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Get hype!

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Listen to my interview with Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis, authors of The HyperDoc Handbook ( transcript):

In many classrooms, a learning cycle looks something like this: First, we write plans for a series of lessons and a final assessment. We gather materials-handouts, websites, rubrics, video clips. Then we teach the lessons one at a time, to the whole class, at the same pace, distributing materials as needed. Finally, we end with a project, test, or other assessment.

It's a very teacher-directed model, which can limit learning in a number of ways:

Students don't feel much ownership for their own learning. Instead, they depend on the teacher to tell them when and how to learn the material.

Because so much of the teacher's time is spent in direct instruction, there's little opportunity to work one-on-one with students.

Because it's up to the teacher to adjust instruction for students with varied needs and levels of readiness, differentiation becomes one more thing to do.

ENTER THE HYPERDOC

A HyperDoc is a digital document-such as a Google Doc-where all components of a learning cycle have been pulled together into one central hub. Within a single document, students are provided with hyperlinks to all of the resources they need to complete that learning cycle. Here's an example.

In the above HyperDoc, all of the bolded words are linked to outside resources. The right-hand column is set aside for students to take notes and do other kinds of thinking and planning as they work through the lesson.

One of the earliest iterations of the this type of "hub" was the WebQuest, which guided students through a lesson using all online resources. Now that Google tools like Docs and Slides have become so prevalent, teachers are using these tools to create similar lessons, choosing and mixing resources that go well beyond simple web pages. Last year, we looked at something called a playlist, which teacher Tracy Enos used to organize her language arts lessons and differentiate instruction for her students.

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links; if you purchase from Amazon after going through these links, Cult of Pedagogy receives a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Meanwhile, teachers Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis were doing similar work in their own classrooms. They coined the term "HyperDoc" to describe their version of this, and in 2016, they published The HyperDoc Handbook to teach others their method for creating these lessons.

The book explains how HyperDocs work, why they have such an impact on instruction, and their model for how teachers can design HyperDocs for high-quality instruction. In the podcast episode above, I interviewed all three about their work. Here I will blend their expertise with some of my own thoughts about this exciting format.

BENEFITS OF HYPERDOCS

Fewer lectures. Teachers have been told for decades that we need to do less lecturing, to step away from being the sage on the stage and become more of a guide on the side. "I feel so bad for teachers when they hear that," Highfill says, "because they're like, 'Well, what am I supposed to do? I need to get information into their heads.'" A HyperDoc offers a solution by taking care of the direct instruction part of a lesson and offering a lot more as well.

More face-to-face interaction. A good HyperDoc runs itself, allowing students to work through it without needing you to guide them through each step. "Although it seems odd that you're putting a student in front of a device," Landis notes, "really what it's doing is freeing you up to move around and have increased face time with the students."

Flexibility. If one part of your lesson isn't working, you can just change it in the HyperDoc and the change takes effect immediately; no need to re-copy all your materials. Similarly, if each student gets their own copy of a HyperDoc, the elements can be changed on each to meet individual students' needs.

Multimodal opportunities. Because it is digital, a HyperDoc allows us to include all kinds of multimedia. "Living in this digital age, we're able to expose kids to different types of media that allows each child to access the learning or the content or the information in a way that's visually or auditorily appealing to them," Landis says. "I might be visual, and I might first study an image, then watch a video, and then I'm finally ready to tackle that article my teacher really wants me to read."

They don't know that maybe their text ... is at a different reading level," says Hilton. "Or they're able to use Privacy. If students' HyperDocs have been customized for them, no one else needs to know. "Read&Write for Google and just put headphones in, and that's just a little agreement between you and that student."

MODELS FOR BUILDING HYPERDOCS

Because HyperDocs are such adaptable tools, teachers structure them in many different ways, and you should experiment until you find a structure that works for you. Here are some options to consider:

Playlist: This model, explained in this article, follows a step-by-step sequence of activities that consist of learning activities as well as check-ins with the teacher and housekeeping tasks like setting up accounts on websites.

Self-Paced Learning: Explored in this post by math teacher Natalie McCutchen, this system lays out a path of lessons for a whole unit, along with links to review materials, pre-tests, and practice questions. Students decide how much practice they need and determine when to take the assessment for each learning goal. If they grasp the material quickly, they can test and move on.

5E Model: This first stage of this model is to Engage student interest. Next, students Explore the topic, Explain what they have learned, and Extend their learning by applying it in new situations. The last stage Evaluates student learning.

HyperDoc Model: The HyperDoc Handbook authors have developed a model that has some components of the 5Es above, but with some additions and adjustments. This template explains all 7 stages. One important component of this model is the first step, Explore. Highfill explains the value of this stage: "Kids are exploring and coming up with ideas and answers about a concept on their own, and it's engaging them from the beginning, instead of passively listening to a teacher explain something." During this time, while students explore, the teacher is actively gathering information: "I listen to my students," Highfill says, "I'm studying them and hearing to what level are they understanding a concept. I have the ability to pull a small group. I can work with my language learners during that time. The whole time I'm doing formative assessment in the classroom, which will then really be my basis for the next part of the lesson."

Agenda: This model, borrowed from the kind of planning done at a typical Montessori school, provides each student with a planner listing out their assignments for the week. Students decide how they want to use their class time each day, but are expected to complete all goals by the end of the week. Although these are traditionally done on paper, they could easily be converted to a HyperDoc format.

OTHER USES FOR HYPERDOCS

Building an extended lesson or unit is one of the most instructionally robust ways to use HyperDocs, but they can also be used for:

substitute teacher plans

video or podcast playlists

learning centers or stations

student-made HyperDocs

parent resources

departmental-, team-or grade-level HyperDocs to gather and share resources among teachers

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

Start with a template.
Rather than build your first HyperDoc from scratch, you might find more success by starting with a pre-made template, like the ones available for free on HyperDocs.co. You could also start with a completely finished HyperDoc that someone else created for their own classroom and modify it for your own use.

