I have come across similar tools from my days teaching in an English classroom. I think they are fine, it's just that what they do (give a timeline/plan for completing an assignment) is basically what the teacher does in teaching the assignment. College professors do not spend a lot of their time "walking" students through projects - but such practice is very common in the high school classroom. Because of this, I never saw the NEED for these tools for high school kids.
But the more I think about it, the more I see the potential benefit of such tools . Thinking back to my own experience teaching the research process, no matter how detailed a timeline you give a student, no matter how many "step-by-step" deadlines you have - some kids just aren't going to pay attention to them and will still cram it all in at the last minute. Maybe, if kids get a chance to feel like they (with the help of their computer) are setting their own deadlines, they might be more involved in the process. I also see A LOT of value for teachers themselves. I looked through RPC handouts section and found many interesting/useful materials.
In the end - I will definitely make my staff members aware of these sites and their supplementary materials and will probably make the RPC site available from my library homepage.
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