Hello Terry,

I am a Master's level student close to completing my MDDE program. I have been doing independent study and writing papers on the subject of edublogging, and will be soon submitting them to peer review. I am nervous about the process. I am nervous about fairness, especially in light of the discussions among academics about the partiality of some reviewers. I am also nervous about being not taken seriously as a master's level writer, as I recognize that the caliber of writing improves over years of practice. I wonder openly how can an untested student writer seeking to get papers published possibly expect to compete with those well-established, credentialed, academics who have had years of experience? I admit to feeling concerned about looking foolish, and I am lacking in confidence when I realize that the writing for peer journals differs markedly from writing assignments for grad courses.

Despite my reservations, however, I am a supporter of peer review. Not only do I recognize that writing for journals requires different skills from the writing on blogs or from writing assignments, writing for jouranls moves the writer into a broader appreciation of the global audience. I am somewhat apprehensive as a potential first-time author, daunted even, recognizing that the paper could potentially reach scholars from around the world.  I am humbled by an appreciation that I could potentially contribute to ongoing scholarship. I recognize how much learning I have to go. I have received a gentle dose of what peer review would be like. I was initailly surprised at the extent that the use of language, the phrasing, the concepts, and how I express ideas need to be different for an international audience than for the professors I am writing for. Of course this is true. Student writers (myself included) make assumptions about their audience, their professors, especially having read their professor's work for cues on how to write before preparing an assignment. So students submitting papers just need to shift gears, transferring some of their skills to submit papers to reviewers for possible publication, recognizing that publishing to journals for an international audience is a privelege.

I want to express my gratitude to you, Terry, for all your support this past year as my advisor and mentor. I have had the distinct privelege of working with you to pursue my studies on edublogging.

best regards,

Glenn Groulx

Whoa, whoa, get out the way with that good innaomrtiof.
- Chuck