Hypothesis is a social annotation tool empowering students to engage with an instructor's selection of online content from websites, Canvas Pages, Studio video transcripts, documents, or YouTube video transcripts. Social annotation, also known as collaborative annotation, is a digital practice where individuals or groups collectively markup digital content by adding comments, replies, highlights, and notes. Hypothesis uniquely allows students to highlight key points, add questions, and engage in discussions with peers' annotations directly inside the selected material. This provides an immersive experience that is different from sending them to the Canvas Discussions feature to communicate. A recent study found over 65 percent of students stated social annotation helped them understand different perspectives and inspired them to think about course content outside the classroom. Hypothesis Availability Hypothesis is available for instructors to implement in all Canvas courses. For graded work, create a Canvas Assignment with the external tool submission type. For nongraded activities, add external tool to a Module. A Chrome web browser extension is available free to the public, but it is not compatible with Canvas. Hypothesis Tech Support Hypothesis offers tech support to all users. Hypothesis Considerations Social annotation applications in education include active reading and critical thinking as well as with research for collaborative analysis of scholarly materials. It enhances engagement with digital content by fostering collaboration and reflection in a digital space. Ultimately, social annotation brings the age-old process of marking up physical texts to the digital learning space and makes assigned content a shared experience. Determine your instructional goals and create either a nongraded activity or graded assignment accurately in Canvas. Outline clear expectations for students regarding how they must participate. Provide students with a link to a training guide or video. Students don't need to install anything unless they want to use the Chrome extension independently. If a student needs help adding the extension, they call the UIW Help Desk. If you are using a Rubric with your Canvas Assignment, be certain to select the correct one—you cannot remove or edit the Rubric after it is added. If you make a mistake adding a Rubric, delete the Assignment and start over. When copying your Canvas course using a new term, Hypothesis can copy forward but will not retain the participation from the previous term. Hypothesis Resources Hypothesis Instructor Resources: Implement in Canvas Courses Hypothesis Introductory session at UIW Creating an assignment with Hypothesis Grading student annotations in Canvas Using Hypothesis with Canvas groups Using Rubrics in Canvas with Hypothesis Creating a module item with Hypothesis Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about Hypothesis Back to school with annotation: 10 Ways to Annotate with Students Annotation Resources for Faculty Faculty Resource Guide Hypothesis Partner Workshops Liquid Margins Podcast Hypothesis Student Resources: Participate in Canvas Courses Help your students get up to speed with Hypothesis using these resources. Intro to the Hypothesis Canvas app Annotation Resources for Students Student Resource Guide Hypothesis Overview FAQ Can students use keywords to flag the instructor? Yes. For example, if you use a Hypothesis assignment to review the syllabus have students mention #help to get your attention. You can then search for #help to focus on those comments. While the # key is not required, using it differentiates the term search from any other casual use of the same word in a post.

Participation in social annotation during reading assignments can increase student engagement with your course materials. Hypothesis is an external tool submission type within Canvas Assignments that let's instructors assign pdf files, webpages, Canvas Pages, Canvas Studio or YouTube video transcripts, JSTOR, and VitalSource materials. Students and instructors open the reading assignment for annotating, highlighting, and replying options. This guide offers a 5-minute training video for instructors:

Hypothesis for social annotation is available for use with Canvas Studio videos that have transcripts. Instructors set up the Canvas Assignments with external tool option for Hypothesis, then select the Studio video to assign. Students watch the video and annotate the transcript as though it is a pdf article. This guide offers a 3-minute training video and refer to the Hypothesis with Canvas Studio guide for detailed instructions:

Hypothesis for social annotation is available for use with the Chrome browser extension outside of Canvas. The Chrome extension method is helpful for reading materials that are not available in the Canvas Assignments tool, such as certain library database articles or textbooks. This guide explains the considerations and connects you with instructions to get started. Hypothesis Chrome Extension Considerations Chrome is the only browser recommended for using Hypothesis outside of Canvas. UIW credentials do not work with the public web version of Hypothesis. All users must create their own personal Hypothesis account. Posts can be public, in a private group, or personal. Instructors can create private groups for their classes and share a join link. Students must use the link to join a private group. Annotations are at risk of being orphaned with this method. Hypothesis Post Types Public posts are visible to anyone using Hypothesis. Private group posts are visible only to members of the group. Only Me posts are personal and not seen by anyone else. Hypothesis in the Public Web Instructions Sign up for a free Hypothesis account. Confirm your activation email. Create a private group to annotate with only select people. Invite others to your private group - or learn how to join a group. Install the Hypothesis extension in Chrome. Annotate texts on the web - or learn more about annotating with groups. Understand annotation visibility. When online text changes, annotations are orphaned. Find more Hypothesis instruction guides. Hypothesis technical support is available.