Refection is pivotal to learning. Since it is hard to write without reflecting on an experience, blogs are a wonderful aid to reflection. I have been thinking about patient blogs recently, and explored other types of blogs to see the similarities and differences in the reflection process. When I searched on “student blogs” one of the first links was to Worcester Polytechnic Institute, know locally as WPI. The page of student blogs were entertaining, diverse, and a fascinating insight into the students there. Updates were available on twitter.
It struck me that this page of blog entries might be more illuminating to an applicant than any marketing materials the school could produce. I had a few questions: how were the bloggers chosen? Are they paid, and, if so, should that be stated? How do they decide (and who is “they”) which one is featured at the top with an image, since it isn’t the most recent entry?