The question is, does spending all this money lead to better grades? Or do students buy these devices for school because of group pressure and a desire to fit in?
First of all, you need something to write papers on, which means you're choosing between a laptop and a tablet with an add-on keyboard. "Traditional cheap pen and paper" doesn't work for writing papers.
Second, once you've got a device, it makes much more sense to take notes on it rather than pen and paper, for most people, because it's easier to keep organized, to keep backed up, to share with other students, and never worry about losing. (Oh crap I brought my red notebook to Econ 201 instead of my blue notebook!)
So it really comes down to, whether a laptop or tablet with keyboard is better. For some majors like CS you need a laptop full stop. For other majors the ability to draw diagrams with a pencil might be far more important. If you have a lot of digital textbooks then a tablet might be much more ergonomic to read them on than a laptop.
Not to mention tablets are often easier to protect, less likely to break, easier to slip into a bag, weigh less, etc.
But none of that has to do with "better grades" or "group pressure" or a "desire to fit in". It's entirely to do with a necessary tool, and which one meets your specific academic needs the best. You seem to be coming from an assumption that "expensive iPads and accessories" are in addition to a laptop+paper, whereas for a lot of students it's an alternative to.
I've read enough of "how to take notes" and every one of the articles said take quick notes, get gist of the topic down. Once out of class immediately re-write the notes. This helps with learning and comprehension. Now, if you have back-to-back classes this goes out the window.
For me writing helps me remember. I think if I wanted to incorporate technology I would still use pen and paper. Then once I got home re-write my notes on what ever device was most appropriate. I feel like I would get double benefit of physically writing the notes and then reflecting on the lecture as I was typing them in.
Again, my own take and to each their own.
The best way to do anything is the way that works best for you!!!
IMO, people are too trigger-happy adding technology to schools. If any district wants to do a 1:1 iPad program, they should keep the iPads on-prem and use them as tools rather than stopgap replacements for books/paper. If schools want any chance of their students focusing on their work (especially in a K-12 environment) they should treat computing as a situational solution.
Unfortunately the computer science class is no longer running at the school I attended. Between the low demand for the class and the difficulty of teaching programming on an iPad, they decided to pull the plug and focus on providing other STEM classes. Truly a tragedy since I look back on that class so fondly, but I guess the next generation of software developers will need to be a bit more self-motivated.
In my experience the iPad is great for JavaScript, but you need a keyboard!
There are CAD apps for the iPad that are compatible with AutoCAD, Solidworks, etc.. Touch controls and Apple Pencil support seem like good features.
Folks can do what works for them, including pen and paper, but there are definitely advantages to the more tech route beyond just "fitting in", and compared to the cost of even a single semester at some schools the iPad cost is easy to justify. Sure, I can just browse the internet instead of doing work, but I can also do that on my phone and doodle in a paper notebook if I'm set on not paying attention, and people have been able to daydream forever.
Edited for spelling and such
The world of learning is moving online, textbooks are being provided electronically, assignments are being submitted electronically, grades are provided electronically and even some learning tools used in the classroom are online. Heck there are schools that have been providing laptops for students for the last decade.
I'd ask the question back to you, if you had to move back to pen and paper would it inhibit your ability to do your job? If so, then I think you know the answer.
The biggest bonus is having my notes in the cloud. I can reference my notes on my phone, laptop, personal desktop, and on other people's computers. I don't need my backpack and notebooks with me to check on a theorem, pseudocode algorithm from class, or how to format that SQL query.
The second feature I use is being able to copy/paste and move notes around. If I run out of space (I like to keep my column width normalized), I can select an area of notes and move/resize, or transfer to an entirely different notebook. I can also copy text from a professor's slides or from a paper I'm researching, and then annotate that text in my notes.
If I was just taking notes for an english or history class, similarly to @_aavaa_, I don't think it would be as useful. Since I'm taking Math and CS courses with equations, graphs, system diagrams, and code I want to annotate, it's been very worth it. However, for short daily notes or scratch work, I do keep a (paper) notebook in my backpack as there's no bootup time or login to scratch out some ideas.
Separately, I had a Sony MP3 record and a digital camera to take high res pictures of the graphs drawn (I could have used Onenote to synchronize but it seemed overkill)
That was extremely helpful: during the class, I could do some plots or run some experiments to clarify a concept and ask questions if something didn't make sense to me.
And right after the class, I would gather the different parts to make my own notes and interpretations of the material presented.
It was around 2017, and half the people were using similar setups. I mostly saw laptops, maybe because iPads with pens didn't exist yet. If they had, I would have certainly tried one!
These days I work from home and can keep everything in my desk, but I still use Apple Notes for learning things because it’s easy to switch between my phone, iPad and laptop to work on topics in whatever spare time I have, wherever I am. I get some good ideas in the line for grocery checkout haha
https://hn.algolia.com/?query=author:carlycue+Apple&type=com...
https://hn.algolia.com/?query=author:carlycue+Apple&type=sto...
The first few comments you posted on HN include statements like "Apple is the biggest brand in the world" and "Apple is the most prestigious company to work for on planet earth".
WTF.
