Close Reading with Social Annotation
Kevin Holmes, Psychology
To encourage students to engage closely with scientific articles, I have them use the online social annotation tool Hypothesis to post questions and comments on readings before class. Students' annotations form a conversation in the margins of digital articles. Writing thoughtful annotations forces students to grapple with specific points in the readings and enhances the quality of subsequent conferences by highlighting points of interest, disagreement, or confusion.
I often reply to students' annotations to reinforce their ideas or clarify misconceptions, and I invite more reserved students to share their annotations during class as a low-stakes way to participate. In my hybrid and online courses last year, annotation compensated for the limitations of Zoom by providing a different format for students to discuss the material and interact with each other.
As we move back to an in-person learning environment, I have continued to use online annotation to stimulate and supplement conference discussions and to foster a learning community that extends beyond the classroom.