18 interesting facts about doing assignments with iPad

IPad is an excellent device for taking notes in the world, but what about doing assignments?.

A lot of students have many questions about this topic and wonder if the iPad is a good and excellent device to do assignments.

In fact, the iPad is not an ideal device to do assignments it has some flaws that many students don’t know about.

In this article, we’re going to discover the 18 facts about doing assignments with iPad that most students don’t know about.

iPad doesn’t work well in some web app assignments

If you love to do some assignments in some web or a specific app assignment you might find some issues and hardships with the iPad. For instance, if you use mathPad, calcPad, or physPad you might face the following technical issues.

  • black screen white screen (blank screen) when I open some apps
  • loading or error problems
  • login issue or account-related issues.
  • installation issues
  • update problems
  • Audio/video loading problem
  • Notifications are not working properly.
  • payment issues with the app

In addition, some iPad assignment apps are not totally free. For instance, if we talk about notability the famous taking notes for iPad users, to benefit from the full features the app provides, you have to switch to the paid version.

iPad doesn’t have a calculator

The weirdest thing about the iPad is it doesn’t have a calculator yes it doesn’t. The whole iPad users need to install strange apps calculators that don’t provide a good dashboard experience.

These apps are full of ads so it’s become very disturbing for students to do the assignments. Especially for students who use a lot of calculators like the statistic field.

So why iPod don’t have calculators?

Nobody has a clear and convincing response to this question. There is a story that said that’s Steve Jobs didn’t accept the graphic dashboard of the calculator made by a responsible software developer at that time.

Is it so strange?

You can watch this video below to know some details about this story. Also, see some interviews with apple companies directors responding to this question.

IPad can support some content you might need for assignments

Some professors prepare some assignments for students that contain Adobe Flash Player or Java files like:

  • animation
  • Games
  • Images

So the content that includes flash player or Java files will not be supported by the iPad. As a result, you want to be able to explore it. This problem happens for professors or instructors who still use the old methods.

Because today Flash Player or Java is not much popular or indispensable as it was before 10 years.

So students are suffering from using web apps assignments to do their homework. Because it simply doesn’t support flash players or Java.

IPad versions came with a pencil

If you are looking to buy an iPad and have a pencil for free you are wrong. The iPad doesn’t come with any additional accessories. If you need to use a pencil and for sure you will need, you to have to invest or pay $120 to write or do your assignments like on paper.

In addition, you need to change the iPad pencil tip each year if you are a strong writer. For artistic students, they need to change their tips pencil iPad sooner just for 5 to 6 months of use.

Artists are consuming iPad tips more quickly than anyone. To clarify, they sketch or draw which means a lot of friction and material loss.

So maybe you will need to spend 10 to $15 each year for Apple pencil tips.

you can’t connect ipad with any printer

Doing assignments with iPad is good when it comes to printing them, but students find some issues. The 2 famous iPad printing issues are.

  • iPad might not find your printer
  • iPad find the printer but can’t print

IPads don’t have a cable connection to use for printers. So you are forced to connect through Wi-Fi with your printer. So for all the printers that don’t have Wi-Fi you have to forget about using them with your iPad.

In addition, Apple has a functionality called AirPrint which allows wifi printers to connect with iOS devices. But students have to know that not all printers ranges support this functionality.

So students have to check when if their printers support iPads or not before making a wrong buying decision.

you can split the screen

IPad has a great option for students to do assignments using is the split-screen feature. You can split your screen and take notes on the side and maybe watch a lecture video on another side.

You can watch this example image below.

So it is a great option for students who study online which helps them to take their notes easily without going back and forth between tabs. It is like working with dual monitors for studying.

But this feature has limits. That is to say, you can’t open more than two apps at the same time we’re going to talk individually in the next paragraph about this issue.

opening more than 2 apps at the same time is not possible

IPad is not a great tool for multitaskers student who loves to open a lot of tabs or work in a lot of apps at the same time. IPad gives the student the ability to only open two apps at the same time not More than that.

If you try to open the third app it won’t work the last app that you open, it freeze the previous one.

For instance, if you want to open a video and listen to music while you’re studying you can’t put in front of you a math or physics exercise and solve it.

Simply because that needs to run 3 apps at the same time:

  • The first app to run a video YouTube
  • The Second One is the folder where you have your exercise
  • The last one is your notes app where you will solve this exercise

Don’t use a zooming tool for writing with ipad

Writing assignments on iPads is lovely for students especially when you choose the notebook original paper background. That is to say, you are writing like in The Notebook which does not give any difference between a paper notebook and an iPad.

But students don’t understand this, if you zoom or choose the wrong portion of writing that means you are changing the normal and standard size of writing. That reflects on printing size.

To clarify if you zoom the screen paper you would get smaller writing when you print the paper assignments.

This problem happens especially when students split the screen for multitasking and use zoom to clarify more the writing space.

So students have to avoid using Zoom to prevent printing problems later.

ipad doesn’t have USB or SD card reader

IPad doesn’t have a USB HDMI or SD card reader which makes the transfer of data impossible for students If they want to share their files. If you want a USB iPad extension device that costs $40, it is just a USB converter we’re not talking about is the SDcard or HDMI port.

