that we have to be able to see on these programs. Like I said though, not sure about other schools.

 

[nyanko]

If it were just about that. I don't know about other schools, but UTK is a Windows-PC school and so many programs that they use (Photoparade comes to mind) don't work with Unix based systems. We have assignments that we have to be able to see on these programs. Like I said though, not sure about other schools.

I've got a Windows VM running and am proficient with WINE. It'll take me a day or two but I can pretty much get anything up and running on my system that a person using Windows can. 🙂

 

[dyachei]

I've got a Windows VM running and am proficient with WINE. It'll take me a day or two but I can pretty much get anything up and running on my system that a person using Windows can. 🙂

Its all good then 😀.

I don't know why some schools require certain computers. Uniformity perhaps?

 

[kate_g]

That's sort of what I was thinking - use the tablet in class for the diagrams, etc., but print them out to re-write, study from, etc. - I just can't really imagine my learning any other way

I also went to college in the age of overheads and (gasp!) chalkboards.

I have a tablet - it was that or a Mac for Davis, and I like Macs but haven't used them much, and I didn't see adding that learning curve to the beginning of vet school too. I download the slides the prof provides and take notes by hand directly on the slides with the tablet pen in OneNote (part of the Office suite, provided by Davis).

Here's the cool thing: You don't need to print out your notes to study and re-copy them, because you can just pull up another sheet of "paper" in OneNote and re-copy to your heart's content. I do all my studying on the tablet - drawing out diagrams, copying lists of structures I need to know, charting metabolic pathways, whatever.

So, from one old fogey to another, the tablet is actually a great way to make your "old school" learning style work in the modern age. (I'd be lost with a standard laptop, and probably would have stayed with paper note-taking if that were my only option.)

 

[PAThbrd]

Vet school is not the best time to randomly change your learning style (unless it happens to work better!). Good luck!

That said, don't be afraid to change your learning style and experiment with new things to see what works best with you. Vet school is very overwhelming at times, especially if you're not using the best, most efficient study method for you. My study methods have changed drastically over the last 2 years, and it took most of first year for me to find a good system to deal with the massive quantity of information I was responsible for. I am still tweaking that system, too.

Except right now I have no system, as I cruise around SDN instead of studying for the midterm we have tomorrow...🙄

 

[wivet2011]

As I just bought a new $2200 macbook pro -- i personally will NOT be moving to the tablet PC. I don't care how things are done at the schools -- I will print out the notes before the lecture and write on them just like i do now. Like electrophile said -- if its not broke, don't fix it (okay, that wasn't it exactly, i've just never really had a chance to say that, and i love it when my grandparents do).

You won't even need to print off notes before class if you end up at WI! Notes for each class usually end up in our boxes a day or two (sometimes more) before the lecture. You'll def. want to stock up on binders though!

And to give my computer opinion... Mac all the way! I'd love if they came out with a tablet.

 

[hoodle]

Here's the cool thing: You don't need to print out your notes to study and re-copy them, because you can just pull up another sheet of "paper" in OneNote and re-copy to your heart's content. I do all my studying on the tablet - drawing out diagrams, copying lists of structures I need to know, charting metabolic pathways, whatever.

This sounds great. I'm struggling because about a year ago, I bought a new fancy laptop when my old one bit the dust. I didn't even think about going to vet school and getting tablets - or if I did, the chance that I was going to go to Davis seemed to remote and unlikely to be relevant! I hope I can convince my partner to take my fancy laptop (since hers is now very old), and me get a new tablet, as I think I'd do well with it.

Also, at davis, I heard from the profs that if you put up a HUGE stink, they can't FORCE you to get one of their models. which i appreciate. Even if I get a tablet, I want the option to choose what I spend my money on, and I'm not afraid to fight for it!

this is all assuming I'm going to Davis. arghhh.

 

[kate_g]

Also, at davis, I heard from the profs that if you put up a HUGE stink, they can't FORCE you to get one of their models. which i appreciate.

This may be true, but honestly I think 100% of the people in the current Davis first-year class have one of the required computers. I was really, really mad at being forced to buy a particular computer (I think you could probably find some angry SDN posts from me last year), but I really appreciate it now. The key, I think, is that we've got three tech support guys pretty much exclusively dedicated to making the whole program work. They put a lot of thought into it, and are very responsive to students (and faculty!) with problems. If that weren't the case, I'd probably still be peeved about the forced purchase.

