Just in time for back-to-school: New distance learning resources are available on Wide Open School.
Grades
6–12 This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
Subjects & Skills
Communication & Collaboration, Critical Thinking
Great for
Check out the Education page on the Hypothes.is site, which has resources for teachers and students. To get started, teachers should sign up for a free account and review the suggested lesson ideas. The tool can be used across all subject areas to develop close reading and analytical skills. In English, teachers can pre-highlight a text to emphasize specific content for future discussion, ask a question, or point out a difficult vocabulary word. In a social studies course, teachers can share current events articles and have students share their opinions online. In a Visual Arts class, students can add multimedia to a discussion. The opportunities for learning are endless. Teachers may want to create groups for their classes by sending out an invitation with a secure link. The groups allow teachers to more closely monitor student activity.
Continue readingHypothes.is is a free Chrome extension that lets users add annotations to websites and have discussions on websites. While it's not specifically targeted at school use, the developers have encouraged educators and students to adopt the tool. Users can register for a free account and begin using the site immediately. Enabling the extension adds a layer to any content on the web wherein users can highlight, take notes, ask questions, and integrate videos and images. The annotations are available to the public, although groups can be created for more privacy and security. There is a page for educators full of resources for how to get started using Hypothes.is with students. The resources include guides for teachers and students, sample classroom projects and testimonials, and a YouTube channel with tutorials. A search feature can be used to find already-annotated web content.
Hypothes.is makes it easy for teachers to guide students through the active process of engaging with what they find on the web. Annotating pages will help students develop their digital literacy skills and to cultivate their own voices as they engage critically with what they consume. Hypothes.is can also be used as a note-taking and research tool, allowing for more collaborative and dynamic study strategy, or as a critical-reading tool with which teachers assign websites and readings to students and have them answer questions or highlight and describe concepts. Note that there's no assessment built into the tool, however, so teachers will need to develop rubrics and/or systems for assessing students that are transparent and consistent.
Overall Rating
Community Rating
Write a review
Classroom teacher
Northern Highlands Regional High School
Allendale, United States
Allendale, United States
Teach your students to annotate the web with Hypothes.is
What Works - When the extension functioned properly, students could highlight and take notes on websites, see each other's comments (with a hashtag), and reply to each other.
What Needs Improvement - There are several glitches. The extension was not reliably functional. Also, when multiple users annotate a site, the other people's annotations are distracting. There's an "eye" button to turn them on/off, but sometimes they turned on automatically. Most importantly, there should be an easier way to ex ...
Read full review Explore Our Favorite Tools
-
Apps and Sites for Storytelling
Help students find their voices with these vibrant apps.Grades Pre-K–12English Language ArtsCommunication & Collaboration -
Best News Websites for Students
Great tools for digesting and analyzing current events.Grades K–12Social StudiesCritical Thinking -
Most Reliable and Credible Sources for Students
News and research resources to fuel student inquiry.Grades K–12English Language Arts, Social Studies