08
Sep
Question: Is a Tablet PC a genuine alternative to pen and paper?
byDear Tracy:What a great question. This is a very common concern of students thinking of buying a Tablet PC for use in the classroom, so I figured I’d address it first.
I’m in the latter years of University now and am wondering whether or not you’d still recommend me using a Tablet PC in place of pen(s) and paper for taking down notes.
I am just stuck thinking that I will spend ½ the lecture figuring out how the Tablet PC works and correcting errors the thing made, reasons being that despite a very good tech-savvy upbringing, my writing is appalling and Hand Recognition Software will just not work for me, therefore will the Tablet for me just end up being essentially a “Digital” pen and Paper, but with lag in between flipping pages?
I am doing a double major in Law and Business and am given the Handouts both in the physical printed form and .DOC. I used to love scribbling on the actual notes as the lecturer “lectured” off said notes and I was merely adding on what specific details I thought relevant to me on it, will such be possible with a Tablet PC, and albeit probably more effective? (In that I can just press the equivalent of Enter to make the whole page layout change / zoom in therefore writing a lot in a small space?)
In short, other than the questions above, I am just wondering whether a Tablet PC is a genuine alternative to a Pen and Paper – and whether the technology will engulf me or make me more efficient.
1. The truth about handwriting recognition and notes
I find many students concentrating way too much on handwriting recognition when, in actuality, it’s only a small part of the Tablet PC experience. All of my personal class notes are written just as I would write the notes with paper and pen, so the recognition engine doesn’t slow me down at all (since I’m not really using it).
The benefits of digital notes kick in when I’m trying to find something from earlier. Writing fast for notes makes any handwriting sloppy, but almost every sloppy writer out there is amazed at just what the tablet can recognize since it looks at how the word was formed (the pen stroked involved) and not how the word looks in the end. This means most of my notes are searchable. It doesn’t mean that my notes look like I typed them, but if I write the word “Democracy” and then search for it in a program like OneNote, all the instances that the word “Democracy” appears in my notes will return, including anything I inked on the screen instead of typed.
So how big of a deal is it if your writing is so bad that not even the tablet can tell what you’re writing? I don’t find it that big of a deal at all. I’m still not in the habit of searching for my notes after years of simply keeping them well organized. The tablet helps keep you even more organized then you were before, so you’ll be able to find things much easier without needing to use the search function.
Handwriting recognition is really the most handy for emails (where things often have to be typed) and surfing the web.
2. The tablet as a digital pen and paper
Many also find the tablet would be a waste if all they used it for was an expensive piece of paper. Not so. You can’t make a piece of paper bigger if you need just one more line to finish a thought. You can’t paste excel tables into your notes if you’re using paper. You’d have to carry 30+ utensils (thin pens, thick pens, highlighters, markers, etc.) to get the flexibility on paper that a tablet gives you. You can’t sync your paper notes with the recorded lecture (unless you want to waste the time marking the time stamp on your notes during lecture).
You can’t rearrange notes on a page once they’re on paper. Ever have a professor that liked to write the wrong thing first just to demonstrate that it’s wrong (or just wrote the wrong thing on accident) then erase the whole thing, leaving everyone in the room frustrated and erasing or scratching out? Because a tablet lets you mass move, mass delete, and mass copy/paste, you can keep up with that quirky professor just as easily as the professor spits it out.
There are SEVERAL other things the tablet can provide as a digital pad that pen and paper cannot. I’ve in no way listed them all, I’m just giving examples.
Oh, and you won’t have a lag between flipping pages. If anything it’s faster because, technically, you never have to “flip a page” since you can just extend a tablet page as far as you need to. Creating a new page only takes one click of a button.
3. Will the technology engulf me or make me more efficient?
The nice thing about a convertible Tablet PC (the ones with the attached keyboards) is you can ignore the fact they’re tablets at all should you find it too complex for you, but I don’t recommend that!
A tablet can be as high tech or low tech as you want it to be. There are people that only use the pre-installed Journal notes program and don’t care to explore it any further. There are also people (many you’ll find in this area of the web) that push the tablet capabilities to the limit.