Build in participation, collaboration, and multimedia.
One risk inherent in HyperDocs is that they could simply become online worksheets, replicating the kind of work students could just as easily do on paper. Take advantage of this medium by including ways for students to participate actively, collaborate with others, and learn from a variety of media: video, interactive posters like ThingLinks, podcasts, online flashcards, and so on.

Offer choice...
HyperDocs are designed to allow students to work at different speeds and navigate learning in a way that works best for them. So when you can, offer choices: Give students options for the kind and quantity of materials they need to learn the material, how they will practice and apply it, and how they will demonstrate their learning.

...but don't "kitchen sink" it.
If you stuff your HyperDoc with every possible resource on a topic ("everything but the kitchen sink"), you'll overwhelm students. Choose resources thoughtfully.

Give students HyperDocs training.
Even if your students have used HyperDocs in other classes, your design probably has its own unique qualities, so take the time to demonstrate how it should be used. And within the HyperDoc itself, provide clear directions for its use.

So if you create a HyperDoc," says Hilton, "in the header or footer, say Collaborate with other teachers.
You do not need to do this alone! Thousands of teachers are sharing and collaborating on the HyperDocs.co site and using the #hyperdocs hashtag on Twitter. And be sure to give credit to the person who created the original: " Created by, and maybe link to your Twitter handle or your email, for yourself, and then if you make a copy of someone's, we encourage you to give that person credit by saying Inspired by or Remixed HyperDoc originally created by, just because we want an inclusive, appreciative sharing community."

Don't feel like you have to create a HyperDoc for every lesson.
"That's not something that any teacher should feel pressured to do," says Landis, "and it's not really realistic. We don't want teachers doing any one thing all the time, because then it becomes redundant for our kids."

HyperDocs Resources: How to Learn More

Book: The HyperDocs Handbook

Website: HyperDocs.co: The online hub for Landis, Hilton, and Highfill's work on HyperDocs. It contains helpful blog posts and the Teachers Give Teachers system where participants share their own HyperDocs with one another. To browse and borrow other teachers' HyperDocs, all you need to do is register.
Professional Development Social Media

There's more where this came from.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Come on in!!

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How HyperDocs Can Transform Your Teaching

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HyperDocs make room for more interactive, personalized, and student-directed learning. Let's look at how they work.

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This human body system hyperdoc was created for a Grade 5 Science class. It was used as an introductory assignment so that the students could become an "expert" in one system. At the end of the unit, I set up a crime scene and the "experts' needed to share their knowledge of their system with the "experts" that studied different systems to determine what happened to the victim.

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This has some great info on how to set up your HyperDocs

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It was about a year ago this month that I sat down to develop a 3-day workshop on Chromebooks for our Science teachers. At that time, I had just spent the previous year working with our ELA teachers on Chromebook deployment in the classroom. As I was working on curating resources for teachers, I ran across the topic of Hyperdocs.

As a learning tool, Hyperdocs are the coolest thing since WiFi. With a Hyperdoc, you can essentially create a paperless learning tool, that includes all of your links, questions, activities, etc... - similar to a modern webquest.

Fast forward to today, and in a class recently we discussed Hyperdocs. Since there were many in the class that had not used them, I thought I would pass on a few tips and resources to get started.

How To

If you've never created a Hyperdoc, this video will help you get started at creating a Hyperdoc in Google Docs.

Format

Hyperdocs can take on any format - Google Doc, Google Slide Deck, or Google Site. Don't feel like you have to use a certain tool over another. Try them all, and use the tool that fits the situation best.

Google Docs -

Table Tool - If using Docs, Tables are your best friend. Use Tables to format your Hyperdoc so that students can answer questions - either individually, or in a group.

Background - Make sure to add color to your doc by changing the background color. The best response I received from a student using a Hyperdoc was that they liked using it because the color made it feel like a game instead of work.

Fonts and Styles - Make sure to dress up your headings for each part of your Hyperdoc by selecting Fonts and Styles that set each section apart.

Google Slides

Editing Mode - Remember that just because you are using Slides does not mean that students have to view your hyperdoc as a slideshow. Set up your Slide Deck and share with the students, having them follow the lesson by navigating through slides in the Editing Mode.

Video - If you need to use Video in your Hyperdoc, this is a great format, as Slides allows you to insert YouTube and Google Drive videos, while also gaining the ability to edit the start and stop times.

Google Sites

Pages - For each section of your Hyperdoc, create new pages. Sort and order the pages in the order you want students to complete the lesson.

Video - Google Sites is another tool that allows for greater use of Video, as YouTube videos can be embedded directly on the page.

Hyperdoc Thoughts

Uses

Challenge Board - One use of a hyperdoc is to create a Challenge Board in which users complete a series of tasks in a Grid. Here is a sample of one I created covering different Google Tools. Each tool has a tutorial video, followed by a Google Form to quiz the user on their knowledge.

Collaborative Document - In a collaborative document, you can set up a table to that multiple users can enter their answers to prompts or questions. Check out this example.

Individual Lesson - By setting up a document as an individual lesson, you can extend the hyperdoc into a weeklong lesson or unit on a topic. Then you can use separate tables to Explore, Explain, and Express what they have learned. There are several ways to do it, but try this one as an example of what I mean.

Still have questions? Try doing a Google Search for Hyperdocs. There are several great resources out there from other Google Trainers. Find what fits for you, give Hyperdocs a try as a Summer Project before you return to school! Good luck!

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Summer Project - Getting Started with Hyperdocs

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It was about a year ago this month that I sat down to develop a 3-day workshop on Chromebooks for our Science teachers. At that time, I had just spent the previous year working with our ELA teachers on Chromebook deployment in the classroom. As I was working on curating resources for teachers, I ran...

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How Hyperdocs can transform education Copied and pasted by Mr. MB

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How Hyperdocs can transform education Copied and pasted by Mr. MB

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This is a wonderful

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Listen to my interview with Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis, authors of The HyperDoc Handbook ( transcript):

In many classrooms, a learning cycle looks something like this: First, we write plans for a series of lessons and a final assessment. We gather materials-handouts, websites, rubrics, video clips. Then we teach the lessons one at a time, to the whole class, at the same pace, distributing materials as needed. Finally, we end with a project, test, or other assessment.

