Hypothesis FAQs

Last updated: September 12, 2021

When I import a Canvas course with Hypothesis assignments, will the assignment links update automatically like all the other links in my Canvas course?

No. If you import a course with an Hypothesis-enabled reading created with a PDF from canvas files, the assignment in your new course will still be linked to the reading from your previous course.

Previously you would need to manually update each link, but Hypothesis has implemented a workaround using the following steps:

  1. Import previous course content into your current course.
  2. Once the import is complete, return to the previous Canvas course where the Hypothesis-enabled reading was assigned.
  3. Open ONE Hypothesis-enabled reading in that previous course.
  4. Return to the current course where you imported the content.
  5. Open ONE Hypothesis-enabled reading in the current course.

Once these steps are complete, you should find that all of the Hypothesis links in the current course are linked to readings in the current course.

If your Hypothesis-enabled readings were linked to a website/publicly accessible reading or a PDF from Google drive, it will work after being imported into a new course without following these steps.

Why does SpeedGrader say all my students submitted their annotations at Dec 31, 2000 at 4pm?

Unlike uploading and submitting a paper to Canvas, which is a one time event, reading and annotating a text may take place over days and include multiple visits to the assignment. Canvas doesn’t have a simple way for accounting for this difference. Hypothesis uses a hard-coded submission time stamp that is far enough in the past to not be mistaken for a real submission date.

If you wish to evaluate student annotations against an assignment deadline, each annotation card contains a date/time stamp for the annotation and any edits.

Why does SpeedGrader show a student has submitted to a Hypothesis assignment, but then displays “No annotations by…”?

Canvas marks that a student has submitted a Hypothesis assignment the first time they open the reading, even if they don’t make any annotations. So a submitted icon along with “No annotations by…” only indicates that a student has opened the reading at least once. After a student makes an annotation, it will display in SpeedGrader and be date and time stamped according to when it was entered.

Does Hypothesis work with Canvas groups?

Yes. While Hypothesis previously was limited to working with sections in Canvas, now you can create Hypothesis assignments that work with groups. Note that you need to create Canvas groups before creating the Hypothesis assignment.

Why is the space to read and annotate so small in Hypothesis?

Make sure to check the Load This Tool In A New Tab checkbox when you’re setting up the External Tool options for your assignment. This option opens the Hypothesis assignment in a new tab, which means more reading and annotation space for you and your students. Without this option the assignment opens in a small pane within Canvas that can’t be expanded, making Hypothesis difficult to use on smaller screens.