Hyped Up and Empowered: Hyperdocs Bootcamp

As teachers, we strive to make lessons engaging, meaningful, interactive, and fun. The list goes on. I remember when they installed my interactive whiteboard about nine years ago. I was finally able to incorporate video, formative assessment with responders, and have a visually appealing lesson behind me. At the time, I knew I was doing the best I could with what I had. But now, that interactive whiteboard isn’t so interactive and the responders have died, and my lesson makes ME look good…but it isn’t about ME.

Now that we have technology resources basically at our fingertips, it is time to move from engaging lessons to EMPOWERING lessons. We are now able to put everything we have ever wanted to into the hands of our students. As much as I love integrating tech, we still need to be mindful about building relationships with and among our students as well. HyperDocs provides us with the means to seamlessly weave best practices together.

Before the HyperDoc Bootcamp

I purchased and read the HyperDoc Handbook last September. I scoured the hyperdocs.co website. I pretty much stalked the authors on Twitter, even direct messaging Lisa! In October, I created my first series of HyperDocs for teachers. I had surveyed one of our elementary sites to find out their tech needs. My results indicated a variety of topics at a variety of levels. I didn’t know how to meet ALL of their needs, but I valued their time during PLCs so I had to find a way to make sure my teachers were engaged (really, actually, EMPOWERED). And so the HyperDoc became my lifeline. Using the templates on hyperdocs.co, I created eight HyperDocs for teachers. Choose Your Own Adventure became a well-used resource.

I happily plugged along in my own little tech teacher on special assignment silo. I attended AVID trainings, English Language Learner workshops, UDL conferences, ….you get the picture. I had a lot of tools. I had a lot of resources. I had a lot of needs of students and teachers to help meet. It was a daunting task to put it all together and refine my HyperDoc practice while working as a party of one. And then I saw the invite for the HyperDocs Bootcamp, a four-week online course, run by the authors of the book. I convinced my boss that I needed this experience to help me grow!

During the HyperDoc Bootcamp

Imagine being with people who GET YOU….who EMBRACE all that you hold dear in instruction and lesson design…I found MY PEOPLE! The structure of the online course allowed the learners to experience an authentic HyperDoc situation just as our students do. I know I am not the only one who felt challenged, empowered and enlightened by the whole experience. The cohorts shared best practices. The instructors provided real-time feedback. There was not one right way to create a HyperDoc. The collective learning EMPOWERED collaborators.

First of all, we created MMTS (mulitmedia texts sets). Here is mine. I will be using it with teachers as a professional development piece. MMTS allow for the exploration of a topic with carefully curated resources.

We deepened our knowledge and understanding by exploring resources, studying solid pedagogy, and best practices. We developed our own definition of a HyperDoc, thus providing us a solid foundation upon which to create our own HyperDocs.

My HyperDoc is intended for Back to School. It is Goal Setting for grades 4-6. As part of the feedback I received, it can be used by leadership for teachers, as well.

After the HyperDoc Bootcamp

This four weeks certainly encouraged me to redesign how I offer professional development to teachers. I need to ensure that teachers don’t use tech for tech’s sake. We have the ability to package up our learning objectives in ways that EMPOWER students. Within HyperDocs, students get a voice and a choice, embedded cooperative learning, and the ability to produce, rather than consume. The resources shared by cohort members allows me to learn from others and take lesson design down unique roads. My expectations of this bootcamp far exceed anything I could have imagined. Reading the book on my own was inspiring, but the HyperDoc Bootcamp was EMPOWERING.

Kimberly Voge
Technology K-12 Instructional Coach
Twitter @KVoge71