It's a very teacher-directed model, which can limit learning in a number of ways:

Students don't feel much ownership for their own learning. Instead, they depend on the teacher to tell them when and how to learn the material.

Because so much of the teacher's time is spent in direct instruction, there's little opportunity to work one-on-one with students.

Because it's up to the teacher to adjust instruction for students with varied needs and levels of readiness, differentiation becomes one more thing to do.

ENTER THE HYPERDOC

A HyperDoc is a digital document-such as a Google Doc-where all components of a learning cycle have been pulled together into one central hub. Within a single document, students are provided with hyperlinks to all of the resources they need to complete that learning cycle. Here's an example.

In the above HyperDoc, all of the bolded words are linked to outside resources. The right-hand column is set aside for students to take notes and do other kinds of thinking and planning as they work through the lesson.

One of the earliest iterations of the this type of "hub" was the WebQuest, which guided students through a lesson using all online resources. Now that Google tools like Docs and Slides have become so prevalent, teachers are using these tools to create similar lessons, choosing and mixing resources that go well beyond simple web pages. Last year, we looked at something called a playlist, which teacher Tracy Enos used to organize her language arts lessons and differentiate instruction for her students.

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links; if you purchase from Amazon after going through these links, Cult of Pedagogy receives a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Meanwhile, teachers Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis were doing similar work in their own classrooms. They coined the term "HyperDoc" to describe their version of this, and in 2016, they published The HyperDoc Handbook to teach others their method for creating these lessons.

The book explains how HyperDocs work, why they have such an impact on instruction, and their model for how teachers can design HyperDocs for high-quality instruction. In the podcast episode above, I interviewed all three about their work. Here I will blend their expertise with some of my own thoughts about this exciting format.

BENEFITS OF HYPERDOCS

Fewer lectures. Teachers have been told for decades that we need to do less lecturing, to step away from being the sage on the stage and become more of a guide on the side. "I feel so bad for teachers when they hear that," Highfill says, "because they're like, 'Well, what am I supposed to do? I need to get information into their heads.'" A HyperDoc offers a solution by taking care of the direct instruction part of a lesson and offering a lot more as well.

More face-to-face interaction. A good HyperDoc runs itself, allowing students to work through it without needing you to guide them through each step. "Although it seems odd that you're putting a student in front of a device," Landis notes, "really what it's doing is freeing you up to move around and have increased face time with the students."

Flexibility. If one part of your lesson isn't working, you can just change it in the HyperDoc and the change takes effect immediately; no need to re-copy all your materials. Similarly, if each student gets their own copy of a HyperDoc, the elements can be changed on each to meet individual students' needs.

Multimodal opportunities. Because it is digital, a HyperDoc allows us to include all kinds of multimedia. "Living in this digital age, we're able to expose kids to different types of media that allows each child to access the learning or the content or the information in a way that's visually or auditorily appealing to them," Landis says. "I might be visual, and I might first study an image, then watch a video, and then I'm finally ready to tackle that article my teacher really wants me to read."

They don't know that maybe their text ... is at a different reading level," says Hilton. "Or they're able to use Privacy. If students' HyperDocs have been customized for them, no one else needs to know. "Read&Write for Google and just put headphones in, and that's just a little agreement between you and that student."

MODELS FOR BUILDING HYPERDOCS

Because HyperDocs are such adaptable tools, teachers structure them in many different ways, and you should experiment until you find a structure that works for you. Here are some options to consider:

Playlist: This model, explained in this article, follows a step-by-step sequence of activities that consist of learning activities as well as check-ins with the teacher and housekeeping tasks like setting up accounts on websites.

Self-Paced Learning: Explored in this post by math teacher Natalie McCutchen, this system lays out a path of lessons for a whole unit, along with links to review materials, pre-tests, and practice questions. Students decide how much practice they need and determine when to take the assessment for each learning goal. If they grasp the material quickly, they can test and move on.

5E Model: This first stage of this model is to Engage student interest. Next, students Explore the topic, Explain what they have learned, and Extend their learning by applying it in new situations. The last stage Evaluates student learning.

HyperDoc Model: The HyperDoc Handbook authors have developed a model that has some components of the 5Es above, but with some additions and adjustments. This template explains all 7 stages. One important component of this model is the first step, Explore. Highfill explains the value of this stage: "Kids are exploring and coming up with ideas and answers about a concept on their own, and it's engaging them from the beginning, instead of passively listening to a teacher explain something." During this time, while students explore, the teacher is actively gathering information: "I listen to my students," Highfill says, "I'm studying them and hearing to what level are they understanding a concept. I have the ability to pull a small group. I can work with my language learners during that time. The whole time I'm doing formative assessment in the classroom, which will then really be my basis for the next part of the lesson."

Agenda: This model, borrowed from the kind of planning done at a typical Montessori school, provides each student with a planner listing out their assignments for the week. Students decide how they want to use their class time each day, but are expected to complete all goals by the end of the week. Although these are traditionally done on paper, they could easily be converted to a HyperDoc format.

OTHER USES FOR HYPERDOCS

Building an extended lesson or unit is one of the most instructionally robust ways to use HyperDocs, but they can also be used for:

substitute teacher plans

video or podcast playlists

learning centers or stations

student-made HyperDocs

parent resources

departmental-, team-or grade-level HyperDocs to gather and share resources among teachers

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

Start with a template.
Rather than build your first HyperDoc from scratch, you might find more success by starting with a pre-made template, like the ones available for free on HyperDocs.co. You could also start with a completely finished HyperDoc that someone else created for their own classroom and modify it for your own use.

Build in participation, collaboration, and multimedia.
One risk inherent in HyperDocs is that they could simply become online worksheets, replicating the kind of work students could just as easily do on paper. Take advantage of this medium by including ways for students to participate actively, collaborate with others, and learn from a variety of media: video, interactive posters like ThingLinks, podcasts, online flashcards, and so on.

