A hyperdoc is not a webquest. This was the title of a post that got me started on this new writing project. I knew about webquests. I read everything I could find about webquests when they were the “in thing”. I assigned webquests and I wrote some of my own.
I have also explored the description of hyperdocs and assigned the Hyperdoc Handbook in one of the graduate courses I teach.
My reaction to the claim that a hyperdoc is not a webquest would go something like this. As described by those who originated each model, I would agree that there are differences. At the level of the formal declarations by those originating the terms and the associated models, I would argue the webquest would be a subcategory of hyperdoc. I understood the concept of a webquest to be a scaffolded problem solving task and hyperdocs as more an approach to organizing a wider variety of learning experiences. However, at the level of application I don’t see a great difference. Many webquests were not really focused on problem solving and could be anything from direct instruction based on “read this content and answer these questions” to a type of Internet-based scavenger hunt. What both concepts share is the notion of an organized process controlled from a digital document of some type.
In this time of required online learning for all, I can understand how approaches of this type are being encouraged as ways for educators to think about how they might diversify learning experiences for students. It is not practical to translate the face to face classroom as an online experience. The issue goes beyond how long teacher and student will stare at each other via a computer screen. Part of the new reality is how to create guided learning experiences when the student does not have the same access to the teacher or other students. Guided learning tasks that can be organized through a conveniently referenced source make sense.
From my perspective, webquests and hyperdocs and the logic of each are part of a broader topic I would describe as instructional design and more specifically educator as instructional designer. This broader perspective is based in an understanding of what learning is and how educators can encourage learning in students through the selection of content and the assignment of tasks intended to encourage productive cognitive behaviors. More on this in a future post or two and on some other broad teacher as designer approaches.
For those unfamiliar with hyperdocs, here are a couple of sources to offer you the core idea and to direct you to related resources.
This source offers the following description of a hyperdoc and I prefer to offer such a statement so we can agree what we are discussing.
“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.”
This is the homesite for the group that originated this model, wrote the Hyperdoc handbook, and offers additional resources and online experiences.
