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Hypothes.is as a

Small Shift in

Online Teaching

Aryn Bartley

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Writing and Literature Instructor

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Typical course outcomes in Writing/Lit:

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  • Use key rhetorical concepts through analyzing and composing a variety of texts. (WR)
  • Critically read and use college-level texts to support writing goals;
  • Use close reading and interpretive frameworks to examine relationships between texts and their social, historical, cultural and literary contexts (ENG)
  • Demonstrate awareness of the power and nuance of language: . . . use textual evidence to support interpretive claims about literary works (ENG)
  • Contribute to collaborative learning through formal and informal writing and discussion forums and/or creative projects (ENG)

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Concepts from Small Teaching

  • Autonomy
  • Connection and building community
  • Engagement
  • Presence
    • Cognitive presence (engagement with learning, reflection, meaning-making, drawing connections, etc.)
    • Social presence (presenting oneself to others as a “real person,” communicating openly, sharing emotion, group cohesion)
    • Teaching presence (thoughtful educational design, facilitation of learning in the course)

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Online Discussion Forums

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Strengths

Drawbacks

  • Encourages student engagement, collaborative learning, and “cognitive presence” with each other and me around course material.

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  • Posts can be general or banal
  • Responses to peers may be superficial
  • Quotes from course texts are not in context
  • Easy to get lost in the mass of posts/replies

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Solution #1: Google Docs!

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Strengths

Drawbacks

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  • Encourages student engagement, collaborative learning, and “cognitive presence” with each other and me around course material.

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  • Encourages specific reference to and analysis of textual details.

  • Allows for quick and easy questions and responses about specific moments.

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  • Easier to track lines of comments

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  • Students loved it.

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  • I had to copy-paste and reformat text into Google Docs. This took forever.

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Solution #2:

Hypothes.is (social annotation program)

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Strengths

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  • Same as Google Docs in encouraging student engagement and collaboration with each other and me around specifics of course material
  • Students can use “annotations” or “page comments” to make specific or big-picture comments
  • Easy to prepare
  • Syncs to Moodle Gradebook
  • Lane has a subscription!

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Drawbacks (help?)

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  • Gradebook syncing can be a little weird
  • Can’t offer grading feedback to students when you grade on Hypothes.is (though you can respond to their comments and respond from the grading page in Moodle.)
  • If students click on the link to the text from within a Moodle page, it will open within the page. They need to go to the Hypothes.is activity from the main Moodle site.
  • Responses can still be superficial (requires attention to instructions for response)

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My

Pedagogical

Challenge

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How to use Hypothes.is

  1. In Moodle, click “Add an Activity or Resource”
  2. Click on “External Tool”
  3. Click “Preconfigured Tool” and select “Hypothes.is”
  4. Under “Activity Name,” click “Show More” and as your launch container, select “New Window.”
  5. Adjust other parameters as desired.
  6. After you make Hypothes.is activity, go back to the main Moodle page and click on the Activity. You can then upload a PDF from your Google Drive or add a link to an online PDF. The PDF needs to use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) so users can select words, phrases, or lines of text.