Going Paperless in 2020
If You’re In University, You Really Need to Consider Getting an iPad
Taking a step to improve your educational experience and make a small impact on your carbon footprint
Modern day universities have been around for centuries and they have barely changed or adapted to the amazingly innovative world we live in today. Walking around a campus, you can still spot students lugging around heavy backpacks and textbooks. In lectures, you still see students bring in printed lecture slides and you will almost always see a student who forgot some paper, or even lost their notes.
It’s amazing to see that even in 2020, students still learn in almost the same way as students from 50 years ago. While it is true that most students have laptops and computers today, we can still find so many students taking notes the good old fashioned way — by pen and paper.
It’s well known that writing by hand requires a higher level of cognitive processing as compared to typing on a keyboard. Regardless, pen and paper just don’t offer enough functionality compared to a laptop, but computers can be less effective for learning material.
You might have heard of the little girl in an Apple iPad ad famously say:
“What’s a computer?”
The iPad is the best of both worlds. It gives you the digital functionality and efficiency of a laptop, and the creative, personal learning experience of pen and paper.
Here are the 5 main reasons you should consider making the switch to iPad.
1. The Apple Pencil
If you are going to make the switch to an iPad for school, you really need to consider buying an Apple pencil to be able to use the writing feature of the device. The pencil opens up a world of possibility for your iPad. Download a note-taking app like Goodnotes or Notability and you’re good to go. Upload your class lectures and annotate them directly. Take handwritten notes with every colour of pen, pencil, and highlighter imaginable, all with one writing tool. You can resize your text, move it around and drag and drop images or diagrams from Google. This is where the past meets the future.
2. Portability
The iPad is a compact and lightweight package. Most iPads will come in weighing around 1 pound (454g) or less, with the exceptions of the 12.9 inch iPad Pro models. An iPad will lessen the load in your backpack considerably and once you start downloading your textbooks, your backpack will be near empty! From coffee shops to walking to different lectures, your will notice the difference every single day.
3. iPadOS
There was a time when an iPad could not have replaced your laptop or been a viable option for school because the iPad was simply a large iPhone. With the introduction of iPadOS, the device founded its own category. With the software update came features that make the iPad a real option for school . Better multitasking, trackpad support and multiple windows of the same app can now be open at the same time. You also got a file manager app, desktop class Safari browsing with a built-in download manager, and if you opt for an iPad pro, you can now use external storage. iPadOS is a light software and gives you the full strength of the app store and ios, but also unlocks the functionality of a laptop.
4. It’s Powerful
Due to the fact that the iPad is running what is at its core a mobile software, the demands on the processor are extremely well handled. The iPad is more than capable of running all your Microsoft and Google apps, taking notes, researching on the web and multitasking. You can truly push the iPad to do everything that you would on a laptop and notice minimal to no difference in the performance. If you spend a little more and get an iPad Pro, your device is going to more capable that almost every laptop on the market and on par with most macbooks.
5. It’s a tablet
In the end, not only are you getting a device that becomes your main tool for education, but you also get an iPad. Everyone knows how fun and exciting an iPad is. It’s a high quality tablet with an excellent screen perfect for games and video streaming. You also have access to a camera, so you can always take a picture of a document and automatically have a digital copy of it.
Downfalls
The iPad doesn’t always manage to do everything your laptop could as easily. However, this is the give and take relationship you would need to be willing to develop if you want an improved note-taking experience, a lighter load and a more enjoyable education. For me, the downfalls of the iPad far outweighed the improvements in other areas and it has been a decision that I have been so happy with over the past year.
Wrap Up
As with most things, an iPad for school isn’t perfect. For some, their courses may require programs that only run on laptops. For others, the comfort with using a laptop or pen and paper is more important than changing the way we learn. Sometimes, the cost of buying the iPad, an Apple Pencil, and a keyboard can come at a price that’s simply too high.
In my experience, having an iPad has dramatically changed the way I study and my mood towards studying. I find myself more excited to use the iPad and take notes and have found my performance to have increased since the purchase.
Sometimes we need to take a leap and try out something new. For school in 2020, the iPad is that “something new”.
