The student/productivity thread

[kvr]

Question for the students on here. How does the (I assume) front facing mic deal with recording a lecture? I know its holidays but even sp2 users would have the same "issue". Technology was very different last time I was in school :-\

I ordered the Samson Go Mic in preparation for my upcoming classes. I did try using the front facing mic in a seminar recently where the instructor wasn't using a microphone in about an 80-person room. It worked, but even the slightest noise at my table overpowered her voice. The reviews of the Samson in lecture settings seem to be quite positive, so I'm giving it a shot.

http://www.amazon.com/Samson-Mic-Po...&qid=1409172807&sr=8-1&keywords=samson+go+mic

 

[KanJayhawk86]

Anyway to allow MyStudyLife to use the entire screen? When I'm in the app it only uses a very small portion of the screen. This thread is great by the way thank you for the tips!

 

[tylacox]

I'm sorry if someone has already answered this question but I'm a student and I do most of my classes online using blackboard. I have been thinking about buying the surface 2 but I'm not sure if the windows RT will be able to run all the applications that blackboard needs. Does anyone know if that is the case? And if not would the surface pro 3 work better?

 

[jimaiwr]

The new BAMBOO PAPER app! Free right now. So much less lag vs onenote to be honest.

 

[kvr]

I finally got a chance to use the Samson Go Mic in a larger lecture hall. It works quite well in omni mode. If you tend to type a lot while taking notes it might pick up the touch cover typing sounds but I tend to handwrite notes so that wasn't an issue for me.

 

[jaekqubp]

Hi tylacox,

I just came across your post, and since I have some experience in this area, I thought I should chime in. I realize that its been a little while, so I don't know if it will be relevant any longer.

I would most definitely not recommend the Surface 2 (non-Pro, Windows RT model). Blackboard is especially flaky, and finicky, by my experience. Having tried to access it through the immersive (MUI) browser, I can tell you that there are some issues--scroll bars not working, submit buttons not activating, etc. I would not count on the RT environment for work in Blackboard. In addition, you will likely be required to install and use a variety of plugins that are incompatible with the RT platform--for example, I have a lecture each week as a PDF file created in Presenter. It must be downloaded and opened with desktop Adobe Acrobat. No MUI application would be able to render this file.

If your choices are limited to Surface 2, or Surface Pro 3, I would recommend the Surface Pro 3. I have an original Surface Pro, which I use to access Blackboard, using a desktop browser, and this works well. For around the cost of a new Surface 2, you could probably find a used Surface Pro 1, or perhaps, 2. Used stuff, I know, is sometimes a gamble, though.

Good luck.

I'm sorry if someone has already answered this question but I'm a student and I do most of my classes online using blackboard. I have been thinking about buying the surface 2 but I'm not sure if the windows RT will be able to run all the applications that blackboard needs. Does anyone know if that is the case? And if not would the surface pro 3 work better?

 

[johnj2803]

Just a note about the difference with onenote and drawboard when annotating pdf's.

Onenote technically imports the pdf into the one note as a onenote file. Drawboard saves the annotated file as a pdf which you can open and see the annotated pages using any pdf reader.

I personally use pdf annotator. I find that it handles large size pdf's better (like 400++ MB pdf files). Drawboard is fast and snappy tho, but it sometimes does not save my annotations.

 

[hughlle]

Just a note about the difference with onenote and drawboard when annotating pdf's.

Onenote technically imports the pdf into the one note as a onenote file. Drawboard saves the annotated file as a pdf which you can open and see the annotated pages using any pdf reader.

I personally use pdf annotator. I find that it handles large size pdf's better (like 400++ MB pdf files). Drawboard is fast and snappy tho, but it sometimes does not save my annotations.

You do know you can just export any onenote document as a pdf right?

 

[johnj2803]

You do know you can just export any onenote document as a pdf right?

yes that is true. thanks for that. but the point in what I said is that when using one note, you don't need to go from one file format to another, just pure straight PDF.

Using OneNote to import a PDF you will end up with 2 pdf's, the original one and the annotated one.