Collaborative Annotation of Digital Texts for Education

Digital annotation tools offer ways to foster collaboration and disciplinary literacy skills using a Reading Apprenticeship (RA) framework.

In this session Dr. Liz du Plessis shares her experiences using the free Hypothesis app in Canvas.

Hypothesis is an open-source, collaborative annotation software that enables students to highlight text on any web page or PDF, insert annotations, and reply to others. Annotations can include text, images, and video for multimedia storytelling and analysis. Hypothesis provides an engaging alternative to discussion forums for activities centered on a text.

Presentation Outcomes:

• How RA social learning strategies such as modeling and coaching can be supported by active faculty participation in annotation activities;
• How Hypothesis makes it possible for faculty to monitor reading comprehension using RA metacognitive routines such as “talking to the text,” in which students strategically annotate a text and receive feedback on their annotations; and
• How to integrate multimedia into Hypothesis annotations to support the RA “gallery walk” technique of showcasing text and graphics to get students to share their thinking.

Presenter:

• Dr. Liz du Plessis (Missouri Online)