Hypothesis for Higher Education

Hypothesis empowers students and educators to highlight and comment on digital course materials, helping to develop reading comprehension and critical thinking skills, increase student engagement, and create community in online, hybrid, and in-person courses.

Social annotation works right on top of existing course content to:

Develop foundational and advanced skills in reading, writing and critical thinking
Build connections that support community within the class and across campus
Encourage peer-to-peer learning and strengthen digital collaboration skills
Provide instructors with early and ongoing insight into student engagement, comprehension and skill development

Resources

Explore our collection of conversations with teachers, example assignments and grading rubrics to get ideas about how to add social annotation to your courses.

Videos

A video discussion about the power of social annotation to build community and critical thinking in a range of subjects. Jeremy Dean sits down with Silvia Muller, Educational Researcher and Instructor at Rutgers; Christie DeCarolis, Instructional Designer and an adjunct professor at Rutgers-Camden; and Rachel Derr, Director of Pre-licensure Programs and Clinical Assistant Professor at Rutgers University Camden School of Nursing.
A video discussion about from Mary Isbell of the University of New Haven and John Stewart of the University of Oklahoma, both of whom have long used social annotation to make reading active, visible, and social with their students, and see it as essential for knowledge sharing, community building, and student success.
A video discussion with guests Carmen Johnston from Chabot College and Denise Maduli-Williams from San Diego Miramar College to learn how they are using social annotation to engage students from “all walks of classrooms.”

Assignments

Annotation Starter Assignments: A series of general starter assignments for different points in the semester.
Ongoing Assignment: This assignment imagines Hypothesis as a go-to reading and collaborating tool for an entire course.
Social Annotation Assignment from Katherine D. Harris, Department of English and Comparative Literature at San Jose State University.

Rubrics

Annotations Rubric: a descriptive, three-level rubric from Katherine D. Harris at San Jose State University.
Social Annotation Marking Rubric and Checklist: a descriptive, four-level rubric from Vanier College
Collaborative Annotations Rubric: a descriptive, five-level rubric from M. Emilia Barbosa and Rachel Schneider at Missouri University of Science and Technology

What teachers are saying

“Our use of Hypothesis has helped (and forced, some of them have told me, happily) students to read more carefully and more deeply. They are helping each other make sense of the readings before they even get to class, which means that the small amount of time for discussion is better spent on real analysis work, evaluating arguments, comparing texts. When we get to class they already have an idea of how others are thinking and what others’ questions are, and discussion ends up being an extension of those ongoing conversations.”

Jasmine Ma, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

“My students often struggle with reading and studying for college. Annotation with Hypothesis makes a tremendous difference because I can see that students have done the reading, and are engaging with the text and one another.”

Hollie Benson, Muskegon Community College

“Hypothesis is a great way to celebrate the diversity of thought in a community college classroom. Social annotation can help expose the strengths of learners who havenʼt been told their interpretation of any text is valid, important, and central to helping others add meaning to their own sensemaking.”

Quill West, Pierce College