New Year - New Tech

Well here we are in the last half of the year already! If you are anything like me, this is the time of year when you could use a boost to energize your teaching.  My hope, with this post, is that I can provide you with a new and exciting tool to add to your lesson repertoire.

Many of you are already deep into using Google Drive for both yourself and your students and are reaping the benefits of going Google.  Others have yet to enter the world of Google (perhaps I can persuade you with this post).  I'd like to show you a great way to use your Google resources to make your lessons more interactive and engaging for your students.

I'm talking about using HyperDocs.  A HyperDoc is an interactive Google Doc that guides students through innovative and inquiry-based learning lessons.  HyperDocs can include graphic organizers, links to websites, videos, quizzes or other interactive activities.  The learning can be made to be self directed, and students can work at their own pace.  These lessons can also be distributed through Google Classroom.

Have a look at a few examples below:

Highly Interactive Example

Basic Example

Other  HyperDoc Lessons

So how do I create Hyperlinks in my Google Doc?

The process is really quite simple .  

Step 1:  Copy the link to whatever outside source you are interested in having students access.  This can be a video, a collaborative GoogleDoc or Slide, a website or interactive game.

Step 2:  Type the words you would like to appear in your link.  For example:  "Watch this Video"
Step 3:  Highlight wording "Watch this Video" and then click on the "link" symbol in the tool bar     

Step 4: Paste the link to the outside source (video, doc, slide, website, etc ) into the dialog box that opens

Step 5:  Click "Apply"

That's all there is to it!