Offer choice...
HyperDocs are designed to allow students to work at different speeds and navigate learning in a way that works best for them. So when you can, offer choices: Give students options for the kind and quantity of materials they need to learn the material, how they will practice and apply it, and how they will demonstrate their learning.

...but don't "kitchen sink" it.
If you stuff your HyperDoc with every possible resource on a topic ("everything but the kitchen sink"), you'll overwhelm students. Choose resources thoughtfully.

Give students HyperDocs training.
Even if your students have used HyperDocs in other classes, your design probably has its own unique qualities, so take the time to demonstrate how it should be used. And within the HyperDoc itself, provide clear directions for its use.

So if you create a HyperDoc," says Hilton, "in the header or footer, say Collaborate with other teachers.
You do not need to do this alone! Thousands of teachers are sharing and collaborating on the HyperDocs.co site and using the #hyperdocs hashtag on Twitter. And be sure to give credit to the person who created the original: " Created by, and maybe link to your Twitter handle or your email, for yourself, and then if you make a copy of someone's, we encourage you to give that person credit by saying Inspired by or Remixed HyperDoc originally created by, just because we want an inclusive, appreciative sharing community."

Don't feel like you have to create a HyperDoc for every lesson.
"That's not something that any teacher should feel pressured to do," says Landis, "and it's not really realistic. We don't want teachers doing any one thing all the time, because then it becomes redundant for our kids."

HyperDocs Resources: How to Learn More

Book: The HyperDocs Handbook

Website: HyperDocs.co: The online hub for Landis, Hilton, and Highfill's work on HyperDocs. It contains helpful blog posts and the Teachers Give Teachers system where participants share their own HyperDocs with one another. To browse and borrow other teachers' HyperDocs, all you need to do is register.
Professional Development Social Media

There's more where this came from.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Come on in!!

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How HyperDocs Can Transform Your Teaching

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HyperDocs make room for more interactive, personalized, and student-directed learning. Let's look at how they work.

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Hyper hyper hyper Ha

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Hyperdocs In #Physed & #Health - MrAdamPE

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Creating resources is all part and parcel of teaching, especially in #Physed & Health. The amount of skill cards I have created or work booklets, I have seriously lost track!…View Post

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What are hyperdocs and how can they be used in the classroom?

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HyperDocs are the creation of Sarah Landis and Lisa Highfill – expert educators. Hyperdocs sound complicated but they really aren’t. HyperDocs are basically online documents but rich in hyperlinks …

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Hyperdocs In #Physed & #Health - MrAdamPE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Creating resources is all part and parcel of teaching, especially in #Physed & Health. The amount of skill cards I have created or work booklets, I have seriously lost track!…View Post

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Tennis Serve Pronation Exercise For Top Spin Serves

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https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/hyperdocs/

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Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov HIGHLIGHTS

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What are hyperdocs and how can they be used in the classroom?

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HyperDocs are the creation of Sarah Landis and Lisa Highfill – expert educators. Hyperdocs sound complicated but they really aren’t. HyperDocs are basically online documents but rich in hyperlinks …

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I did this

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Motorcycle ride through the tail of the dragon in 5 minutes

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What is a HyperDoc? And How Do I Make One?

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My Doc

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Strategies to help special needs students learn & retain information!

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Mnemonic devices are techniques a person can use to help them improve their ability to remember something. In other words, it's a memory technique to help your brain better encode and recall important information. It's a simple shortcut that helps us associate the information we want to remember with an image, a sentence, or a word.

Mnemonic devices are very old, with some dating back to ancient Greek times. Virtually everybody uses them, even if they don't know their name. It's simply a way of memorizing information so that it "sticks" within our brain longer and can be recalled more easily in the future.

Popular mnemonic devices include:

The Method of Loci

The Method of Loci is a mnemonic device that dates back to Ancient Greek times, making it one of the oldest ways of memorizing we know of. Using the Method of Loci is easy. First, imagine a place with which you are familiar. For instance, if you use your house, the rooms in your house become the objects of information you need to memorize. Another example is to use the route to your work or school, with landmarks along the way becoming the information you need to memorize.

You go through a list of words or concepts needing memorization, and associate each word with one of your locations. You should go in order so that you will be able to retrieve all of the information in the future.

Acronyms

An acronym is a word formed from the first letters or groups of letters in a name or phrase. An acrostic is a series of lines from which particular letters (such as the first letters of all lines) from a word or phrase. These can be used as mnemonic devices by taking the first letters of words or names that need to be remembered and developing an acronym or acrostic.

For instance, in music, students must remember the order of notes so that they can identify and play the correct note while reading music. The notes of the treble staff are EGBDF. The common acrostic used for this are Every Good Boy Does Fine or Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. The notes on the bass staff are ACEG, which commonly translates into the acrostic All Cows Eat Grass.

Rhymes

A rhyme is a saying that has similar terminal sounds at the end of each line. Rhymes are easier to remember because they can be stored by acoustic encoding in our brains. For example:

In fourteen hundred and ninety-two Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue.

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Save February, with twenty-eight days clear,
And twenty-nine each leap year.

Chunking & Organization

Chunking is simply a way of breaking down larger pieces of information into smaller, organized "chunks" of more easily-managed information. Telephone numbers in the United States are a perfect example of this - 10 digits broken into 3 chunks, allowing almost everyone to remember an entire phone number with ease. Since short-term human memory is limited to approximately 7 items of information, placing larger quantities of information into smaller containers helps our brains remember more, and more easily.

Organizing information into either objective or subjective categories also helps. Objective organization is placing information into well-recognized, logical categories. Trees and grass are plants; a cricket is an insect. Subjective organization is categorizing seemingly unrelated items in a way that helps you recall the items later. This can also be useful because it breaks down the amount of information to learn. If you can divide a list of items into a fewer number of categories, then all you have to remember is the categories (fewer items), which will serve as memory cues in the future.

Imagery

Visual imagery is a great way to help memorize items for some people. For instance, it's often used to memorize pairs of words (green grass, yellow sun, blue water, etc.). The Method of Loci, mentioned above, is a form of using imagery for memorization. By recalling specific imagery, it can help us recall information we associated with that imagery.

