Hypothesis (Instructor)
Hypothesis (Instructor)
Video Overview
Important Upgrade Notes!
The Hypothesis integration has been upgraded and instructors will have the option to setup assignments with auto grading and view a reporting dashboard. Please view the videos below for details.
Hypothesis is a Canvas integration that for the instructor and students to annotate documents together. It can be used to annotate a PDF, web page or a Canvas page. Hypothesis can be setup in modules (as a non-graded activity) or assignments (as a graded activity). If you want to grade student annotations, be sure to setup as assignment so grades will pass back to the gradebook.
- Getting started with Hypothesis in Canvas Links to an external site.
- How Social Annotation Outshines Traditional Discussion Boards in Learning Management Systems Links to an external site.
- Introduction to Hypothesis
- Annotating Canvas Pages
- Reusing Annotations
- Automatic Grading
- Reporting Dashboard
Starting with Spring 2025, instructors can setup automatic grading. See written guide Links to an external site. for details. Note! For previously created Hypothesis assignments, see this guide Links to an external site. for editing previously created assignments.
Starting with Spring 2025, instructors can review the student progress dashboard. See written guide Links to an external site.. All Hypothesis assignments will display the dashboard regardless if the assignment was created before the upgrade.
Hypothesis Guides and Resources
Review the guides below. Click an item to view or use the expand all option to see all items in the list.
Setup as Non-Graded Activity in Modules
To set up Hypothesis as a non-graded activity, go to the Module page.
- If you don't already have a module in the course, click +Module to create a new module. Make sure the module is published.
- In the module header, click the + icon and select the External Tool option.
- Select Hypothesis from the list of tools.
- From the Hypothesis screen, choose what you will be annotating. This will create a link in the module.
Review the following guide for step-by-step instructions.
Setup as a Graded Activity in Assignments
Go to the assignment page to set up the Hypothesis activity as a graded assignment.
- In the assignment settings under submission types, select the External tool option.
- Click Find and select Hypothesis from the list of tools.
- From the Hypothesis screen, choose what you will be annotating.
The Hypothesis website has several starter assignment directions you can copy and paste into the assignment description. The annotations can be graded in SpeedGrader. Review the following guides for step-by-step instructions on assignment setup.
- Using the Hypothesis LMS App With Assignments in Canvas Links to an external site. - Note: This guide does not include details on auto-grading. See the link below.
- Auto Grading in the Hypothesis LMS App Links to an external site.
- How to Edit Hypothesis-Enabled Readings in Canvas Links to an external site. - Note: For previously created Hypothesis assignments, you can edit the assignment to include auto-grading or group settings
- Student Roster Displays in the LMS Reporting Dashboards Links to an external site.
- Annotation Starter Assignments Links to an external site.
- Grading Student Annotations in Canvas Links to an external site.
Tips and Guides on Using Hypothesis
Ideas for Social Annotation Assignments
Review the following guide on how to use Hypothesis to create and respond to annotations.
Understanding the differences between a highlight (private) and an annotation (public to all enrollments) is important.
You can add links and images to your annotations. See the following guide for instructions.
You can embed videos your annotations.
You can setup group annotations using Canvas groups. See the following guide for instructions.
Important Notes
Account Notes
With the Canvas integration, when user interact with Hypothesis activity, all user accounts are automatically generated using the default email address in each person's Canvas account (typically your Lake Land College email address).
Please note you can create an account on Hypothesis websiteLinks to an external site. for creating public annotations; however, this account will NOT be connected to the account automatically generated from the Canvas integration.
File Notes
When you create Hypothesis activity, you can select web page URL or publicly available PDF. Please note the following:
- Web page - Some websites may not work with Hypothesis so be sure to test the assignment before publishing the assignment. If you find that Hypothesis doesn't work with the website where the article located, you can save the article as a PDF to download and then upload to Canvas files.
- Canvas Files - You can also upload a PDF to Canvas Files and when you are creating Hypothesis activity, you can select the PDF from Canvas files. Please note for PDF files to be annotatable by Hypothesis, the PDF file must have optically recognizable textLinks to an external site.. If you can select text in the doc, then it does.
- OCRing a PDF Links to an external site. - With Adobe Professional Acrobat
- OCR with UDOIT Cloud - You can convert PDF that do not have selectable text to a Canvas page.
- Canvas Pages - Starting Spring 2024, you can use published Canvas pages for social annotation. Please note content for annotation must be added directly to the page. Embedded content cannot be used with the social annotations options.
Course Notes
When you create an Hypothesis assignment or module activity in Canvas, a private Hypothesis group is automatically created for you and your students for the purpose of creating web annotations that can only be seen by members of the group.
When you do a course copy, there may be some extra steps you will need to do setup existing Hypothesis assignments. This will vary depending on how the Hypothesis assignment was setup in the previous course. See the following guides for details.
- Using Hypothesis with Canvas Course Import or Blueprint Courses Links to an external site.
- Fixing a Broken Canvas File Link Links to an external site.
If you setup your own annotations to begin an assignment, you can export them and import via Hypothesis so you don't have to recreate them each semester.