What is Hypothes.is?

Hypothes.is enables instructors and students to digitally “write in the margins” of course readings and other internet resources. It allows for individual “annotation assignments” or group collaborations.

Note: In order to annotate with Hypothes.is, the pdf file needs to be OCR optimized (Optical Character Recognition). For example, you can't select a piece of text that is not seen as text. For a scanned file to be transformed into "text" and not just an image, additional software such as Adobe Acrobat Professional is required (not just the reader).

If you are interested in integrating Hypothes.is in your course or sandbox, please go to the Hypothes.is app installer and follow the prompts. You may be asked to login and/or "authorize" access for the tool to install.

Webinar: Collaborative Web Annotation with Hypothesis in Canvas

Here are some resources to get started with Hypothes.is:

Tip: You can click 'R' to rotate the file image before annotating.

Hypothes.is Tutorials and How-Tos

Using the Hypothesis LMS App with Assignments in Canvas

Using Hypothesis with Canvas Course Copy

Currently, Hypothesis isn’t compatible with Canvas’ Course Import tool (though they do plan to add support for this in the future). Instructors who use Course Import need to re-link the document to each Hypothesis-enabled Assignment in the new course site. We have included instructions below.

When you import content from another Canvas course that includes Hypothesis-enabled readings, this may result in students getting stuck in a loop where they are repeatedly asked to “authorize” the Hypothesis app.

If you are teaching with Hypothesis and have imported content from another Canvas course, please follow the steps below.

For Assignments:

Open the Assignment and click “Edit Assignment Settings”
Under “Submission Type” - “External Tool”, click the “Find” button
Click “Hypothesis”
Select the option that will get you to where the document is stored: URL, Google Drive, or PDF
Choose the document and then click the “Select” button in the “Configure External Tool” window
Save the Assignment

Note: This will need to be done for each Hypothesis-enabled Assignment that has been imported.

For Module Items:
Module Items will need to be deleted and re-created. Please see the help article for instructions on creating Hypothesis-enabled Module Items.

These instructions are also available on the Hypothes.is help site. If you have any questions, please create a help ticket with Hypothesis.