Open educational resources (OER) are an important component to increasing equity and access for all students by decreasing the costs associated with higher education. One challenge, though, is how students can engage with electronic OER texts like they do with a physical texts. Perusall is one solution available at NIU within Blackboard. Another solution outside of Blackboard is Hypothes.is. Both tools provide ways for students to annotate texts on the web collaboratively, and they are both free to use and available outside of a learning management system. However, Hypothes.is is an open-source Chrome browser plug-in that allows students to interact with “live,” or evolving, web content. Perusall, on the other hand, creates a static version of the assigned reading content for students to annotate.
How does Hypothes.is work?
Hypothes.is is free and open for anyone to use. With Hypothes.is, you create an account and have students create their accounts and share their usernames with you so you can track of participation. Next, add the Chrome browser extension and create a group or groups. Finally, choose the texts you want students to annotate in that group. Students navigate to the assigned web content and add their annotations using the Chrome extension. Students need to make sure they are posting while in the group so you can view their annotations and they can see each other’s contributions (see image below). You can also create multiple groups to break up a large class and avoid too many annotations on a single text, thus making it easier for you to sift through students’ responses, questions, and collaboration.
How do I get started?
For more information, visit the Hypothes.is website. The website includes explanations (“demos”) for three publication types you can annotate and information on getting started. If you want more information about the Perusall LTI integration for Blackboard, please visit their Getting Started support page.
Annotating texts is a great way to engage students in active learning and collaboration while they read for your class. One way to help students engage with pen electronic texts is to use an annotation tool like Hypothes.is or Perusall.
