Electric engineering student tablet

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the utility of tablet PCs versus traditional laptops for students in electrical engineering. Participants share their personal experiences and preferences regarding note-taking and homework completion methods, exploring the practicality of each device in an academic setting.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express skepticism about the usefulness of tablets in electrical engineering, suggesting that traditional methods like paper are more effective for calculations and diagrams.
  • One participant mentions a preference for handwritten notes in a paper notebook, indicating a personal bias towards traditional note-taking methods.
  • Another participant shares anecdotes of peers who successfully used tablets for note-taking and homework, but notes that these cases are exceptions rather than the norm.
  • A professor contributes that in their experience, tablet PCs are rarely seen among students, with laptops being more common, and suggests that the trend leans towards paper for assignments.
  • Concerns about the practicality of tablets for engineering students are raised, with references to the social dynamics of using such devices in a classroom setting.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally do not reach a consensus, as there are multiple competing views regarding the effectiveness of tablets versus laptops and paper for engineering studies. Some favor traditional methods, while others cite exceptions where tablets were beneficial.

Contextual Notes

Participants express varying assumptions about the effectiveness of different devices based on personal experiences and anecdotal evidence. There is an acknowledgment of the social implications of device choice in academic settings, but no resolution on the best approach for note-taking and homework completion.

Who May Find This Useful

Students in electrical engineering or related fields considering their options for note-taking and homework devices may find this discussion relevant.

SuperMiguel
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so is a tablet pc any usefull in this career or I am better of getting a regular laptop?
 
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lol I doubt it. I am doing electrical engineering atm and i really have no use for a tablet or even a laptop for that matter. Calculations and diagrams are much easier to do on paper I am afraid.
 
any other student?
 
Depends on your taste. I personally prefer scrawling notes in a new paper notebook which I purchase every start of the semester.
 
so don't waste the money and get a regular small laptop?
 
SuperMiguel said:
any other student?

I knew a guy who wrote all his notes on his tablet, and did all his homework on it (he hand-wrote his engineering assignments on it and then resized and printed them off on engineering paper so that it all fit properly). Absolutely key: back everything up (external enclosure, big USB key, etc.) just in case of catastrophic failure.

I knew another guy who just typed up his notes (while in class!) and typed up all his assignments (using mostly LaTeX) on his regular laptop.

...But it sounds like you've already got your mind set, and just want somebody to give you a counterexample to the one post above.

EDIT: But the above two were exceptions; most people took regular paper notes and did their assignments by hand on paper. Based on the homework I and my colleagues have graded, this continues to be the trend.
 
As a professor (of physics... but often assigned the intro calc-based physics classes for engineers), I will say I've never seen a student with a tablet PC in my classes, though I've seen many laptops.

As a graduate student, we had ONE (out of forty+) in our incoming class have a tablet PC... and the rest of us always felt he was using it less for usefulness and more for "showing off" (since they were quite pricey at that time... and most, if not all, of us didn't even use laptops). He wasn't very popular with our class as a result... and I think that hurt him academically, since a lot of times we would work and study together.

I agree with MATLABdude... even with more and more students owning laptops, most people still take regular notes and do their assignments by hand on paper. (Note that after having a dismal rate with homework submission via an online system, I'm reverting back to paper submission of all my homework assignments.) I think students like laptops because they can take them to the library, coffee-shops, etc... and they also take up less room on a desk (of course maybe my office just needs cleaned so I have better desk space!).
 

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