UofL Speed School's Tablet Initiative

I'm going to be taking a different direction here for a little while to talk about my tablet PC and also talk about the UofL Speed School's Tablet PC Program. I probably can sum it up best by quoting the description found on the website about the program.

Speed School's Tablet PC Program began in Spring 2006 when the faculty passed a resolution that all freshman engineering students would be required to have a tablet PC for use in Speed School classes. This requirement will be in effect starting Fall 2007 for all incoming Speed freshmen. In Fall 2008, this will be extended to include freshman and sophomores. By 2011, all Speed School students will have tablet PCs.

I am at the bleeding edge of the program (literally). As of yet, no one is required to have a tablet PC, yet I do. Why then do I have a tablet? Great question! I purchased one while I was still in high school knowing that for college I wanted to take all of my notes on a computer and a tablet seemed to be the best option. I went with the limited and expensive Toshiba Portege 405. I'm very happy with my decision, but was even more excited when I received a letter in the mail talking about how the Speed School will require students to have tablets in 2007.

To the best of my knowledge, all of the classes I will take will NOT require a tablet. However, the students that will be trailing on my heels will all have tablets so major change is just beyond the horizon.

Hopefully, I'm going to be posting more about my experiences with my tablet and my impressions of UofL's program. Although I've not looked very closely at the website yet, http://studenttabletpc.com appears to have a lot of information that will be very similar to what I am going to be posting.

I've used my tablet PC in every class where it was possible. The classes where I wasn't able to use it were my labs and a paper based engineering graphics class. I have adapted to the difficulties of using a computer in my education and will hopefully share these experiences to help out others. Since I now have 2 semesters of experience and am starting on my third, I believe I am a rather versed user of a tablet pc. Having used XP for two semesters and upgraded to Vista for my third, I have a wide range of experiences to share, both good and bad.

I'd like to make a quick note that all of these posts will be labeled Tablet PC.