Ok, so I was over at Cheeky Prof where CP linked to the Current Electoral Vote Predictor 2004. I took a look at the map and was happy considering Kerry was up and then caught this funny quip:

If you ever write some document and can arrange for 600,000 proofreaders, I highly recommend it. You catch all the errors that way.

In an academic environment, I’ve noticed that some student writers are just totally freaked by criticism. Luckily, I am not one of them. I’d rather have someone tear into my work so that I can make it better and maybe improve my critical thinking skills in the process than for someone to offer me empty praise that won’t help me take my thinking and writing to the next level. (Luckily? this hasn’t been an issue in grad school.) Blogging can certainly enlarge the scope of peer reviews to the extent others are willing to comment. However, I wonder if reluctant student bloggers are the same student writers who freak when peers or professors criticize their work when submitted by more traditional means? Would it follow then, that in order to get students to engage more fully with blogs, it may mean getting them comfortable with criticism in general?

Side note: I have just discovered that it is much quicker to use google to spellcheck a single word than wait for MS Word to open and use Word’s spellchecker. Gosh, I can’t believe I haven’t figured this out before now!
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