Web Places: Project-Based Activities for At-Risk Youth

This paper describes the development and evaluation of Web Places, a prototype web-based template system that allowed students at risk of academic failure to publish meaningful projects on the Internet. The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of the Web Places concept in the context of at-risk education. Seven at-risk high school students used the prototype system to develop and publish a project on the Internet. Pre- and posttest data about the students' attitudes toward Web Places, learning, and technology were collected. The results indicated that Web Places was a useful tool for teaching and motivating the students. Web Places' potential for future development, evaluation, and application is discussed