Hypothesis

This option is the simplest way to begin with Hypothesis, and fits a wide range of learning activities and intents. Learn how to add Hypothesis annotation to web articles, online readings or .pdfs in your eConestoga courses. You can also consult the step-by-step tutorial referenced in the video. To add Hypothesis in your course:

1. Navigate to the module or section you’d like to add it to.
2. Choose Existing Activities.
3. Choose External Learning Tools.
4. Then, continue with the steps below.

This option is best for online videos using YouTube, but there is similar functionality built into Panopto, if your video is stored there.

The process to create a Hypothesis-enabled video is very similar to creating an annotatable reading. In this case, students annotate the transcript as they watch.

This option might be the best fit if your program is looking to use Hypothesis across several courses, or if it involves PBL or research where the readings aren’t pre-defined.

In this scenario, you and your students will install the free browser extension for Hypothesis, create accounts, join a shared group. This would allow greater flexibility in the kinds of resources the learners can annotate, allowing them to more freely research (and critique/discuss).

Although at first Hypothesis might seem to best fit with asynchronous or fully online teaching modes, it’s flexible enough to be used and reused in any mode of learning. The table below offers ideas for any mode.

Conestoga’s Student Success team’s learning advisors recommend the SQ3R method of studying, and many of the strategies translate easily to teaching and learning activities.

• Survey: The format of the writing piece may be something that is newer for students. Point out elements of the reading that can help guide them, including headings, graphics, call-out boxes, or key terms. How are these used by people in industry or researchers? How might they help students?
• Question: Create learning activities where students pre-think about what they may already know about the topic (whether it’s correct or not). This could look like a brain dump or KWL chart. Refer to this throughout their learning in the unit or topic, pointing out correct observations and emerging changes to misperceptions.
• Read: Construct learning activities that invite students to re-read purposeful selections of a particular article. Consider using Active Reading Strategies to design these tasks.
• Recite: This doesn’t refer to repetitive read-alouds, but to having students summarize or restate their learning in their own words. Create learning tasks that require students to conduct active and ongoing summaries of articles, videos or chapters. These can be added as page notes using Hypothesis, or via other methods.
• Review: Create engaging ways to review content. Create activities that encourage students to return to their Hypothesis-enabled readings or videos and consult the discussions posted there. Invite them to create review questions for each other, and incorporate these into a game or follow up activity.

To introduce a tool like Hypothesis in your teaching, consider pre-populating a reading with some guiding questions. You can also guide students through the reading with your annotations, offering context and possible interpretations of the text or even helpful hints throughout.

Use the Before, During, and After strategy to constructing activities to support reading or watching habits. Before having students read or watch a Hypothesis-enabled reading or video, create groups and ask them to create three questions about the topic, or three things they think they already know. Then, watch the video or offer enough time for students to read the article (or a selection from it based on their questions.) After, have the original groups sort through the questions or statements and see which they can answer or revise. Invite students to do this in small groups, if suitable. Consider using postings on the Hypothesis reading or video as exit tickets at the end of class, and bring back up in the next class.

Have students look up difficult words or unknown allusions in a text and share their research as annotations. You can also have them add multimedia to their annotations to extend their understanding of complex concepts.

You can also use Hypothes.is to support the research stage of a problem-based learning cycle or approach. Create groups, or encourage learners to create groups, and share these within your course.

Where a discussion centers around a course reading, use Hypothesis instead of a conventional discussion forum. Encourage students to participate by engaging with their discussions, and