Talk:At-Risk Learners

Rationale for design wiki edits.

One of the main reasons why I decided to edit the wiki about at risk youth, is that I have worked with this segment of the school population for the last 5 years. I have found, through reflective practice, that there have been many lessons I have learned from my students on how best to meet their learning needs.

This being my 8th MET course I feel that I have really gained a synthesis of experience and theory, which has had tremendous implications on how, when and where I use technology to support the learners that I currently have in the classroom and not a theoretical model of a classroom.

I felt the wiki, as it existed before my edits, had a little bit of a technological deterministic focus in sections and felt that a more humanist touch needed to be added to balance the information.

I have found in my own practice that experiential learning environments tied to authentic learning, have really led to strong engagement for the students with the often times challenging curriculum and a dramatic boost in self esteem and thus student academic performance. I felt that this needed to be added to the wiki in order to support not only the whole child approach as outlined by Brown but also encouraging teachers of at risk youth to “get out of the classroom”.

Prior to my edits there were few internal links to other wonderfully authored wikis. Part of the tremendous power of wiki’s is the ability to do this function. This advancement is one of the many evolutionary changes occurring due to digital literacy and provides a level of associative thinking that more closely emulates the human mind. Having never authored a wiki, I felt the experience of editing/authoring/designing would be more profound a learning experience for me then authoring/designing from scratch.

All in all a very fun and educational learning experience.