Imagery usually works best with smaller pieces of information. For instance, when trying to remember someone's name you've just been introduced to. You can imagine a pirate with a wooden leg for "Peggy," or a big grizzly bear for "Harry."

Memory and Mnemonic Devices

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Mnemonic devices are techniques a person can use to help them improve their ability to remember something. In other words, it's a memory technique to help your brain better encode and recall important information. It's a simple shortcut that helps us associate the information we want to remember with an image, a sentence, or a word.

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Snyder, Stewart, & Roboski final assignment.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Love this inspirational video!

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Japanese fall festivals Archives | KCP International

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Whether you are still preparing yourself for the KCP Japanese language immersion program or are already in Tokyo for a term, it's never too late to improve...Read More

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What are hyperdocs and how can they be used in the classroom?

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HyperDocs are the creation of Sarah Landis and Lisa Highfill – expert educators. Hyperdocs sound complicated but they really aren’t. HyperDocs are basically online documents but rich in hyperlinks …

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Earlier this week, I wrote about using Hyperdocs more for educational technology professional development. If you are unfamiliar with Hyperdocs, you can read all about them and why I think they would be great for PD in my previous post here.

To create an appealing Hyperdoc, you'll need to know how to do more than hyperlink text and insert images. Below are 8 Google Drive elements that you will want to be familiar with to create engaging Hyperdocs in Google Docs and Slides.

1. Change the Background Color of a Google Doc or Google Slides

As you start to investigate more Hyperdocs, you'll notice that many have a background color other than white. This immediately signals to the learner that this activity is going to be different than just taking notes or responding to questions. To do this in a Doc, just go to File -> Page Setup -> Select Color. In Slides, Right Click -> Change Background-> and choose your background (select Add to Theme to apply to all slides). The short video below will walk you through.

2. Play YouTube Videos Inside a Google Doc

Special shoutout to Chris Craft for showing me this handy add-on at the Indiana GAFE Summit! One benefit to using Slides over Docs for a Hyperdoc is the ability to embed YouTube (or Google Drive) videos right on the slide. If you chose to develop your Hyperdoc in a Google Doc and you include any YouTube video links, then you will want to check out the Docs add-on called DocuTube! DocuTube will play YouTube videos right on that Google Doc (in a pop-up window) to prevent the learners from leaving the Doc and potentially getting distracted on YouTube. You can install it in any Doc by going to Add-ons-> Get Add-ons-> and then search for and install DocuTube. To use it after you (and the learners) install it, just go back up to Add-ons -> DocuTube-> Show Videos. A pop-up window will appear in the Google Doc and it will display all the videos that you have included links for within the Doc.

3. Insert Tables

You also may notice that many Hyperdocs have tables, so the learner can interact with content and materials provided on one side of the table, and take notes or respond on the other side of the table. To insert a table in Docs or Slides, go to Insert -> Table. Then you can right click to merge cells and adjust table properties. Watch the short video below for an overview.

4. Add Additional Fonts

There are TONS of fonts in Google Drive applications, you just have to know where to go to add them. Love me some Happy Monkey and Montserrat! To add more fonts, just select the font drop down, and go to More Fonts at the very bottom. Scroll through and select as many fonts until your heart is content. You will have to do this in each Google App (in Docs, then in Slides...), but once you do it for that particular app once, you will be able to access those fonts from here on out.

5. Force Copy Link

Learners (or groups of learners) will need their own copy of the Hyperdoc to write and add to within the document. If you're using Google Classroom ( Schoology & Google Drive integration to "make a copy for each student" coming summer 2017!), then you may not need this tip. If you aren't using one of those tools for any reason, you can provide a URL that forces viewers to make a copy of the document before viewing it. Make the document viewable to anyone with the link, then simply replace the "/edit..." at the end of the URL with "copy". Voilà- one less step for your participants to make their own copy!

6. Drawings

Have you ever wondered how people get text on top of an image in a Google Doc? Or maybe how they got that image and text to look like a caption? They most likely used Drawings to do this. You can do this right from inside a Google Doc (if you're building your Hyperdoc in Slides, there is no need for this since you can do everything in Drawings in Slides). Just go to Insert -> Drawing and then you can add shapes, upload images, and add text. It will then put that drawing right in your Google Doc as a single image. Pro Tip- insert a Drawing in the document header or footer to really jazz up your Doc!

7. Link to Places Within the Same Document

Sometimes you need to jump to a place within your Doc or to a specific Slide. You can do this with bookmarks. To add a bookmark in a Doc, put your cursor where you would like to add the bookmark then go to Insert -> Bookmark. You will see a little bookmark icon appear. Then you can add a link to that bookmark by highlighting the text, [CTRL or CMND + K], then click "Bookmarks" to see all the bookmarks you've added and choose one of them. To link to a specific slide in Google Slides, highlight text, [CTRL or CMND + K], then select "Slides in this Presentation." I add a "Back To Top" bookmarked link in the footer of my Docs when there are multiple pages, to keep the learner from having to scroll and scroll to get back to the top.

8. Change the Page Size of Google Slides

Did you know you're not stuck with the default Google Slides dimensions? In fact, you can change it to look just like a regular 8.5 x 11 piece of paper (this is especially good to do if there is a chance you may print the slide deck or want it to feel like multiple pages in a notebook). You'll want to do this before you add anything to your slide so it doesn't distort it. To do this, go to File-> Page Setup-> select Custom in the drop down-> and then enter the page size dimensions.

So what are other "must-know" features for creating a Hyperdoc in Google Docs or Google Slides? Comment on the post below, and let me know!

Tech To You Later!
-Katie

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8 Essential Google Drive Elements to Create Hyperdocs * Talk Tech With Me

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Earlier this week, I wrote about using Hyperdocs more for educational technology professional development. If you are unfamiliar with Hyperdocs, you can read all about them and why I think they would be great for PD in my previous post here.

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Go Social Studies. We are the bees' knees!