In short, you won’t be overwhelmed by the technology because you can customize it to what you’re comfortable with and what you need or want. I’ve never had a person tell me it makes them less efficient.
No related posts.
I’d agree with the first 2 points and disagree on the 3rd. I’m starting my second year of grad school with a tablet (M200) and have decided to go back to paper for most note taking, using the tablet only in one class that uses Excel a lot. I love the tablet, but the ‘overhead’ of running it is just too much. Just this week my ‘4 hour’ battery died an hour into the lecture! And last year it would often ‘freeze’ in OneNote and refuse to take ink. Not to mention the other Windows foibles that normally happen. Frankly I don’t feel more efficient and I’m tired of dealing with it. Just my two cents…
September 8th, 2006 at 11:15 amWhat a frank comment. Your honesty much appreciated - this new technology is competing against the 5000 year technology of essentially a “Pen” and “Paper” - perhaps Tablet PCs can be seen as an evolution of “writing” but as I have yet to experience one - I won’t know!
September 8th, 2006 at 3:09 pmFrustrated Consumer,
I find it more than somewhat disturbing that you criticize the tablet experience for what boil down to every day “computer” problems… the type of problem that would happen regardless of tablet or laptop or anything else.
With regards to the battery, this is something that could have been related more to your use and configuration… any number of factors could have contributed to it including not turning off wireless antennas or not dimming your display, or even misconfigured power management settings.
As for the “freezing” and Windows foibles, those again have little if anything to do with the Tablet itself as it perhaps does with the environment. Did you try to troubleshoot the problem or re-install the program with the problem?
I’m trying to have respect for the fact that not everyone is technically savvy, but I’m also unwilling to take your comments with any value given that your explanations of your bad experience have little to do with the experience of a TabletPC. From the sounds of things, you were just as likely to have a problem with any laptop as you were with the Tablet.
I don’t want to make it sound like it’s YOUR fault… I don’t think that at all… I just think you’re criticizing the wrong source of the problem, and I also think you’re giving up too easily. Technology is meant to work for us, not us to work for it.
Regards, Aaron M. Hall
September 8th, 2006 at 3:38 pmJust to clarify, I have over 20 years experience with computers, from the old TI-99/4A to DOS 6.22, BeOS, Linux, up to the Tablet OS. I know how to condition a battery for max life. I know how to tweak the registery. I do know where my wireless switch is. So in fact, I do know a bit of what I’m talking about.
I was attempting to answer a valid question whether or not the ‘overhead’ of running a Tablet outweighs the benefits. In my opinion, after using it for 2 semesters (and 1 week this semester) is ‘No’.
I agree with Aaron’s statement that the problems “would happen regardless of tablet” - and that’s the point. It is still a Windows machine underneath, with all the inherent problems. I don’t want to spend any more of my time re-installing software, rolling to previous backups (although Acronis makes that easy), or doing any of the other things one needs to keep the thing alive. Especially while in the middle of a lecture!
September 9th, 2006 at 7:50 amI realize that the above statements may come across as VERY bitter, and I’m not trying to be. Really!
Just want to help a fellow student make an honest assessment.
And I have found this site, as well as TabletPCBuzz, to be an absolutely INVALUABLE help over the last year and a half. I really do appreciate the work you guys do!!
September 9th, 2006 at 8:15 amGoodThings2Life:
I think Frustrated Consumer has very good points. For some people it is simply not feasible to drag all the computer troubles they already have at their desk back in the dorm room to class with them, where they have to keep up with a teacher and try to learn something. Optimally, a tablet PC would be as simple to operate as a piece of paper. However, when adding all of the superior writing functionality inherent in a tablet, one gains some operating complexity. Unfortunately, this means all the Windows stuff comes along, some of which the average person does not know how to effectively deal with.
September 10th, 2006 at 2:40 amHow is your (OP) handwriting on paper? Years of practice have probably optimized it. Fold up a CLEAN screen cleaner cloth under the heel of your writing hand. See how the pen glides more smoothly as your hand glides across the screen? Handwriting may approach your paper writing quality - and better tip control can make it smaller.
September 10th, 2006 at 4:17 pm