Hypothesis Canvas Learning Tool Integration

Hypothesis Learning Tool at UMD

The Hypothesis social annotation tool is available to UMD instructors as a Canvas learning tool integration from July 1, 2023 - July 1, 2025.
During this time period, licensing will be covered by UMD ITSS.

Hypothesis Social Annotation

Hypothesis is a social annotation tool that enables sentence-level note taking or critique on top of classroom reading, news, blogs, scientific articles, books, terms of service, ballot initiatives, legislation and more. These annotation tools can lead to interactive discussions, searchable text, and social tagging of reading. This can lead to a richer experience with a scholarly work, industry publication, or literary work.

The Hypothesis Canvas learning tool integration provides additional functionality for educators and students beyond the publicly available Hypothesis web browser extensions. Using the Canvas integration, students can annotate web pages and articles (PDF) as graded or ungraded activities. Instructors can find additional benefits supported by the Canvas integration, such as:

Student accounts are automatically generated through Canvas enrollment versus having students sign up for their own accounts or instructors having to set up private groups for classes when using the browser extension.
The integration limits and manages interactions to Canvas courses and is FERPA compliant, per a signed agreement with the University of Minnesota.
For graded assignments, the integration connects the Hypothesis Assignments to the Speedgrader and Gradebook
There is a more seamless integration with the Canvas groups experience and an improved import process are now available.

How to add Hypothesis to your Canvas Course

Instructors who plan to use Hypothesis in their fall, spring, and summer courses will be able to select Hypothesis as an external tool from a Canvas assignment or module without requesting additional installation.

Instructors can refer to these Hypothesis installation guides for step-by-step instructions:

If you have additional questions about using Hypothesis, contact Karen Jeannette at [email protected].

Hypothesis Workshops

Hypothesis offers a number of public events and workshops throughout the year through their Hypothesis Partner workshops and Liquid Margins series.

Hypothesis Partner Workshops: Find on-going workshops offered throughout the year on topics such as using Hypothesis in Canvas, using multimedia & tags in annotations, using Hypothesis with Canvas small groups, and more.
Liquid Margins Webinar Series: Webinar series hosted by Hypothesis, where instructors and other professionals gather to talk about the latest applications of collaborative annotation, social learning, and more.

Fall 2023 Workshops

Hypothesis is offering a number of workshops in Fall 2023 on a wide variety of topics.

Activating Annotation in Canvas (Introductory Workshop)

The Hypothesis team will share how teachers are using annotation-powered reading to help students develop foundational academic skills like deep reading and persuasive writing. In addition to sharing pedagogical best practices for social annotation, we will demonstrate how Hypothesis is used with course readings in your LMS. Participants will gain a clear understanding of how to start incorporating social annotation into their courses to improve student outcomes. These sessions are great introductions to using Hypothesis and social annotation in your courses.

Annotate your syllabus (30 minutes)

Asking your class to annotate the syllabus allows you to introduce students to social annotation in a low-stakes way. Even better, you’re providing them with an opportunity to engage with the syllabus, to share ideas and to ask questions about the course in a way that sets the tone for engagement throughout the term. In this workshop, the Hypothesis team will review ideas and guidance for the collaborative syllabus annotation assignment.

Annotation starter assignments (30 minutes)

This workshop is ideal for instructors who are interested in using social annotation in their courses but aren’t exactly sure how to provide guidance to students. The Hypothesis team will review ideas for annotation starter assignments and provide you with ready-to-use instructions for a variety of disciplines and modalities. It doesn’t matter if you’re teaching humanities, business, STEM, or the health professions, or if you’re teaching face-to-face or online — you’ll get strategies from this workshop that you can add immediately to an assignment in your course.

Leveraging social annotation in the age of AI

The emergence of cutting-edge technologies, like ChatGPT, has sparked a critical conversation throughout the education industry. In this workshop, the Hypothesis team will show you how to leverage social annotation to encourage authentic, process-oriented engagement with your course materials. They’ll also share best practices for using social annotation with AI writing tools and demonstrate how to set up Hypothesis-enabled readings in your LMS. Participants can expect to leave the webinar armed with concrete assignments to implement in your courses right away.

Friday, September 7, 2023, 12 pm CT