Med school students get curricula on iPad

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NEW YORK, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- First- and second-year students at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York are given an iPad 2 in place of course notes and books, school officials say.

Dr. Carol Storey-Johnson, senior associate dean of education at Weill Cornell Medical College, says the medical students can 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 using the iPad.

"I am very proud that Weill Cornell is one of the first medical colleges in the country to embrace this technology," Storey-Johnson says in a statement. "The iPad will open a world of new learning opportunities for students and dramatically expand the way we train and educate a new generation of physicians."

Students can 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 instead of an illustration on a sheet of paper, helping them to understand better how the structures function in the body, Storey-Johnson says.