This article provides a brief overview for getting started with the Hypothesis integration in Canvas to enable annotation activities. Collaborative annotation assignments engage students in course readings and provides instructors with a view into how students are reading.
Hypothesis is integrated in Canvas as an external tool so it is available in all course sites. To use Hypothesis in Canvas, you can either:
Hypothesis guides:
Any PDF readings that you assign to students to be read using Hypothesis must be in a machine-readable format. If you open your PDF and you can select a line of text and copy and paste it elsewhere, your PDF is good to go. If not, use the web based converter (linked below) or other PDF editing tools including the Adobe Acrobat DC software (free to Middlebury instructors and students).
Adobe guides:
Hypothesis doesn’t use the file name to differentiate PDFs. Instead, a unique digital ‘fingerprint’ in the document meta data is used to ensure that annotations are correctly associated with a file. In some cases, instructors may have a large PDF that they want to chunk into shorter reading tasks. Hypothesis advises instructors to use Adobe Acrobat to ‘split’ a larger file into shorter PDFs with their own unique fingerprint. Not doing so, could result in annotations on one file appearing on another that has the same parent fingerprint.
Sources used in social annotation activities in Canvas can be websites or documents hosted in Canvas as well as in cloud storage like Google Drive. Depending on how these files are stored, an instructor may need to give some additional attention to Hypothesis assignments that have been imported from a course taught in a previous term. For guidance on how to ensure Hypothesis assignments function properly in an imported course see:
The following are helpful examples of ways social annotation can be used to support active learning, interaction, and meaningful assessment:
The Hypothesis integration can also be used to annotate video hosted on Youtube.
For technical support, submit a ticket with Hypothesis. For pedagogical support for Hypothesis in Canvas, schedule a consultation with a DLINQ team member.