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Google Classroom was introduced into our school this year. I wanted to make sure that I could really use it to its full potential. I was able to secure a set of laptops for my classroom and we became a 1:1 class this year. I wanted to make sure that my students were digital creators and not just digital consumers. I came across "digital interactive notebooks" using Google Drive on Teachers pay Teachers. Thanks to Students of History it saved me from having to create these digital interactive notebooks on my own.

The digital interactive notebooks were great because they helped students in developing their research skills to gather the information they needed, and the project-based learning kept students engaged and synthesizing the information they were learning. By having the digital interactive notebooks through Google Slides it allowed me to incorporate them seamlessly through Google Classroom and they could work individually or collaboratively.

Over the summer I read The HyperDoc Handbook: Digital Lesson Design Using Google Apps by Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis. So, I began to ask myself what the dif ference was between Digital Interactive Notebooks and Hyperdocs? Was there a difference or was it just semantics? After much deliberation I found the differences lie in how deeply technology is integrated into the document.

Digital Interactive Notebooks (DIN) and Hyperdocs can be seen as a continuum, much like the SAMR Model of technology integration. The most basic DIN would be the first level of the SAMR: Substitution. Instead of the DIN being on paper it has been transferred to a digital copy, students fill out the digital worksheets but that is the extent of the technology integration. The second stage of a DIN correlating with the second stage of the SAMR Model: Augmentation. This DIN would be one that includes hyperlinks that leads students to additional resources, whether video, audio or websites student can use to learn more about a certain topic and incorporate that new knowledge into the completion of their DIN. The third stage of the SAMR Model: Modification, begins to transform the DIN more into a Hyperdoc because there is more integration of technology within the DIN as well as with s tudents who are not just filling predetermined graphic organizers but using that information, analyzing, and synthesizing it in their documents. The final stage of the SAMR Model: Redefinition exemplifies the final stage development of a DIN into a Hyperdoc. In this stage, the hyperdoc is not only incorporating various levels of hyper
links to text, video, and audio but the students are also creating their own finished digital products as evidence of understanding and comprehension.

All stages of the SAMR are necessary and the learning objective should determine the technology used, so there is a time for a basic DIN and a time for a fully integrated Hyperdoc. I'll leave what you want to call them up to you, but if you are on the fence about giving it a try...I say go for it. Start small and build if you are wary about how to put it together.

Here is a link to a sample page of a DIN I created... Ideas about Government

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Digital Interactive Notebooks vs. Hyperdocs

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Google Classroom was introduced into our school this year. I wanted to make sure that I could really use it to its full potential. I was able to secure a set of laptops for my classroom and we became a 1:1 class this year. I wanted to make sure that my students were digital creators...

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You're welcome English Dept.

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Create START Watch Benjamin Banneker Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth2 Discuss The Slave Trade- What, When, Why? Watch Share Slave Era Pt 1

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Katie Cole

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Creating Hyperdocs with Google Slides & Google Drawings

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What is a HyperDoc?
It's an innovative way to put an entire interactive digital lesson into your students' hands. If you're looking for something to replace boring worksheets with something more exciting that allows students to collaborate, think critically, combine information from multiple sources, and create through technology, then HyperDocs is right up your alley. HyperDocs allow you to create and package a lesson plan tailored to fit the needs of your students. Plus, it is inherently engaging! Each lesson includes all the elements you would typically include in a successful lesson: engage, explore, explain, apply, share, and extend. While students are busy collaborating and reflecting on their learning, you are free to connect with students!

​ The term HyperDocs was coined by Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis. When I first heard about HyperDocs, I thought it was simply a Google Doc with hyperlinks on it. Don't be fooled! It is SO much more complex and meaningful than that. Read about what Lisa, Kelly, and Sarah have to say about HyperDocs on their website here.

Many HyperDocs follow this basic template that takes students through six steps of a lesson:

1. Engage: Hook your students, get them engaged, and activate prior knowledge. You might use a fun video, interactive website, or audio recording.

2. Explore: Link resources, such as videos or articles, for students to explore more information.

3. Explain: Clarify the learning objective for your students. This is where you could teach a whole group lesson with direct instruction, or add additional resources for students to explore.

4. Apply: What do you want students to create to demonstrate their learning? Give instructions for the assignment.

5. Share: Provide a way for students to share their work and receive feedback.

6. Reflect: Pause for reflection (whole class, think-pair-share, etc.) or link them to a digital way to share their thoughts.

7. Extend: This portion is great for early finishers. Provide extra activities, additional online resources, or challenge them with an extension assignment to extend their thinking.

Of course, not every lesson follows the same format. For a variety of templates to meet your needs, head over to this Padlet where educators are sharing templates for all types of lessons. In addition to the Basic six step HyperDoc lesson plan outlined above, there are also templates for close reading, historical biographies, and for workshop lessons. There is also a more basic template that only involves three steps: Explore, Explain, and Apply. That shortened HyperDoc templates is great for beginners that are feeling overwhelmed with creating their first HyperDoc.
If you're unsure of what types of resources to include for each section of the lesson, take a look at this helpful Google Doc template created by Sarah Landis. It's packed full of ideas for each step of the lesson. Popular apps and websites used with HyperDocs include YouTube, Google Forms, Kahoot, Storybird, Padlet, Wordle, and of course Google Docs.

​ The best way to understand HyperDocs is to see an example. Luckily, educators have been creating and sharing HyperDocs for all grade levels and subjects. A typical lesson that follows a template will look similar to the images below. Of course, not all Hyperdocs follow a template, and you are free to customize your lesson to suit your needs. To use a template for your classroom, simply open it in Google Docs, click "File" and "Make a Copy" to save it into your Google Drive. Then you can open your own copy, make any changes, and then share it with your students via Google Classroom!

Try out some HyperDocs for yourself to see what all the hype is about!

Click here to explore a Padlet where educators are sharing their awesome HyperDocs.

​Click here to find even more HyperDoc lessons through an amazing website called TeachersGiveTeachers.

​Once you start creating your own HyperDocs, don't forget to revisit the Padlet or TeachersGiveTeachers to share your lesson with others!

