Passion projects provide opportunities for students to practice inquiry, research, and presentation skills on a topic they have chosen and allow teachers to take a step back and support learners as they choose what and how they want to learn.

Wixie also supports a self-directed process where students decide both what they will pursue and how they will share their results, maintaining intrinsic motivation and fostering student-directed learning.

Students can start from a blank screen and share their passion by:

Open-ended passion projects are going to take more than one day. If you don't have the time to get these started (although there are so many reasons why you should) or are not sure your learners are ready to take the lead, help them build decision-making skills within your parameters with a choice board.

You can use one of the choice boards in Wixie or build your own.

You could also talk with students before #DLDay arrives to create a list of ideas together. Work together to decide which items you have brainstormed are worthy of the classroom time and energy it will take to pursue.

Take a step toward transferring responsibility by teaching students how to fill open time in their academic schedule by opening the templates in the Design Templates library on their own.

The General folder is a great place to begin exploring. 

For example, if students want to:

No matter what you choose to do, or encourage your students to tackle on their own, be sure to be clear on the purpose for their work. Students want to do work that matters and connects to the world beyond the classroom.

Purpose provides the motivation to do the hard work of research, thinking, design, and publishing that real work entails. The process required to make their ideas and passions a reality also helps them build the skills they need to tackle problems and issues today and in the future... their future and ours!