What Do Students Think of HyperDocs

Why use HyperDocs from the mouths of our students:

HyperDocs is one of the million new tools that can be added into our digital arsenal of resources that 21st century teachers can use to deliver content to our students.  However a tool is just a tool unless we understand why or how it can be used.  When thinking about this weeks post about creating and using HyperDocs I decided to take a slightly different approach.  Instead of focusing on the how, which I did last week check out my post titled Hyped about HyperDocs, I wanted to focus on the why.  Why do we use HyperDocs?  I believe two of my students, Campbell and Logan explain it better than I can. I encourage you to listen to their thoughts and reflections after using a HyperDoc activity in class just this week.  Grab some popcorn and enjoy!...






What I learned from my Students:  

As a teacher the power of the HyperDoc is simple, it's the flexibility and ease of linking several different mediums of media all together.  Providing a creative and unique experience for our students while delivering the content that we design.  However the reflection from our students demonstrate another equally as powerful message, organization.  Campbell states, one of the things that frustrates her as a student, when working on projects like the one she was tasked to do, is knowing what information is pertinent in her search.  This frustration is compounded if there is a time withstraint associated with the task at hand.  By providing the information through the HyperDoc she was allowed to explore the document, which is still allowing her to develop research, analytical, and synthesizing skills, but in a controlled environment.  It allows her to work at her own pace but takes away that frustration of not knowing if she is looking up the wrong thing.  The take away from Logan was organization.  This is a common problem that we see with most middle school students, just by looking into a binder or a locker will most likely validate this thought.  The HyperDoc, from Logan's perspective, helped model how you can organize information in a simple and easy to follow narrative.  It kept Logan on track and working through the information to unlock the answers to the questions they had as the two of them dissected their mission of solving a murder mystery.

Don't Forget About the Power of FUN!

A third powerful message that was brought to my attention from this short interview was that my students enjoyed their learning experience.  Logan and Campbell were both in agreeance with the fact that they had fun while working through and learning about the Roaring 20s.  Creating an engaging experience which utilizes the tools of 21st century learners allowed them to explore and gave them control over their own learning experience.  This when done right fosters a sense of ownership in one's own education, giving them the power to focus their attention on what they are interested in, but within a controlled environment which guides them through the content that we have designed.  To me it's like taking their curriculum and turning it into a choose your own adventure.  They will all eventually arrive at the same place, but through a unique and engaging experience putting the student at the helm of their own educational journey.  This helps to ensure an engaging learning experience and helps to develop skills needed for our 21st century students.  

What is better than using HyperDocs for Content Delivery...Student Created HyperDocs!

In the conclusion of the interview I posed an intriguing question to my two students, would they ever want to learn how to create a HyperDoc? They both without reservation said YES.  Logan stated how it would help her in organizing her thoughts.  Campbell said she would love to create her own but would want time to learn how to use it first.  This is exciting to me as a teacher because both students were eager to demonstrate understanding and they have identified how HyperDocs can help them achieve that.  This means not only did they enjoy learning from HyperDocs but the have identified how and why HyperDocs should be used in delivering information.  I leave you with a thought for the week, how many of the lessons that we teach to our students do our students want to learn how we created...

Comments

  1. Rod CarnillFebruary 18, 2019 at 12:31 PM

    The insight of the students is often very informative and even powerful. Moving students from the role of participant to the role of designer and creator for the Hyperdoc would be an interesting study as well...perhaps latter in the semester we can explore students as creators of content in greater depth.

    ReplyDelete

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