Goal setting: 

This is one of the most powerful things educators can do for students and for assessment. Students need a clear picture of their learning goals. They need to know where they are and set personal goals for where they want to be. By building relationships with our students, we can have these conversations and students can begin to dig deep into their own needs, goals, and passions. This process emPOWERs students to take ownership of their learning, to realize what they need in order to achieve their goals, and allows them to evaluate and celebrate their personal accomplishments.  

Formative Assessments: 

Through utilizing Hyperdocs we are able to move successfully through the lesson cycle with our students. We are able to customize the learning experience by creating relevant driving questions that guide students in their exploration. It is imperative that the teacher allow time for the students to reflect upon their exploration and share their knowledge, questions, and thoughts. This is the formative assessment we need to craft a direct teaching moment for our students that is impactful. As educators we must gather this information to guide our teaching. Formative assessment is what drives the content and strategies we use to formulate direct teaching.  

Competency Based Assessments:  

Hyperdocs also afford us the opportunity to evaluate our students from the demonstration of their learning. Students create, prove, debate, and apply the knowledge they have gained throughout the lesson cycle and put it on display in the product or action they formulate at the end of the unit. Through the freedom of student driven learning, we can see their learning through creations and social movements for change.  

Reflection through Justification: 

Reflection is one of the easiest aspects of the lesson or Hyperdoc for teachers to skip past. The Hyperdoc Handbook states that “After challenging students to explore, create, and communicate Ideas in a Hyperdoc give them an opportunity to reflect on what they’ve learned to evaluate their work using rubrics and checklists and to set new learning goals.” This is where the assessment comes to life. In the reflection we can offer students the ability to justify their learning through video, blogging, conferences, and more. This is where you as the educator are able to evaluate a student’s true knowledge. Not in a multiple-choice test, but by assessing their knowledge and helping the student see their knowledge unfold. Resetting goals and having crucial conversations with students is where assessment is most powerful. As educators we have to guard learning and protect it from becoming a cycle of memorized content for a test and forgotten as soon as you move on to the next unit. Real learning comes from the application of memorized content.