Unfortunately, it took actually experiencing it to convert me. I'm not sure there's anything that anybody could have said to me beforehand that would have reassured me me a) that I'd want to or even be able to take notes and study electronically, and b) that the school actually had it together enough that the situation wouldn't completely suck. So there's probably nothing I can really say to reassure you, either. 🙂

 

[hoodle]

Kate, when did they tell you about their required tablet setup? I'm eager to know. What brand did they require/do you have? I'd be fine picking their required setup if I thought it was a good computer - what's really important to me is how small and light it is........ Also, since I'm coming in as VSTP, I'll only be in the vet school class for 2 years, and then I'll duck out for 2-3 before coming back. I wonder how that will affect computing? Even if I get what they tell me, I'll be "out of date" compared to the rest of my class as a 3rd/4th year. hm.

 

[adOggy07]

Hey all!

Question for you guys and gals with the tablet... Hopefully my plan is to attend Minnesota (don't know if accepted, rejected or waitlisted yet) this fall. For Minnesota they do have a laptop requirement, but not specifications.

When I went to my Kansas interview I was very curious about their Toshiba Portege M700-S7002 tablet... and it really seems wonderful. I think everything about it sounds great! I was thinking if I get into Mn.. I would buy that tablet.. However, a little bit more reading online from users complain that the battery life is very short... about 2 hours I think is the average?

Can any of the tablet users share their experiences on battery life? Or.. all laptop users actually... since I'm not familiar with laptops of any sort!

Thanks! 🙂

 

[mistifical]

Hey all!

Question for you guys and gals with the tablet... Hopefully my plan is to attend Minnesota (don't know if accepted, rejected or waitlisted yet) this fall. For Minnesota they do have a laptop requirement, but not specifications.

When I went to my Kansas interview I was very curious about their Toshiba Portege M700-S7002 tablet... and it really seems wonderful. I think everything about it sounds great! I was thinking if I get into Mn.. I would buy that tablet.. However, a little bit more reading online from users complain that the battery life is very short... about 2 hours I think is the average?

Can any of the tablet users share their experiences on battery life? Or.. all laptop users actually... since I'm not familiar with laptops of any sort!

Thanks! 🙂

Two hours doesn't seem too bad for something so fancy! My roommate just got a new computer where the online specs say that the battery should last ~2 hours (its a 17 inch hp)... she's had it for around 6 or 7 months now and has replaced the battery 3 times due to poor battery life (about 20 to 30 minutes). Last time she called to complain she was told that that is how long the battery should last... why in the world would you EVER buy a laptop when the battery is only expected to last 20 minutes?

I LOVE my ibook though... I've had it for 2.5 years and the battery can still last me 3 to 4 hours depending on what I'm doing. And apple care is the way to go 🙂 My powercord was smoking and I called them and they sent me out a new one ASAP. I loathe PCs (sorry, but you learn to do that when you get a brand new laptop and replace your hard drive 4 times in one year).

 

[hoodle]

I love my PC notebook - it's a VAIO, and it's served me flawlessly. I get about 3 hours of battery life if I turn the screen brightness down but keep wireless on.

 

[Poke]

I received my notebook as a gift. (I'm poor!) It's an HP dv5000 series running Vista (which was my choice, Mac lovers 😛 ). On "power saver" mode while using WiFi, I get about two hours.

 

[wi girl]

I have a MacBook Pro, and I can get about 4-5 hours running -- I also set my screen brightness to max usually too. I've NEVER had less than 3 hours with a mac, just putting that out there. 🙂

 

[PrimalMU]

My Macbook (not Pro) lasts about 3 hours with full brightness and wireless on. I can usually stretch it to 3.75-4 hours if I turn of the wireless and turn the brightness down to the point just before it goes completely black. I can't help but laugh at all my friends who have Dells and HPs and their batteries barely last over an hour. 🙂

 

[adOggy07]

thanks for all the info guys! =)

 

[bclover]

At Illinois they were talking up the Fujitsu tablet pc as well as the Toshiba. Does anyone have experieince with it or know of someone with the Fujitsu machine and have some feedback to give? They provide list of minimum requirements and possible machines to choose from (with the 'new' list coming out in late March), but don't limit you, so I am researching things while I still have my fingers crossed as we wait... (makes it kind of hard to type )

 

[pupsforseeing]

Hey all!

Question for you guys and gals with the tablet... Hopefully my plan is to attend Minnesota (don't know if accepted, rejected or waitlisted yet) this fall. For Minnesota they do have a laptop requirement, but not specifications.

When I went to my Kansas interview I was very curious about their Toshiba Portege M700-S7002 tablet... and it really seems wonderful. I think everything about it sounds great! I was thinking if I get into Mn.. I would buy that tablet.. However, a little bit more reading online from users complain that the battery life is very short... about 2 hours I think is the average?

Can any of the tablet users share their experiences on battery life? Or.. all laptop users actually... since I'm not familiar with laptops of any sort!

Thanks! 🙂

My undergrad school gives each student a tablet, so I've been using one for the last 3 years. While it took a little bit of getting used to, there's no way I could ever go back to not having a tablet! I have an HP tc4200 and get about 3 hours of battery life, but when it was brand new I easily got 5. That said, the newer model (tc4400) comes with a travel battery and the sophmores/freshmen that have this model easily get 7-10 hours of battery life.

