The Why
The book starts out with a foreword by a high school senior, Jordan Moldenhauer. She speaks about how school, in her experience, has been where she and her fellow classmates have been told what to do and how to think. "...school is a place where I am told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it--down to a T... If we have to ask a teacher if something is okay, we have forgotten how to be creative and are afraid to be creative because we are afraid of being wrong." This has to change!
Jordan also said, "I don't want to be told what to think; I want to be given facts that can help me think for myself." This sentiment is a huge reason why I am changing my method of teaching to be more standards-based (AKA, focus on the skills to help students think critically) as well as more inquiry-based (to give students a compelling question that does not have a "correct" answer and give them resources and the skills necessary in order to find evidence to answer the question). HyperDocs will be a great way to package my inquiry units. After all, I agree with Jordan when she says, "...freethinking shouldn't start in college."
Supporting Curiosity
I love the fact that HyperDocs allow students to explore a topic with any level of guidance without becoming confused as to which resources to use. For example, the teacher can include videos, links to websites, etc. in the "explore" section of the HyperDoc for students to explore with guidance. The teacher can also prompt students to search a keyword and find their own resources, all depending on the skill level of the student. "Students are curious by nature; we just need to provide opportunities for them to be curious." HyperDocs allow students to explore and be curious with guidance, as well as to return to the list of resources at any point in the future.
Applications in Distance Learning
HyperDocs are quite versatile in their application. I realize that I had been using a form of HyperDoc when we moved to distance learning (AKA, emergency learning) during fourth quarter of the 2019-2020 school year. I created a document that packaged all activities for the week so students could refer to the document (in the form of a Google Slide Deck) and clearly see what they needed to complete that week.
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| My Economics Learning Plan (Just an image - no working links due to copyright reasons.) |
"HyperDocs can help us stay connected with students through homework, sub plans, independent study, homeschooling, and other alternative education scenarios. Distance learning allows us to answer students' questions, provide immediate feedback on work, and maintain communication."
I did have certain assignments each week for my Economics class, but I also put together the Learning Plan for the entire 4th Quarter and sent it out at the beginning of the quarter. I allowed students to work ahead as desired, as long as they received feedback from me to ensure that they understood the concepts before moving onto the next concepts. I tried my best to give clear, specific feedback as quickly as possible. Some students took advantage of this opportunity and worked ahead, and others completed the work week by week. Regardless of their choice, they completed the work and were able to use the Learning Plan document to see what tasks needed to be done. This organization also helped parents, administration, and myself to see at a glance what was planned for the week.
I will continue to use this in the future, especially if I have a substitute. If we make the use of a learning plan an everyday protocol, students will know where to go every day. Students will own their learning and a substitute can take on the role of a facilitator instead of leading the class.
Differentiation
HyperDocs are also quite versatile in the fact that they can be easily differentiated. Google Classroom allows teachers to assign classwork to the whole class, groups of students, or individual students. I could create a different HyperDoc for students with IEPs or 504 Plans to meet their needs, or I could provide the differentiation within the HyperDoc itself, such as resources in various reading levels or videos, or even possibly sources that provide an audio recording (read aloud) as my students have iPads and cannot utilize Chrome extensions that read words aloud. (Just a thought here, there have to be accessibility applications for this on the iPad... any suggestions?) HyperDocs can also help students with organization. "Even creating and filling a table with instructions, links, and spaces for students to provide answers in a HyperDoc can make all the difference for students who lack focus or organization."
Creating a HyperDoc
For my own reference, I am listing the steps to create a HyperDoc here. (This comes straight from The HyperDoc Handbook.)
- Determine your objectives.
- Select which learning cycle you will use.
- Select your packaging.
- Build the workflow.
- Design your HyperDoc.
Hack Your HyperDoc
Various levels of learning can be facilitated by the use of HyperDocs, including:
- Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK)
- "1) Recall, 2) Skill/Concept, 3) Strategic Thinking, and 4) Extended Thinking"
- Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition (SAMR)
- International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards
These are covered on pages 41-45 in The HyperDoc Handbook.
The 4 Cs of Transformation
It's important to remember to include at least one of the 4 Cs in lesson plans. The HyperDoc Handbook gives some suggestions as to how to do this as well as why it is important.
- Create: "When students create, they are first required to process and synthesize, then present their interpretation of the information."
- Collaborate: "...have conversations, listen, respond appropriately, discuss topics, build on ideas or comments, ask questions, and work together toward a shared goal."
- Connect: "...students will learn to have a local and global view of the world. Imagine exploring maps, commenting on and/or creating blogs, sharing student-prodced videos, practicing speaking and listening skills through video conferencing, and using social media to connect and collaborate with classrooms around the world."
- Critical Thinking: Include "high-level questioning and open-ended tasks."
Build Your Own HyperDoc
Chapter 3 of The HyperDoc Handbook covers how to build your own HyperDoc. There are so many great ideas about how to engage, explore, explain, apply, share, reflect, and extend learning!
HyperDoc Checklist
In order to be sure that the HyperDocs that you create include multiple levels of learning, use the HyperDoc Checklist.
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