Hypothesis: Collaborative Annotation for Canvas LMS
Available for
Available for : Instructors Students
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ABOUT HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis is a collaborative annotation tool integrated with Canvas that supports shared annotations within a course, discussion in response to annotations, and active reading of text. Instructors select Hypothesis as an external tool when setting up an assignment and can also choose to assign readings to groups. Students can then annotate course readings collaboratively, sharing comments, and replying to each other’s comments with text, links, images, and video. Hypothesis is also fully integrated with SpeedGrader for efficient review and grading of student annotations.
Resources for instructors
- Set up Hypothesis readings through Canvas Assignments
- We recommend selecting the Load In A New Tab option when setting up a Hypothesis assignment. This will allow for a better reading experience for students, especially those who magnify the contents of their screen for accessibility purposes.
- Set up Hypothesis readings through Canvas Modules
- Grade Hypothesis annotations in Canvas
- Hypothesis FAQs
Resources for students
Consider sharing the following links in your Canvas course, or point students to this page
- Guide to Hypothesis in Canvas
- Learn the basics of navigating and using Hypothesis
- Guide to Annotation Types
- Short screen casts show how to highlight, annotate, make page notes, and reply to others’ notes
- Using images, links, and videos in annotations
- Jazz up your annotations with this deep dive into the editing interface
- Annotation etiquette for students
- Create stand-out annotations with these five best practices to make your annotations stand out
Hypothesis helps you to
- Provide a new way for students to discuss class readings
- Help students consider multiple viewpoints when reading
- Assist students in close and active reading of texts
- Encourage students to engage critically with readings
Hypothesis Support
Workshops & Webinars
Activating annotation with Hypothesis (30 minutes)
The Hypothesis team will share how teachers are using annotation-powered reading to help students develop foundational academic skills like deep reading and persuasive writing. In addition to sharing pedagogical best practices for social annotation, we will demonstrate how Hypothesis is used with course readings in your LMS. Participants will gain a clear understanding of how to start incorporating social annotation into their courses to improve student outcomes. These sessions are great introductions to using Hypothesis and social annotation in your courses.
- Tuesday, January 11, 2022, 10am PST
- Tuesday, February 8, 2022, 10am PST
- Tuesday, March 15, 2022, 10am PST
Using multimedia & tags in annotations (30 minutes)
Whether you’re having students reply to your syllabus with funny GIFs or asking them to create videos in response to a current-events article, Hypothesis provides a text editor that allows you and your students to embed links, images, and videos in annotations. Tags can be a great way to categorize or organize your students’ thinking while annotating. Participate in this short workshop that walks you through how to increase engagement by adding multimedia and tags in annotations.
Using Hypothesis with small groups (30 minutes)
When teaching a large class, it can be challenging to engage every student and ensure that no one feels invisible. Using Hypothesis for social annotation in small groups can help you make more meaningful and collaborative connections with your students. One of our most frequent requests is for the ability to segment large classes. This workshop focuses on the options for using Hypothesis in small groups, and it will cover how social annotation can be used to create a more collaborative learning environment.
Show-and-tell participatory workshop (30 minutes)
This workshop will help faculty who have already been using the Hypothesis tool to more fully leverage all its features. The Hypothesis team will lead participants in a discussion about how collaborative annotation with Hypothesis can be used in their specific disciplines and with their particular teaching and learning objectives. Come to this session with one or more examples of an effective and meaningful annotation assignment that your students completed. Feel free also to share those ideas that maybe didn’t go so well. Think of this as a professional learning community session for brainstorming and sharing. Participants can expect to come away with ideas for how to expand usage of collaborative annotation in their courses and improve student success.
Creative ways to use social annotation in your courses (30 minutes)
In this workshop, our team will lead participants through various discussion protocols and active-learning strategies that can help make social annotation even more engaging and fun. Participants in this session will learn several strategies for creatively using social annotation in their courses.
Workshops from autumn 21
If you missed any of the Hypothesis partner workshops offered during autumn quarter, you can find recordings on the Hypothesis YouTube channel.
Liquid Margins
Offered throughout the year
Hypothesis hosts a recurring web “show” featuring instructors and staff to talk about collaborative annotation, social learning, and other ways to make knowledge together.
Vendor Help
- The Hypothesis Knowledge Base includes FAQs, tutorials, how-tos, and troubleshooting tips.
- Schedule a meeting with Hypothesis Customer Success Specialist Autumn Ottenad for instructional design advice or questions on how to best use Hypothesis in your course.
- Watch Liquid Margins, the Hypothesis web series, to learn more about how other instructors use collaborative annotations in their course.