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What is a HyperDoc? It's an innovative way to put an entire interactive digital lesson into your students' hands. If you're looking for something to replace boring worksheets with something more exciting that allows students to collaborate, think critically, combine information from multiple sources, and create through technology, then HyperDocs is right up your alley.

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John Stephen Stewart

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In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the Millennium Falcon uses its hyperdrive to jump to hyperspace. In my classroom, my students jump out of their seats when they get a chance to work on HyperDocs.

HyperDocs are Google Docs that are self-contained lessons or units. The idea was developed by Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis, and has taken hold in modern education. They contain questions, with links to videos, infographics, websites, or other resources to help the students discover new information. HyperDocs also contain tasks for students to complete, such as creating a Google Drawing or a Google Slide deck.

In my classroom, we've used HyperDocs as our primary manner of instruction in our history class, including this HyperDoc on Colonial Virginia and this one about Virginia's role in the American Revolution. I personally love using HyperDocs. It holds me accountable by requiring me to plan out my entire unit rather than planning day by day, which helps me to ensure that the unit flows well together.

It also allows me to critique my work and lesson delivery. In past years before I discovered HyperDocs, I delivered most of my instruction through slideshows, lectures and class discussions, and pictures and video. While this isn't inherently bad, it didn't allow for much variance in the modality that they would receive information.Now, between three units, students have explored various websites, toured interactive maps, sorted descriptors and terms, and many other ways of learning new things on their own terms.

A new favorite that will make a second appearance in our next unit is a talking head. Using an iPad app, I record myself explaining why historical figures are important. I locate a picture of each person and the app animates the mouth to move with my words. The laughter of the first student to reach that section helped serve as a tremendous hook to others.

Now I know what you're thinking. Couldn't you play the head on the Smart Board? Of course you could. But by putting the talking head in the child's hands, they can watch it as many times as they need. Think of your class. One student may find the humor in it, but still retain the information. Another may find it funny seventeen times before they truly understand it. If you're watching it as a class on the Smart Board, the teacher is in control and each student won't get a chance to rewatch it until they fully understand it.

(As a note of caution, you'll want to be sure your school's infrastructure can handle multiple videos playing at one time. We ran into some problems with the talking heads, but the students chose to stagger that task!)

HyperDocs allow me to assess students' understandings as they go along. I open each HyperDoc on my Chromebook and cycle through them as they are completing them. I open the chat box and remind them to keep working or leave them comments on their work to encourage them to recheck a response. Sometimes my students complete HyperDocs in partners, and I give them positive reinforcement for displaying good partnership. HyperDocs allow me to give quick and immediate feedback to each student, which is nearly impossible to do in a whole group setting.

Students can work at their own pace and differentiate as needed. Some students may have a strong amount of background knowledge in a topic and can move quickly, while others may need to take more time. There are Chrome extensions that read text to students, so all students are able to participate.

Generally, my HyperDocs include five to seven tasks for students to complete. I reason they can complete two tasks a day, so I base the allotted time on that, plus one day for wiggle room. When a student finishes their HyperDoc, they notify me. I check it over, suggesting any final corrections or giving them the go ahead to move ahead to the review section, which includes online flashcards or Jeopardy games of the newly learned material.

You don't have to take my word for it. I asked some of my students their feelings on HyperDocs:

"I like having different types of problems and all the different resources."

"[They] are more fun than just reading a book. [I like] the fill in the blank and the little quizzes."

"[I like] them because you get to work with a partner and you get to work on teamwork."

"[I like] how it is put together and in order."

I encourage you to try a HyperDoc in your class. You can search the web for pre-made ones, or develop your own! They are very easy to create and the payoff is limitless, considering the ability for students to self-pace and receive individualized and immediate feedback.

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Using HyperDocs in Class - Kids Discover

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In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the Millennium Falcon uses its hyperdrive to jump to hyperspace. In my classroom, my students jump out of their seats when they get a chance to work on HyperDocs. HyperDocs are Google Docs that are self-contained lessons or units.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k12xIv-PF1X9D1VC7zN8DSB-K8pp0yvGGZbDwC-DFPU/edit

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BOOM!!!!

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Listen to my interview with Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis, authors of The HyperDoc Handbook ( transcript):

In many classrooms, a learning cycle looks something like this: First, we write plans for a series of lessons and a final assessment. We gather materials-handouts, websites, rubrics, video clips. Then we teach the lessons one at a time, to the whole class, at the same pace, distributing materials as needed. Finally, we end with a project, test, or other assessment.

It's a very teacher-directed model, which can limit learning in a number of ways:

Students don't feel much ownership for their own learning. Instead, they depend on the teacher to tell them when and how to learn the material.

Because so much of the teacher's time is spent in direct instruction, there's little opportunity to work one-on-one with students.

Because it's up to the teacher to adjust instruction for students with varied needs and levels of readiness, differentiation becomes one more thing to do.

ENTER THE HYPERDOC

A HyperDoc is a digital document-such as a Google Doc-where all components of a learning cycle have been pulled together into one central hub. Within a single document, students are provided with hyperlinks to all of the resources they need to complete that learning cycle. Here's an example.

In the above HyperDoc, all of the bolded words are linked to outside resources. The right-hand column is set aside for students to take notes and do other kinds of thinking and planning as they work through the lesson.

One of the earliest iterations of the this type of "hub" was the WebQuest, which guided students through a lesson using all online resources. Now that Google tools like Docs and Slides have become so prevalent, teachers are using these tools to create similar lessons, choosing and mixing resources that go well beyond simple web pages. Last year, we looked at something called a playlist, which teacher Tracy Enos used to organize her language arts lessons and differentiate instruction for her students.

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links; if you purchase from Amazon after going through these links, Cult of Pedagogy receives a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Meanwhile, teachers Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis were doing similar work in their own classrooms. They coined the term "HyperDoc" to describe their version of this, and in 2016, they published The HyperDoc Handbook to teach others their method for creating these lessons.

The book explains how HyperDocs work, why they have such an impact on instruction, and their model for how teachers can design HyperDocs for high-quality instruction. In the podcast episode above, I interviewed all three about their work. Here I will blend their expertise with some of my own thoughts about this exciting format.

