The Hypothesis Student License Integration lets you claim licenses for Hypothesis through your institution’s VitalSource Bookshelf account. If you are a student whose instructor has directed you to claim a Hypothesis license in Bookshelf, please see the directions below. If you are looking for the instructor version of this guide, click here
Please note that you must have a license for the Hypothesis tool in each course where the instructor is using Hypothesis-enabled readings. Claiming a license in one course will not grant access to Hypothesis to any other courses.
Claiming your Hypothesis license
To claim your license you’ll need to access your course materials in your Bookshelf. In many cases you’ll do this through the Course Materials app in your LMS, but in some schools your app may have a different name, or you may be accessing the Bookshelf on the VitalSource website instead of an app in your LMS.
Once you’ve found the place where you’d normally redeem book licenses and other licenses, look for the Hypothesis app.
Click “Launch Courseware” and you should see a message letting you know your license is redeemed.
Once you’ve seen this message, go back into your LMS to where your instructor has created the Hypothesis-enabled reading and launch it. The Hypothesis reading should open and you’re ready to start annotating!
Purchasing a Hypothesis license
In some cases you may have opted out of your school’s Inclusive Access or Equitable Access program, or your school may be set up to allow students to purchase their own copies of Hypothesis. When this happens instead of the “Launch Courseware” button you will instead see an option to “Buy Now” in the VitalSource Course Materials app. If you see a “Redeem Code” button do not choose that option; currently the Hypothesis LMS app does not use codes.
To get access to the Hypothesis LMS app, click the “Buy Now” button, and then after you’ve purchased your copy of Hypothesis see our instructions above on claiming your Hypothesis license.
Claiming a license after your school’s Add/Drop period is over
For some schools, you may need to go through this workflow a second time after your school’s Add/Drop period is over. Doing the above steps again at any time will not claim a new license and you will not be charged a second time.
Get started with social annotation
Need help getting started with the Hypothesis LMS app? Please see our articles below.