All of the apps on iOS look more polished and are usually vector based, so file size ends up being smaller and much more zoomable. But I think that the android alternative (software wise at least) are superior. Specifically this app (unaffiliated): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.acadoid.le...
If I had all my notes on an iPad, organized an searchable, and uploadable to the cloud or transferred to a desktop machine, that would be a much better situation.
That said, it isn't anything close to $2K. Students have access to good discounts through various retailers, but even the base iPad with a $329 full retail price works well enough for taking notes along with the $99 Pencil. It would easily last four years of college for note-taking.
The key is to disable all other apps (including iMessage) so it's a distraction-free device.
I used an iPad to take notes on PDFs of lectures and textbooks when possible. Was incredibly helpful, and searching worked faster than flipping pages. The stylus is very accurate as as easy to write with as paper.
Eventually found an app called Notability to takes notes that stayed in sync with audio recording of the lecture. Helped a ton concentrating on what was being spoken instead of trying to transcribe it, and revisiting areas of confusion.
High schools and middle schools have started giving out a laptop to every student in my district. The teachers use google classroom. I don't know if a $1500 device will be better than a $800 device for grades, but even a $600 used device will be much better than going pen and paper only. There is group pressure to get an apple product, but that also depends on the major. In bio or psychology classes there was some elitism when I was the only one who pulled out a thinkpad, some classmates associated thick to business to slow and old. After I switched to CS the topic didn't come up again.
Every single one of my classes in college provided power points, even math and cs. I didn't need to worry about copying down the PPT while the teacher was lecturing. I took one class with a teacher who refused to provide a copy early and I meaningfully struggled more to learn the material. I switched sections/teachers in order to make sure that never happened to me again.
Depending on the comfort student, 2 in 1s have gotten good enough to where they could replace paper and pencil completely. The only time they would need to write on paper is for exams. I personally think iPads are a bad investment regardless of the student and their major. The software just isn't there, regardless of the model.
In professional or academic conference sessions, most laptops seem to have an email app open. I expect professionals and researchers rely more on email.
I think someone once suggested that you could automatically monitor and rank conference session engagement by measuring wi-fi usage.
In any case, I can understand why some lecturers might advocate blocking wi-fi and cellular service during lectures. Though I sat in on one course where every student had a web app where they could follow along with the lecture and examples and also provide immediate feedback (e.g. solving short problems or answering questions addressed to the class) to the instructor.
My studying workflow was based on digitized notes, so it saved time. I didn't need to worry about running out of space on the page and didn't need to worry about losing notes. It also provided timestamping for free.
Otherwise, I think it's an abomination. Using the same device for learning, entertainment, social media and other distractions just seems like a really bad idea. Maybe I don't give the kids credit - but this is my working hypothesis. I'd be glad to be wrong.
Do iPads or laptops lead to better grades? It depends on the student. If a student uses their iPad/laptop to do research and organize their life better, it will help. If a student parties hard and only uses their electronics to goof off on YouTube or Hacker News, it won't help them.
I started using the iPad 1 in high school to take notes and its so much nicer to just have 1 "notepad" to take notes for all of your classes than 6 different notepads. And god forbid we talk about textbooks as well. Only carrying basically an iPad and w/e paperback I needed for english is so nice.
Lecture and lab notes also seemed nicely integrated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute
I still personally prefer using a fountain pen, but I am maybe writing a few words as a mnemonic device.
The entire premise of your post is about your values and boils down to money well back in my day we spent all our money on booze and weed.
Are you jealous that kidz these days have nice things?
the fallacy here is that they spend the money ONLY for taking notes
There are occasionally some arguments put forth about environmentalism and saving the trees, but given the environmental costs of battery production, I really don't see it as a good reason.
As for my thoughts on the matter, I've honestly always thought that investing in a high-end iPad for college alone is (for me) a massive waste of money. My campus has plenty of computers available through their AD, so finding somewhere to get online is rarely an issue and is often easier than depending on our subpar mesh network. That's also how I access my textbooks, all of which are either online or (conveniently) located on my OneDrive. (Side note: I was also the idiot that didn't consider the combined weight of my gaming laptop and its massive charger when buying it at 18, so not having to carry it around campus on 95% of days does wonders for my back health.) Pen-and-paper has always worked fine for me, and the two little journals and pens that I carry around are plenty functional for my two in-person lectures. I have a huge problem with staying focused during lectures, so not having another device to yell at me or send me notifications in the middle of when I'm taking notes is a huge perk. If I really need to check an old set of slides or look something up, I have my phone for that. Finally, there's always the fact that not having another $1k+ device in my bag to break when I fall off of my skateboard, get stolen, etc. keeps a lot of pressure off of my day-to-day activities.
That being said, it really comes down to how the individual student uses it. If it's the main hub for all of your notes, assignments, meetings, calendar, etc. and that's all you need to get through the day, all the more to you. $1k over the course of a 120 credit degree is around $8.33 for every 3 credit class, so as long as it's providing that value, it's well worth it. I take issue with people suggesting that it can revolutionize your classroom experience because I find that with education the system that works best is the one you know. If I were to try to make the switch, I know it would end up being another source of distraction more than anything else. I may not be the norm though, and that's perfectly fine.