Weill Cornell Medical College (New York City) students will now have a wealth of medical information and educational tools at their fingertips. Starting this fall 2011 semester, all incoming first- and second-year students are being provided with a new iPad 2 in place of the printed course notes and texts used by most students around the country.
Students will now be able to download course materials, see video or hear audio recordings of lectures, submit electronic course evaluations, access their grades, collaborate with other students, and save their notes and coursework.
For instance, students will use interactive apps on their iPad tablets to see animated 3-D molecular models of different proteins and compounds. The device's advanced graphics allow students to view molecular structures with depth, rather than as a flat illustration on a sheet of paper, helping them to better understand how the structures function in the body.
An app called "Unbound Medicine" is a medical database for diseases, medications and diagnoses. Such reference applications give students the ability to have the most up-to-date medical facts and findings with them at all times, and without lugging around heavy printed materials.