史丹福大學給每位醫學院新生iPad

位於加州矽谷的史丹福大學一向和蘋果合作良好，Steve Jobs 2005年的演講就在史丹福大學。早期該大學就開始參於iTunes University計畫，是iTunes U大學成功的先例。許多的課程都免費提供在iTunes U裡供大家使用。2008年該校的 "iPhone Application Programming" 課程也是在iTunes U裡。
根據appleinsider，史丹福醫學院今年已給每位醫學院新生一台iPad。其目的有四，一是藉由iPad提供學生的電子彈性學習，提供學堂電子筆記的方便性、攜帶性、方便收尋性、分享等。二是藉由iPad提供學員學習電子資料的收集的方便性。三是藉由iPad讓學生更易隨時隨地學習讀書的方便性。四是"綠"的考量，減少紙張使用。
史丹福醫學院對這個iPad計畫，也發表新聞稿說明醫學院如何應用iPad：
" The core goal of the iPad initiative is to improve the student learning experience. The decision to provide the devices was prompted by a desire to give students flexible access to the content that they need whether it is a virtual cadaver in dissection lab, annotated lecture slides and videos in the classroom, or journal articles for evidence-based practice in clinic.
“We want to explore the use of iPads and other technologies to help students access the enormous amount of medical knowledge that is being produced constantly,” said Charles Prober, MD, the school’s senior associate dean for medical education. “Part of the challenge facing medical students, and all doctors, is the overwhelming amount of information. Devices like the iPad may be able to help users access that pool of knowledge.”
The school will monitor the use of the iPads through regular surveys to help determine how helpful they are to students, pointing out that past experiments with similar electronic devices, such as the Kindle, in academic settings haven’t been successful.
“We really don’t know yet how the incoming medical students will use them,” said Henry Lowe, MD, senior associate dean for information resources and technology. But, as a physician using an iPad himself, he’s found the device to be extremely helpful and believes it is growing in popularity among doctors.
“Physicians are a mobile group,” Lowe said. “They’re moving around from clinic to clinic, from patient to patient. … I’ve seen a variety of reports from across the country saying that physicians have seized on the iPad as a helpful device.”
For at least one current student, there’s no question that an iPad is helpful with her medical education.
“Pretty much this is a perfect tool for what I need to do,” said Stesha Doku, a 23-year-old, second-year Stanford medical student from North Carolina who recently bought an iPad. “I use it for reviewing slides from last year, for saving everything in one place. I probably won’t use my laptop in class anymore. "

老人認為每位醫學院學生有iPad就都應有 "Papers"，在麥金塔上也可考慮使用"Papers 2 for Mac" (類似Endnote和Bookends，可參見國內Kornelius blog)。
事實上不只醫學院，許多美國大學都在使用iPad教學，如最近的紐澤西州立羅格斯大學Rutgers University、等。