<p>It depends. I have an iPad, but I rarely use it for notes even though there are a lot of great note taking apps available for it. I think it depends on the type of class. If there are a lot of diagrams I tend to prefer pen and paper as it’s easier to draw straight lines and shapes to make them look legible/neat. If there’s a lot of writing for a class I tend to prefer a physical keyboard so I bring my Macbook because it allows me to type much faster than on the iPad, although there are keyboard accessories that allow for this also. I have one and it works great exactly like the normal Mac keyboards, but don’t I still prefer my Macbook. I guess because I’m old-fashioned? Lol. All that said, I know people that bring iPads and seem to manage taking notes directly on the touch screen with a stylus. I find that if I try to write on my iPad the text tends to come up significantly messier than how I normally write because of how sensitive the screen is. In terms of note taking, I think the iPad is best if you’re in a class where the professor provides your notes online. Then it’s easy to save them as a pdf and upload it to one of the many note taking apps(I use the app Notability) and make annotations directly on the notes. You can also record audio from lectures directly on the iPad and there are apps that will embedded the recording in your notes, so you can listen to the lecture as you review your notes. I tried this, but still prefer using a digital recorder and uploading the mp3 files because if you move the iPad around while it’s recording you pick up all the background noise. </p>
<p>Where I think the iPad is great is for textbooks. I really feel like e-books are going to displace textbooks someday, not completely but at least for the majority of people. Carrying your iPad instead of 4-5 textbooks in your backpack is great, not to mention a lot cheaper. I’ve literally saved thousands of dollars by downloading the pdf files of textbooks online to read on my iPad instead of buying the actual books that can range from $50-$300. Also, iTunes U holds millions of free videos, texts, and articles that are great as supplementary material that comes directly from professors from universities like MIT, Harvard, Princeton, etc. Check it out here:
[Apple</a> - iTunes U - Learn anything, anywhere, anytime.](<a href=“http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/]Apple”>K–12 Education - Apple)</p>
<p>Something that’s also in it’s infancy are interactive textbooks, which Apple has recently released after they getting major publishing companies like Pearson and McGraw Hill to get on board with them. There are interactive textbooks in the iBooks store that have videos and interactive diagrams embedded directly in them that are amazing. Instead of wasting time poorly describing, here’s a link of what I mean:
[Apple</a> - Education - iBooks Textbooks for iPad](<a href=“http://www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks/]Apple”>http://www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks/)</p>
<p>However, even with how amazing and seemingly revolutionary interactive textbooks seem to be, right now there are only a handful of them in the iBooks store and they tend to be directed to high school level students as opposed to university students. Although I think with time interactive textbooks are going to quickly catch on and just like the iTunes store 10 years ago, more companies are going to jump on board and it’s going to revolutionize buying textbooks like iTunes did buying music. There may not be all that many interactive ones, but there are still millions of e-books through iBooks, Amazon, torrents etc that you can put on your iPad though that are great. </p>
<p>Anyway, I suggest you go into an Apple store and play around with one. Try writing on one and see what you think firsthand and if it’ll work for you. There are a lot of advantages the iPad has over traditional note taking with paper and pen and even with a laptop, but it all depends on the person using it and whether it’s really convenient for you.</p>