"We want our students to be creative, collaborative, critical thinkers and communicators--and then we ask them to sit quietly while we explain everything and tell them exactly how to do a task. School doesn't have to be this way, and if we want to prepare students for life in the twenty first century, it shouldn't be." The HyperDoc Handbook
HyperDocs?
The term HyperDoc belongs to Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis, who keyed the term to describe a highly engaging way to present information to students. It is exactly what it sounds like:
Hyper = Hyperlinks
Docs = Google Document
(Documents can include slides, maps, drawings, sites, etc.)
Students who sit in our classrooms today have taken on a new shape. Teaching has taken on a new vision where students are the leaders of their learning. Their voice and choice guides their learning and teachers become more of a facilitator in the classroom. The learning is placed back into students' hands.
So, where do HyperDocs come in? HyperDocs are created and crafted in a way that allows teachers to make intentional decisions about units and lessons. They choose web tools to accomplish this and students are given opportunity to construct their own learning through activities and extensions. To sum it up, HyperDocs are a digital lesson plan that require educators to have their end in mind, knowing what they want each student to have learned and understood at the end of a lesson, unit, learning module, etc.
Simply put, HyperDocs were created to give teachers the ability to provide students opportunities to be creative, collaborative, critical thinkers, and communicators. Students are provided the opportunity to gather new information and grapple with it all while making meaningful connections. Humans are, by nature, very curious; so why not provide meaningful opportunities to be curious by allowing exploration and questioning which in turn leads to engaged learning. With the use of HyperDocs, the learning goes beyond getting information to connecting with information.
A HyperDoc is far more than just "one more thing" to do. It is not just simply providing students a document with a list of hyperlinks to go "find" information. However, when used properly, HyperDocs allow teachers to begin thinking about lessons, content, and teaching in an intentional way. This in turn places the power of learning back into the hands of students as it becomes an active experience. Students are allowed the power to engage, explore, explain, apply, share, reflect and extend in their learning. In response, teachers are allowed to get more face time with their students to gauge their understanding, ask questions, extend thinking, address misconceptions, etc. Teachers are able to facilitate and actively go alongside their students as they learn.
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| What's The Hype With Hyperdocs |
