AOL+Wiki

Description: I wanted to create a internet portal to communicate information and resources for students and parents/guardian to access at anytime. Last year I maintained and updated a class wiki but I did not promote it well. This year I updated the wiki to include project based learning and other resources valuable while working on a project. Sadly though, the wiki has not been updated or accessed by students, nor is the wiki being used to its potential.

Analysis: Through the research of my case study, I created a project checklist and project rubric similiar to the documents TAGOS Leadership Academy and Valley New School implement. I started creating the wiki but soon realized if I expected our at risk students to do project based learning like I witnessed at the above mentioned two school, our students would never graduate from high school. It is an unrealistic expectation to expect 100 hours of work time per 1.0 credit when our students come to school for three hours per day. It would take 5-7 weeks to earn a 1.0 credit, with the potential of earning 4-5 credits per year. Factor in our student have attendance issues and generally speaking, our students are 8 or more credits behing their peers. Therefore, the wiki is not functional at this point.

Reflection: I think the class wiki is a great idea and will be very useful. There is so much information we can post for student to access. I still think the wiki is a great way for students to access project based learning but until we decide what project based learning is for our at risk students the wiki is currently of no use.

http://aol-w.wikispaces.com/