When I was in high school, I had a well meaning English teacher who forced us to map our entire research paper onto index cards. We had to assign subject headings, sources, discussion topics...the works. I hated it. I felt like I was writing the paper ten times before I actually got to touch the page.
To me, my brain just doesn't work in a linear 1...2...3...you're done! sort of way. I like to jump all over the place, diving in where needed, cutting things out at the last minute, shifting direction as I see the need...
These tools are facinating and interesting, but they are so formulaic. I think the process of actually committing the information from understanding to knowledge is not as easy as these tools make it seem. If you going to demonstrate true mastery of the topic you might need to deviate from this "schedule." Also, by the time you are in college you should be beyond the "what is a thesis" question.
I thought, okay, I'll give the Assignment Calculator another go...perhaps as a project reminder service, and that email function is only for UM students.
I think that these resources are neat and I'd recommend them for a student that just didn't know where to start. Otherwise, I think they are a distraction from the task at hand. I'm not against "Student 2.0" just against trying to dictate the pattern by which we learn.
Off my soapbox now.
p.s. The handouts on RPC are neat, I bookmarked those.
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