An appraisal of the Blog System

As opposed to the Blog central, individual research blogs help one organize their thoughts for the RAE research paper. Posting on our blog was a constant in the research process. For example, we had to write annotations and explanations of our sources and post them to the blog. We also had access to each other's blogs so we were able to view the research progress of our classmates. Overall, I felt the RAE blog was a superfluous aspect of class. I found the most helpful assignments did not involve the blog. Aesthtically, writing my thoughts into a text entry box was not the best way to foster ideas. I actually thought the most effective assignment was the outline which truly helped me organize my ideas. The blog itself did not help me acheive any insight, it was basically a personal message board. As a matter of communication then, the blog was effective. Besides creating an arena for dialogue between the teacher and student, the blog did little else. Yet for this purpose, it may be a worthwhile addition to the class. However, it should not be added to a curriculum for helping students with research. Reading a blog is significantly more cumbersome than simply keeping a hard copy of the assignments.