BENEFITS OF HYPERDOCS

Fewer lectures. Teachers have been told for decades that we need to do less lecturing, to step away from being the sage on the stage and become more of a guide on the side. "I feel so bad for teachers when they hear that," Highfill says, "because they're like, 'Well, what am I supposed to do? I need to get information into their heads.'" A HyperDoc offers a solution by taking care of the direct instruction part of a lesson and offering a lot more as well.

More face-to-face interaction. A good HyperDoc runs itself, allowing students to work through it without needing you to guide them through each step. "Although it seems odd that you're putting a student in front of a device," Landis notes, "really what it's doing is freeing you up to move around and have increased face time with the students."

Flexibility. If one part of your lesson isn't working, you can just change it in the HyperDoc and the change takes effect immediately; no need to re-copy all your materials. Similarly, if each student gets their own copy of a HyperDoc, the elements can be changed on each to meet individual students' needs.

Multimodal opportunities. Because it is digital, a HyperDoc allows us to include all kinds of multimedia. "Living in this digital age, we're able to expose kids to different types of media that allows each child to access the learning or the content or the information in a way that's visually or auditorily appealing to them," Landis says. "I might be visual, and I might first study an image, then watch a video, and then I'm finally ready to tackle that article my teacher really wants me to read."

They don't know that maybe their text ... is at a different reading level," says Hilton. "Or they're able to use Privacy. If students' HyperDocs have been customized for them, no one else needs to know. "Read&Write for Google and just put headphones in, and that's just a little agreement between you and that student."

MODELS FOR BUILDING HYPERDOCS

Because HyperDocs are such adaptable tools, teachers structure them in many different ways, and you should experiment until you find a structure that works for you. Here are some options to consider:

Playlist: This model, explained in this article, follows a step-by-step sequence of activities that consist of learning activities as well as check-ins with the teacher and housekeeping tasks like setting up accounts on websites.

Self-Paced Learning: Explored in this post by math teacher Natalie McCutchen, this system lays out a path of lessons for a whole unit, along with links to review materials, pre-tests, and practice questions. Students decide how much practice they need and determine when to take the assessment for each learning goal. If they grasp the material quickly, they can test and move on.

5E Model: This first stage of this model is to Engage student interest. Next, students Explore the topic, Explain what they have learned, and Extend their learning by applying it in new situations. The last stage Evaluates student learning.

HyperDoc Model: The HyperDoc Handbook authors have developed a model that has some components of the 5Es above, but with some additions and adjustments. This template explains all 7 stages. One important component of this model is the first step, Explore. Highfill explains the value of this stage: "Kids are exploring and coming up with ideas and answers about a concept on their own, and it's engaging them from the beginning, instead of passively listening to a teacher explain something." During this time, while students explore, the teacher is actively gathering information: "I listen to my students," Highfill says, "I'm studying them and hearing to what level are they understanding a concept. I have the ability to pull a small group. I can work with my language learners during that time. The whole time I'm doing formative assessment in the classroom, which will then really be my basis for the next part of the lesson."

Agenda: This model, borrowed from the kind of planning done at a typical Montessori school, provides each student with a planner listing out their assignments for the week. Students decide how they want to use their class time each day, but are expected to complete all goals by the end of the week. Although these are traditionally done on paper, they could easily be converted to a HyperDoc format.

OTHER USES FOR HYPERDOCS

Building an extended lesson or unit is one of the most instructionally robust ways to use HyperDocs, but they can also be used for:

substitute teacher plans

video or podcast playlists

learning centers or stations

student-made HyperDocs

parent resources

departmental-, team-or grade-level HyperDocs to gather and share resources among teachers

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

Start with a template.
Rather than build your first HyperDoc from scratch, you might find more success by starting with a pre-made template, like the ones available for free on HyperDocs.co. You could also start with a completely finished HyperDoc that someone else created for their own classroom and modify it for your own use.

Build in participation, collaboration, and multimedia.
One risk inherent in HyperDocs is that they could simply become online worksheets, replicating the kind of work students could just as easily do on paper. Take advantage of this medium by including ways for students to participate actively, collaborate with others, and learn from a variety of media: video, interactive posters like ThingLinks, podcasts, online flashcards, and so on.

Offer choice...
HyperDocs are designed to allow students to work at different speeds and navigate learning in a way that works best for them. So when you can, offer choices: Give students options for the kind and quantity of materials they need to learn the material, how they will practice and apply it, and how they will demonstrate their learning.

...but don't "kitchen sink" it.
If you stuff your HyperDoc with every possible resource on a topic ("everything but the kitchen sink"), you'll overwhelm students. Choose resources thoughtfully.

Give students HyperDocs training.
Even if your students have used HyperDocs in other classes, your design probably has its own unique qualities, so take the time to demonstrate how it should be used. And within the HyperDoc itself, provide clear directions for its use.

So if you create a HyperDoc," says Hilton, "in the header or footer, say Collaborate with other teachers.
You do not need to do this alone! Thousands of teachers are sharing and collaborating on the HyperDocs.co site and using the #hyperdocs hashtag on Twitter. And be sure to give credit to the person who created the original: " Created by, and maybe link to your Twitter handle or your email, for yourself, and then if you make a copy of someone's, we encourage you to give that person credit by saying Inspired by or Remixed HyperDoc originally created by, just because we want an inclusive, appreciative sharing community."

Don't feel like you have to create a HyperDoc for every lesson.
"That's not something that any teacher should feel pressured to do," says Landis, "and it's not really realistic. We don't want teachers doing any one thing all the time, because then it becomes redundant for our kids."

HyperDocs Resources: How to Learn More

Book: The HyperDocs Handbook

Website: HyperDocs.co: The online hub for Landis, Hilton, and Highfill's work on HyperDocs. It contains helpful blog posts and the Teachers Give Teachers system where participants share their own HyperDocs with one another. To browse and borrow other teachers' HyperDocs, all you need to do is register.
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How HyperDocs Can Transform Your Teaching

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HyperDocs make room for more interactive, personalized, and student-directed learning. Let's look at how they work.