Rx for Medical Students: Take One Tablet

To get a better feel for the effects of e-textbooks on student productivity, the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine's Health Sciences launched an iPad pilot program and study. With the aid of a US$10,000 Technology Improvement Express Award grant from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region, Hofstra set out to determine the effectiveness of the iPad and apps as a tool for medical education...

The results of the 12-week pilot study were overwhelmingly positive from students and faculty alike. Students and faculty listed the iPad's top strengths as portability, ease of accessing materials, and the note-taking and annotation capabilities. The top weaknesses noted by study participants were a "difficult to use" onscreen keyboard and the inability to use Flash content. Further, participants noted that the vendor feature allowing the purchase of chapters rather than an entire textbook was not useful...

"Having access to textbooks and notes on the iPad facilitated productivity -- not only in the classroom, but also on subway and train commutes," Crystal Kyaw, one of the students who won a free iPad at the end of the Hofstra study, told TechNewsWorld. "Its sleek profile made it easy to carry and allowed me to access references in a nonobtrusive and convenient manner during meetings as well."