As for the taking notes discussion, I've found it really useful to write on my tablet for notes during class, and then re-copy them into a notebook (I like to be able to study from hard notes). But, then when I want to re-do problems, draw out pathways/structures, etc., I just open a new page on OneNote and write everything out. I save a LOT of paper this way. For me, it's been the perfect compromise: I still have hard copies of my notes to study from, but don't waste ridiculous amounts of paper when studying (I am one who learns from writing things out, so I used to go through absurd amounts of ntoebook paper). It definitely takes some time to figure out hwo to best integrate the tablet into your studies in the way that works best for you, but judging from my peers (who were all given tablets but not forced to use them), it seems that the vast majority of people seem to use them at least for some classes.

 

[flokemahe]

we were all required to buy the Fujitsu tablets. I really resisted (I'm a Mac geek!), but I'll grudgingly admit that I've been pretty darned happy with it. Battery lasts 2-3hrs (longer with the screen dimmed). You can buy a second battery that inserts where the CD drive is. It's pretty reliable, not too heavy, not too big or too small (although sometimes I wish it had a bigger screen), and it's tough! I dropped mine & broke the whole front corner of the case. It still ran just fine, and our 4yr school warranty fixed it. My only complaint is that it runs windows!
As for tablets in general, I thought I'd have a tough time transitioning to computer note-taking, but I really like it now. Scribbling right on the instructors slides is SO much easier than taking paper notes!!! One Note keeps everything nicely organized, even if it does have a bit of a learning curve. I love that I can search my notes, and it will find both text in the prof's slides and recognize words in my (messy) handwriting - sweet! I bought some of the textbooks for the computer too, which means I can search my textbooks anytime I want without carrying 4 heavy books around. Some of my classmates are still pen & paper learners, and they just print out what they need.

 

[Starwrecker]

At Illinois they were talking up the Fujitsu tablet pc as well as the Toshiba. Does anyone have experieince with it or know of someone with the Fujitsu machine and have some feedback to give? They provide list of minimum requirements and possible machines to choose from (with the 'new' list coming out in late March), but don't limit you, so I am researching things while I still have my fingers crossed as we wait... (makes it kind of hard to type )

Here at Iowa State we were required to buy the Fujitsu tablets. (I've seen online that the class of 2012 will have the some computers as well.) I enjoy the convenience of being able to write my notes on the screen and having them in one place. However I find the computer (internet!) to be exceedingly distracting as I have the attention span of a gold fish lately. 😛

As far as the Fujitsu itself, its a nice little puter. Light weight, easy to use. I broke the case and the latch on it, but our warranty covered that so it was no problem to send it off to be fixed. Our school stocks a few extras so when they sent my computer away they just popped my hard drive into a loaner and I was ready to go. The only problem I've really had is using our WebCT/Blackboard program....it freezes my entire computer at least once a day.

Even though its not a bad little machine, I'm still bitter about having to spend almost $2500 extra on top of tuition. Jerks.

 

[chibry]

I know a few people at Illinois who use the Fujitsu and love it. I have a Lenovo which is pretty good also. I used PCMAG dot com to look at reviews. If you know the model you can enter it into the reviews and some of them even have video reviews. The Lenovo is one of their favorites. I read on other sights they liked the Fujitsu also. Good luck.

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At Illinois they were talking up the Fujitsu tablet pc as well as the Toshiba. Does anyone have experieince with it or know of someone with the Fujitsu machine and have some feedback to give? They provide list of minimum requirements and possible machines to choose from (with the 'new' list coming out in late March), but don't limit you, so I am researching things while I still have my fingers crossed as we wait... (makes it kind of hard to type )

 

[flokemahe]

However I find the computer (internet!) to be exceedingly distracting as I have the attention span of a gold fish lately. 😛

Oh hai!
😀
Just a tad distracting, eh??
Shouldn't you (we) be studying Path??

 

[Starwrecker]

Oh hai!
😀
Just a tad distracting, eh??
Shouldn't you (we) be studying Path??

I am studying path...in between reading and posting on forums. 😀

Though, to be honest, I'd much rather be..😴

 

[flokemahe]

let me help you sleep:

"Lung has multifocal aggregates of macrophages, often adjacent to airways, that contain irregular, clear, refractile crystals and small dark to black particulate matter. The macrophages of the medulla have ....😴

 

[cuitlamiztli]

The only problem I've really had is using our WebCT/Blackboard program....it freezes my entire computer at least once a day.

WebCT Gold's fun like that, isn't it? It takes my laptop at least five minutes to unfreeze, and it's even done it to my new desktop. So, future Iowa Staters, be warned... 😉