If you want to have a USB and HDMI port converter you need to spend $70 for that.

In addition, it won’t be easy to transfer the data from Windows computer to iPad there are a lot of shortcomings and compatibility issues. So you won’t be free to transfer songs music or videos like you want as a laptop.

Reading

IPad has a better experience for students who love reading, thanks to its portability you can bring it wherever you want. It is a good tool for outdoor coffee shops or libraries. Even if you are tired you can lie down on your chest and read on the iPad.

For students who are afraid about battery life, the iPad can provide up to 10 hours of work without the necessity of a charger.

But at the same time, it is a destructing tool for students who want to read, there is another better option for students who love reading without Distractions. They can use this device for reading and writing for 2 weeks without the need for a charger.

Yes, it is possible and available today there is a tool that you can use for two weeks, and don’t even charge it.

This device is called Remarkable

you can discover more about this tool in this article.

Don’t have to be afraid to make mistake

Doing assignments with iPads is free of mistakes, students can’t worry about making mistakes or scribbling on pages. Using a traditional notebook to do assignments may contain a lot of mistakes and scribbling.

For sure professors would not love to have an assignment paper full of scribblings or give the paper stained with a fluid corrector.

What is great about the iPad is you can erase,edit or change anything you want whenever you want and wherever you want. This is so great for assignments.

This is very noticeable when you finish your assignments and you find at the last minute that you have mistaken at some point. So you have to start over again.

with the IPad , you have the flexibility to change how you want because everything is digital, everything can be erased.

you can scan professor worksheets

IPad is a great tool to economize paper conception according to Statista 422 million metric tons of paper were consumed globally in 2018. This is a horrific number because the official paper source are trees, which is not good for the environment.

On the education side, students can easily scan assignments like Professor paper sheets without being or having a need to be handed with a paper.

Even for solving exercises especially for stem students who are studying math and physic, the odds are higher to making mistakes. So you can imagine how much paper you are saving working with an iPad instead of paper or notebook.

IPad has an excellent ability of editing you can highlight PDFs or anything you want from a context without having any problem

ipad math notes

you can print your writing assignments with ipad But

It is great to do assignments with an iPad but the killer thing about that Is when it comes to Colors. Doing assignments require using different colors which is good for reliability and it is awesome an iPod.

But the cost of Print that that student has to afford is 4 times expensive than for black and white printing.

So for instance, if you have a 10page assignment, printing them without color will only cost $0.5. while in color $2. So this is just was a small-scale example, students do more than that.

There are some assignments that students can make that have 40 to 50 pages which makes the question so expensive and not many students can afford it.

good for math student assignments

Some students prefer to take math notes in the famous software called latex with their iPad. They benefit from a pencil that iPad has to take their math notes effectively instead of using Microsoft Word.

in this article, we wrote valuable information for students interested to know the difference between using Microsoft Word and latex doing math.

You can check this article Why Microsoft is not used for math? (8 important keys)

include images in your assignments

iPad gives students a better experience for taking notes it allows them to do amazing things with their notes. For instance, the ability to include images in your assignment is possible with an iPad.

This is so great when a professor or instructor asks to make research about a given subject. You can fluently use any image you want and include it in your assignment. Especially for medical or biology students, this ability is so useful.

you can watch this video below to see how it is easy to include images or draw diagrams using an iPad.

iPad can read your handwritings

for students who write a lot of emails to their professors or write a lot of text, using this handwriting iPad ability is so helpful. You can easily transform your handwriting into a text without having any issues.

So if you don’t like to use a keyboard or you find yourself slow on it, using this technic is helpful to reduce time.

Computer science students can’t do assignments with ipad

if you are a computer science student iPad might be a terrible device to use for software development assignments. Ipad doesn’t support any of the famous IDE that students use to learn to program.

That is to say, you can’t use:

  • eclispse
  • netbbens
  • visual studio
  • and almost hte whole package of programing IDE’s

So for students doing assignments is nearly impossible to do if you are a computer science student. in this article you will find detailed information. 11 reasons to avoid iPad as a computer science student?.

mechanical engineers and architet students can’t do assignment with ipad

mechanical engineers and architects are using a special and an indispensable tool that the iPad doesn’t support, is a CAD. In other words, students are not allowed to install cad software on their iPads.

Professors give assignments to an architect and mechanical student, both need to submit their works online. So the professor can check and correct them.

mechanical engineers need to work in CAD and architect Autocad, in addition to other supplementary programs that these engineers use and unfortunately not supported by iPad.

Conclusion

according to our 18 facts, we found that doing assignments with iPad has important advantages but it still has terrible drawbacks that some students can support. Especially for its high price.

But iPad can replace paper on somedays?

yassin.ajanif

Yassin ajanif is a physics graduate and electromechanical engineer width more than 5 years in the field. My goal and my team are to share our experience to help you succeed in your career as a stem major. we talk about all tips, problems, and struggle STEM students face in their career and how to overcome them.