So first off... what is a hyperdoc? Hyperdocs were created by three women in the Bay area: Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis. They wanted to provide their students with a way to be curious and explore problems instead of just consuming information. A hyperdoc often looks like a Google Doc with a whole bunch of links, but it is actually so much more! The point of the document is to have students engage, explore, explain, apply, share, reflect, and extend their learning. Basically, the document covers all of Bloom's Taxonomy or the four depth of knowledge (DOK) levels.
What am I doing with hyperdocs this year? As I said previously, I wanted to streamline my curriculum, clean up my broadcasting I and II curriculum, and also design curriculum for a new class: advanced broadcasting. I use backwards design (Understanding By Design) to plan out my units. I start with the end goal in mind, then plan out all of the steps necessary to get to the end goal. I wanted everything for the unit to be in one location and include all of the objectives that I am using with my students. A unit hyperdoc will look something like this:
How are the Hyperdocs working? I think they're going pretty well! Students are responding well to the documents (not that they know any different), and they are well aware that everything is in one location. Funny enough, they've enjoyed the different colors that I've made them in - I heard a student say, "What color is the document this time?!"
My goal for the year was to have every unit in a hyperdoc (BOY curriculum for broadcasting I and II and all units for advanced broadcasting). I would like to build hyperdocs for each week of broadcasting, but that's a work in progress that may not be accomplished by the end of the year. They're not a priority because I have to make new hyperdocs every week, every semester, every year. I just have to change the links, which is time-consuming, but is also not a priority... not yet.
I also know that my hyperdocs are incredibly basic. They are interactive, but they aren't as engaging as I would like. I need to add images, and I also need to add some extra pieces to make my hyperdocs more:
- Exploratory: students aren't exploring a topic as thoroughly as I'd like. This probably should be done through screencasts, Youtube videos, and readings.
- Reflection: I have the students fill out a feedback form after watching the broadcast each week, but each of the units also needs to have a part where my students think about their learning. I could do this through Padlet, but I want it to have more meaning instead of just being "another step" in the process.
- Extended learning: I'm not entirely sure what to do here, at least for a broadcasting hyperdoc. Part of the issue is that my classes are only 45 minutes, and we're definitely set to deadlines. It's almost like we don't have time for this piece. Instead, the high schools should take on this piece (or my advanced broadcasting class should). I need to think through THIS step.
- Critical thinking and problem solving: these two pieces are built into my classes already, but I don't necessarily feel like they are built into the hyperdocs. Once again, I am still thinking through this step... potentially for next year!
I do wish that I learned about hyperdocs while I was still teaching Social Studies. I definitely would have designed similar hyperdocs to what I am doing right now. I think it would have provided sufficient context for my students when it came to learning about a) historical information and b) how everything "fit" together.
Thanks for reading! I hope this week's blog gave you a little inspiration to check out hyperdocs and potentially use them in your own classroom! I'll see you next week :)
