Alternative Uses for Google Tools: Google Docs

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     It’s time to start a new series, and this one is a fun one. All the Google Tools that teachers can use have a base level of features. In Docs, you can write. In Sheets, you can analyze data, and in Slides, you can create presentations. All of those are valid in a classroom, but if you can add other functions you can grow your toolbox. Let’s start with Docs.
    This is a fun series. All the Google Tools that teachers can use have a base level of features. In Docs, you can write. In Sheets, you can analyze data, and in Slides, you can create presentations. All those are valid in a classroom, but you can grow your toolbox by adding other functions. Let’s start with Docs.
     The beauty of Google docs is that it has three things built directly into it that make building learning experiences easier. You can now do most of those in Microsoft too, but because they are more upgrades than original features, they can feel like items that are a bit less intuitive. Those three features are easy sharing, easy, feedback, and search built directly into Google Docs. 
    Those three features become the basis for the alternative use of docs: Hyperdocs. What is a HyperDoc? It’s an interactive document that can become the basis and process for almost any creative project.
    When you start a doc, you just need to look at it from an organizational state. If you use tables, you can organize them into the standard process categories such as Brainstorming, Research, Creation, Feedback. That process can contain as many steps as you want, or it can be based on an existing process like the STEM design process.
    Once you have that organization, you can color-code those tables to have content that students need, content where they need to respond under another, and any other needs. You can add images, text, and whatever you want to those tables. That’s where the beauty of search comes in: it allows you to add those pictures straight from the search tool in the doc.
    Sharing and Feedback also makes Hyperdocs more viable. If students are using them to plan creative projects, you want to share with other group members quickly, and you want to be able to share with the teacher. That quick sharing makes collaboration viable, but it also makes feedback quick. Teachers can provide that feedback as students are working through the doc, and you can even easily share for peer feedback. It becomes an additional benefit of the learning.
    That easy share also means that teachers can easily share these with other teachers. You can just go to https://hyperdocs.co/ to get a great look.