Hypothesis Activity Ideas and Use Cases

This article provides examples of how Hypothesis can be used in online learning. Hypothesis is not supported by the Boise State Help Desk, refer to the provider for technical details.

Overview

Hypothesis is a great way for you and your students to bring web pages, PDFs, or ebooks alive with:

highlights
mark up
notes or comments
discussion
links to webpages, videos, etc.

This keeps discussions and your instructor guidance grounded in the material and helps students refer directly to the text instead of talking generally about it.

What it looks like

An article on the left show multiple areas with highlighted text. A section of the page has a pop-up menu with options to either annotate or highlight. On the right, a sidebar shows user comments connected to to the highlighted text.

Figure 1: Screenshot from browser-based hypothesis integration (non-Boise-State course)

Perfect Fits

Here are some situations where Hypothesis could be a perfect fit:

Having discussions within the text to get students used to providing citations and/or text-based evidence to their statements
- E.g. “As you can see in this passage, Malvolio believes that. . .”
- E.g. “Choose a quote you think is important. If you wanted to include it in your paper, how would you introduce it and cite it?”
Leaving instructor comments and guidance in context to the readings
- E.g. “Look at how the author uses a water metaphor here.”
- E.g. “When reading this section, consider how the Doppler effect helps explain what is happening.”
Having layered discussions about a text where some comments are viewed by team members, others by the class, and still others by the global public
Highlighting instances where the current text was influenced by a previously studied text
- E.g. “Highlight all the allusions to Shakespeare on this page.”
- E.g. “Highlight the parts of this text that remind you of what Friedman wrote about.”
Highlighting allusions to another text
Providing definitions in the text at the point of need
Directing students to connect a certain passage to:
- Another part of the same text
- Ideas from a previously-studied text
- Historical context
- Their own experience
Identifying instances of concepts/principles/strategies (e.g. ethos, pathos, & logos)
- E.g. “Highlight a place in this speech where the author uses either ethos, pathos, or logos.”
  - A follow-up could be, “Do you think this is an effective use of the technique?”
Sharing thoughts on materials curated for a research project

References:

Back to School with Annotation: 10 Ways to Annotate with Students

How to integrate Hypothesis into Canvas

The Hypothesis is not supported at Boise State. If you are going to use Hypothesis, you can do so for free by linking students directly to https://web.hypothes.is/ where they will create their own login.

Successful use cases (w/ examples)

THEA 230: Development of Theater 1:

(Created by Teresa Focarile with assistance from Monica Brown and Ben Croft)

Teresa knew there were two things she wanted to change about her course: ease the financial burden on the students and getting her students to cite evidence from the readings.

Explanation and directions for a specific hypothes.is activity (link to a Google Doc)

Other enhancements

Example analytics and engagement report via CROWDLAAERS
- If you are interested in setting up something like this, request a consultation with eCampus Center’s data scientist.