Previously, teachers wrote lesson plans and various kinds of assessments. They would gather various teaching materials: rubrics, video clips, websites, and handouts. Later on, the tutors would distribute the materials and teach a lesson at a particular pace to the class. At the end of the course, a test, project or any assessment would be given to students.
However, in the 21st-century learning, teachers ought to allow their students to be communicators, collaborative, creative and critical thinkers. This is where HyperDocs come along.
What are HyperDocs?
Three teachers, Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis, famously referred to as “the HyperDoc Girls” developed HyperDocs as a way of inspiring instructions in education.
In simple terms, HyperDocs are interactive worksheets/ documents rich in hyperlinks of documents, text, images, video, and websites.
HyperDocs uses technology to shifts the way you instruct students. It is a way through which students get hands-on learning using an interactive digital lesson.
Uses
The following summarizes how the HyperDocs can be useful to students
- Engage: through the use of audio recording, interactive website, and fun video are useful in getting hooking students and engaging them to beneficial knowledge.
- Explore: Link students to helpful resources, like articles or videos for them to explore additional information.
- Explain: make the learning objective appear cleat to students. It allows you to either give direct instructions in a whole group lesson or provide additional resources to students when teaching.
- Apply: instructions are adequately given to allow students to demonstrate what they are learning.
- Share: using this way, students have the means to share work and receive the necessary feedback.
- Reflect: students while in class are able to pause for some reflection. It also provides students a digital means through which they can share thoughts.
- Extend: early finishers in any class need some extra things to do. This facility helps those to extend the thinking of such students through providing extra activities, extension assignments, or additional online resources.
Apart from the above major things, it can be helpful in the following ways
- Students are given a voice to express themselves to their classmates through the digital collaboration it offers.
- The tasks linked in the HyperDocs develops problems solving and critical thinking skills.
- Authentic digital artifacts are presented that connect with the audience.
- HyperDocs enables you to connect with students as they collaborate and reflect on the learning process.
Benefits of using Hyperdocs
- Helps in designing lessons
HyperDocs allows you to use the best lesson design elements to package relevant lessons for your students.
- There is no starting from scratch
You will get templates in HyperDocs that are simple and effective to start the learning process.
- Few and manageable lectures
It has been said over decades that teachers need to lecture less. In that way, instead of controlling the learning process, they will just become guides to students. Therefore, the appropriate solution to implement is using a HyperDoc as it is able to offer more than direct instructions.
- Diversification of learning options for students
Instead of using the same worksheets and textbooks, students get a mixture of various learning content. The content packaged is readily available in a HyperDoc.
- Not limited to textbooks
It is a disservice to students to make them rely on a given textbook curriculum as the only learning content source. With the growth of the internet, students can use HyperDocs which possess digital content encapsulated with non-digital content. Apart from the textbook materials, articles, YouTube videos, websites, games and AR/VR simulations.
- New teaching possibilities are unleashed
Technology enables teachers to do what could not be done before. Some of the previously impossible things that HyperDocs enables us to use include, laptops, Chromebooks, iPads, Quizizz, Padlet, G Suite, and Flipgrid.
- Encourages facilitation instead of dictation
When you use HyperDocs, it will make you a facilitator. Instead of going to deliver content to your students, the facility has appropriate resources that students can explore.
- Enhance collaborative learning
As a facilitator you are able to interact with a small group instead of a large one, thus, enabling you to interact with the students one-on-one effectively.
These interactions enable you to know your students better, enable them to understand issues deeper, clarify misunderstandings or build relationships.
- Extra face-to-face interaction
With HyperDocs, you blend digital and face to face communication to get a better learning experience. A nice HyperDoc allows students to learn without the need to guide them in every step. It provides opportunities for you to utilize non-digital resources, collaboratively interact with small groups, allow a student to communicate effectively. With this facility, there is a balance of variety at the classroom.
- Blend the best web learning tools
In a Hyperdoc, your various technologies are incorporated into learning, for instance;
- Google Maps Street View: enables students to view and adequately comprehend a novel’s setting.
- Collaborative Google Slides: these links enables students to create and share things encountered during the lesson.
- Google Drawing tools: they are embedded in Google Docs to bring about a drag and drop when checking a lesson activity.
- Interactive Pear Deck slides: these are better than the traditional slide show presentation as they enable students to effectively engage and respond during the explanation section of the lesson.
How to effectively implement a HyperDoc lesson
Begin with a template.
Building your initial HyperDoc from scratch is a tiresome process. The best way is to find the already available pre-made templates that can be accessed freely on HyperDocs.co. You will get a finished Hyperdoc created by another person which you can modify and use it in your classroom.
Inculcate collaboration, participation, and multimedia
There is an inherent risk that students can do the work they do on paper in these HyperDocs, thereby, converting those to online worksheets. Put some media forms (like online flashcards, podcasts, ThingLinks) to allow students to participate, learn and collaborate with others actively.
Offer choices
Students can work at diverse speeds and navigate well in the learning process with HyperDocs. When students are given options, they are able to determine the quantity of material they will use, how they will apply it and the demonstration they will carry out.
Train students on HyperDocs
Take time to demonstrate how to use HyperDocs even if students were already taught in other classes. The reason for this is that each HyperDoc has unique qualities and different directions of use.
Form collaborations with other teachers
HyperDocs.co site has thousands of teachers that share and collaborate within various learning areas. Engaging with an appreciative sharing community will inspire you to improve your teaching skills.
In the classroom, the transformative effects of HyperDocs are undeniable. Use HyperDocs in your lessons and see if that is the case.
