One day, in my Professional Skills seminar, I had the pleasure to meet Dr. Jason Laurendeau, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science at U of L, teaching Sociology. He came as a guest speaker and talked about how, in today's digital world, the way students interact with texts has evolved. Gone are the days of scribbling notes in the margins of physical books—now, tools like Hypothes.is allow us to annotate, collaborate, and engage with texts online in ways that make learning more interactive and meaningful. Hypothes.is—feel free to snoop into their webpage—is a digital tool that allows users to annotate web pages and PDFs, enabling collaboration and discussion directly on the text. It transforms any digital text into an interactive space where students can highlight, comment, and pose questions, either privately or with a group.
Imagine reading a challenging academic article and being able to see your classmates’ insights or ask questions, all while engaging with the material online; or imagine very introvert students running the risk to be penalised for their alleged lack of participation in the class discussion—this tool can help. Hypothes.is takes away the stress with the advantage of letting students engaging with contents in a way similar to what they do on social media. This means that reading is no longer a solitary activity but a social one, where students can contribute to a shared, deeper and collaborative, understanding of the material.
A class environment that leverages social annotations tools has the potential to foster peer mentorship and promote student-centred learning. In such a space, students can not only keep track of their ideas and see how they develop over time, but also—and most importalty—they can share them with their peers to gain fresh perspectives and insights. This collaborative learning model encourages active participation and deeper engagement with the material, as students learn not only from the text but also from each other’s contributions.
For those who want to test Hypothesis for their class discussions, they will find here a simplified version—compared to the more detailed guides available online—which covers the basics to help dive right in and start using alongside with Moodle.
Tutorial: How to Create a Hypothesis Account, Install the Chrome Extension, and Join the Class Group
Step 1: Important Note: Use a Chromium-Based Browser
Before you begin, make sure you are using a supported browser for using Hypothesis. These are Chromium-based browsers that include Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Other browsers, such as Firefox or Safari, do not support the extension directly, which will make it very difficult to install the Hypothesis extension.
Step 2: Create a Hypothesis Account
1. Sign Up:
Open your browser and go to Hypothes.is.
Click the Sign-up button in the top-right corner of the homepage.
Fill out the registration form with your email address, username, and password.
Agree to the terms of service by checking the appropriate box and complete the registration process.
Hypothesis will send a verification email to your inbox.
Open the email and click the link to verify your email address.
Step 3: Install the Hypothesis Chrome Extension
1. Visit the Installation Guide:
Go to this Hypothesis help page to see instructions and get the link to the Chrome Web Store.
2. Go to the Chrome Web Store:
You can also directly access the extension page on the Chrome Web Store through this link: Hypothesis Web & PDF Annotation.
3. Add the Extension:
On the Chrome Web Store page, click the Add to Chrome button.
A confirmation pop-up will appear. Click Add extension to proceed.
Once installed, you will see the Hypothesis icon in your browser toolbar. If you do not see it, click the puzzle icon (extensions menu) and pin the Hypothesis extension for easy access.
Step 4: Create and Share the Class Group
1. Join and access the class group:
To collaborate and view shared annotations in your class, you need to create the class group.
This can be done by going to your profile and clicking on the "Groups" botton on the top right corner of the page to then "Create a new group" from the dropdown window.
After you have provided a brief description with the title of the group you are ready to share it.
After having clicked on the class group, go on the bottom of the page where you will find a link to be copied and pasted.
Share it with your class and then ask them to follow the following steps.
2. Join the group:
After clicking the link, sign in to your Hypothesis account (if you are not already).
Click the "Join Group button" on the page to become a member of the group.
Once they have joined, you can view, add, and respond to annotations that are shared with this group.
Step 5: Start annotating
1. Find your texts
Log in to your Moodle account and navigate to the course page.
Find the PDF of the assigned readings for discussion. (Instead of downloading the PDFs, please, open them directly in your browser.)
2. Activate Hypothesis:
Once the PDF is open in your browser, click the Hypothesis icon in the toolbar. This will open the Hypothesis sidebar on the right-hand side of the page.
Highlight any text in the PDF you want to comment on.
Click Annotate to add your notes or thoughts on the selected text.
You can also choose to Highlight text without leaving a comment.
Ensure that your annotations are shared with the group members. In the sidebar, make sure you are annotating under the course group, otherwise none will be able to see them.
For more detailed instructions on group annotations, refer to this guide.
Give Hypothesis a try and enjoy the new way of interacting with your texts!
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