Disclaimer: This article was written on iPad Pro Pages application without extra accessories.

As humanity strives to advance, a myriad of technological devices illuminates our world today. In international schools in Korea, students are expected to purchase a personal computer to assist them with their education. Textbooks are given in pdf format and assignments are submitted online in word or pages; such prevalence of technology in my daily learning got me pondering about the efficacy of an iPad on my education. Last week, after months of research, I bought an iPad Pro to keep track of my school work and take notes in class. Although I do possess a Macbook, I thought an iPad was a better choice for me because of Apple Pencil, a stylus that allows you to take handwritten notes and mark on assignments. Here is my experience with my iPad so far.


Notability - $4.99
As a student, I was bombarded with papers: practice worksheets, articles, assignment descriptions, class notes, and more. Although I managed to keep things organized, it wasn't easy; however, this one note app saved all the effort. To avoid having to deal with piles of paper, you simply have to download the assignment from the teacher's drive and export it to Notability. Then, you can write on the document itself and even take notes in class. Before, I found myself organizing printed assignments by subject in a folder that I carried around; now, I only have to press save after I'm done. When I first bought the iPad, some teachers expressed their concern regarding the ability to print. This issue was prevalent among my teachers because many of them prefer printed assignments to digital media. Nonetheless, Notability allows me to print the document with all the edits through the cloud: easy and simple. These days, I do more than 70% of my assignments in Notability and organizing my documents has never been so easy.


PDF Expert - $10.99
Before I bought my iPad, my bag was full of textbooks for multiple classes. At the end of the day, I always found myself fatigued with all the weight I had to carry throughout the day; however, this app allowed me to easy myself from the heavy textbooks and having to carry around only my iPad. Despite the thousands of free PDF readers, I decided to use this app because it allows you to mark directly onto the textbook, make annotation just a fingertip away. After annotating math textbooks and really trying to understand the concept, I felt that my mathematical skills has largely improved, producing a greater result. Although the app is not cheap, this is definitely the app to use when it comes to learning and textbook annotations. I've seen more than a few benefits throughout the week that I've used this app.


myHomework - Free
Planning and keeping organized is the key to being a successful student; this application allowed me to organize my homework assignments and turn them in on time. If I input the assignment and its description at the time it is given, the app allows me to complete it on time by notifying me the day before. In addition, since I check the app nearly every single day, it is simply impossible for me to forget an assignment or turn it in after its due date. To make work more cohesive, I've synced all my homework through dropbox so I can view all the assignments that I've uploaded on my computer also through the myHomework app for Mac.

As Apple proudly announced when they launched the first iPad, the possibility for this piece of product is endless and it is completely up to the user to define their possibility and how they utilize the product. As for me, I've never felt so organized and comfortable before. Although purchasing the iPad was definitely an investment--being over a thousand dollar--it has given me an invaluable experience that I cannot replace with anything else. For those looking for a new way to tune up their education, iPad is definitely the first step to take.

 

 





Junyong (Jake) Jung
Grade 11
Korea International School

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