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Hypothesis Workshop

BYU, July 2020

bit.ly/byuxhyp

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Online, a book can be a gathering place, a shared space where readers record their reactions and conversations.

– Jennifer Howard, “With 'Social Reading,' Books Become Places to Meet” (2012)

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Annotation as Ed-Tech

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We have all seized the white perimeter as our own

and reached for a pen if only to show

we did not just laze in an armchair turning pages;

we pressed a thought into the wayside,

planted an impression along the verge.

– Billy Collins, “Marginalia”

When I taught high school and college English I used to hand out this poem at the beginning of every term: Billy Collins’ ode to annotation: “Marginalia.”
From day one, I made a point of encouraging students to write in the books.
Because I believed that annotation was THE most critical practice that would influence their performance in almost every other aspect of my courses, their class participation, their test taking, their paper-writing, everything.
There’s perhaps nothing more essential to learning than reading.
And there’s nothing more essential to reading than annotation.
As Billy Collins writes:

We have all seized the white perimeter as our own
and reached for a pen if only to show
we did not just laze in an armchair turning pages;
we pressed a thought into the wayside,
planted an impression along the verge.

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Ancient Ed-Tech

The Annotation

In context, In layers

Focused conversations

Additive to material

“Aristotle, Libri Naturales”, 13th Century�British Library

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Layers of Annotation

Public

My Course

My Colleagues

My Notes

Any Website, Article, eBook, Document, Multimedia

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Hypothesis in �Teaching & Learning

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Hypothesis makes reading active

I want students to learn the profits and pleasures of careful, engaged reading. To cultivate this kind of reading and learning, I’ve tried a lot of previous annotation tools but Hypothesis finally delivers on the promise of digital annotation.

– Lawrence Hanley, Professor, Department of English, San Francisco State

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Hypothesis makes reading visible

Their annotations give me a window to their thoughts and understandings that I couldn't access otherwise...I wouldn't get this depth of interaction in a threaded discussion.

– Linda Parsons, Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University

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Hypothesis makes reading social

Hypothesis is my literary Facebook. When I’m reading I sometimes wonder, ‘Does anyone actually understand this? Am I crazy? With this brilliant tool I know I’m not alone.

– Shannon Griffiths, undergrad at Plymouth State University

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Annotating with Hypothesis

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Select text to annotate

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Reply to any annotation

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Annotate together in groups

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Hypothesis Teaching and Learning Resources

General Hypothesis resources useful to teacher and students:

More here.

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Hypothesis in Learning Suite

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Make your readings annotatable

Students signed in automatically
Private groups created for courses

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Grade annotation “sets”

Again, Speedgrader integration has been the number one feature request from instructors since we launched our LMS app.
For those who choose to assess student student annotations, this is going to make their workflow a lot easier.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the kinds of rubrics that teachers create for annotation assignments.
I think we’re opening up a whole new area of learning for attention here. It’s less important to me that we can put a grade on it...
...but that we can give this work better attention, help students become better thinkers and writers in perhaps one of the most critical moments of learning: reading.
And keep in mind that an Hypothesis “Canvas Assignment” doesn’t need to be “graded.” You can leverage the speedgrader integration just to be able to offer private feedback to students on the processes of reading, analyzing, and discussing course content.

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Hypothesis in a Box!

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Create an Hypothesis shell for your faculty

Add this deck
Add the recording of this demo
Add the resources shared above
Add a few readings for users to practice on:

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Hypothes.is in the Classroom

6 Ways to Annotate for and with Students

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1. It’s not about annotation, it’s about community

Yes, we want our students to do the reading. We want them to understand it. We want them to think critically about it. And annotation is a great way to help cultivate those skills and practices. But beyond just being an annotation tool, Hypothesis is also a great way for students to connect online in a substantive way, to ask each other questions, to share ideas, and to collaborate around their learning.

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2. Invite your students to annotate the syllabus

Reading assignments are not the only educational artifacts that we can read and annotate together. Have students annotate your syllabus or other ancillary course materials. This is a great way to get students playing with the Hypothesis tool ahead of more rigorous or high-stakes assignments, and a way to open up your course design to student input. Especially if you are not meeting face-to-face, annotating “handouts” with students can help you continue to have those important, usually in-class meta-conversations about the course itself.

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3. Just make your readings annotation-enabled

When we deliver content in digital formats we often lose the margins we’ve used in traditional books. And educational research suggests that students aren’t retaining as much when they read online. So don’t worry about coming up with an annotation activity or assignment. Don’t worry about assessment. Just turn annotation on for your students, give them some basic guidance on how to use the Hypothesis tool, and see how they make use of the digital margins.

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4. Guide your students through the reading

Don’t worry about making students do a new activity or learn a new tool, just annotate the texts yourself for their benefit. This is a very real way to be present in their learning when you can’t physically be in the same place.

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5. Seminar-style discussion online

Collaborative annotation is about as close to a seminar-style experience as one can have with a class online. Everyone has the book open, our conversation is grounded in the text and in each other’s comments about it. Even if you are meeting “face to face” through video conferencing, annotating the reading together ahead of those synchronous meetings will help make better use of that precious time.

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6. Have students annotate your lecture

Post your lecture notes and slide deck as a PDF online and ask students to annotate them with questions...Like in-class clickers, the notes students make will help you better understand where students are confused and enable you to clarify course concepts. You might even get some feedback on how to improve your own teaching materials!

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Hypothesis Pilot Program

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Schools already piloting with Hypothesis

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Technical support

Extensive and growing knowledge base
Tier-1 support for instructors and staff:

support@hypothes.is

Escalation of technical issues to our team of dedicated LMS engineers

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Pedagogical support

Guides for using Hypothesis in the classroom
1:1 instructional design consultations
Customized webinars or on-campus visits

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Community participation

Regular group calls with Hypothesis success team
Opportunities to participate in research studies on annotation
Free admission to Hypothesis AnnotatED events

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Jeremy Dean

@dr_jdean / education@hypothes.is

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How can you use collaborative annotation?