I just attended a Hypothesis 101 workshop and...well, my mind is blown. Hypothesis is an open-source software tool and the company's mission is to: enable a conversation over the world's knowledge.
Since last summer I have been thinking about how to best incorporate primary source labs into the regular flow of my classes. The labs in the Fall went relatively well. Students enjoyed the breakout groups and having time to talk with peers in small, intimate groups (even if the space was virtual).
But, a gap in the process always felt like the difficulty I had determining **what** students focused on in their readings and **how** they used their own understandings to approach the time periods we studied. Not surprisingly, the students who grounded themselves in supplementary course materials did best. But, it was sometimes harder to see them in a virtual lab.
The thing I like most is the platform Hypothesis' ability to pull back the curtain.
Hypothesis can show me the annotations of my students and it also allows them to interact with each other. This type of reading engagement creates space for a progressive flow of ideas. Even better??? My school already is a member of the pilot program.
See additional notes below:
What are the benefits of using Hypothesis in the classroom? click here
Using Hypothesis on Blackboard
Additional resources for Hypothesis and Blackboard
How to use tagging in Hypothesis
If you want to see how this application works, follow my notes in the Spring 2021 US HIST 201 (US History since 1865) class link.