What is social annotation?

Social annotation is reading and thinking together. It brings the age-old process of marking up texts to the digital learning space while making it a collaborative exercise. Imagine a group of students opening a PDF or webpage, then highlighting, commenting on, and sharing ideas about the text, video, or images they see, all within the margins of the text. 

Why use social annotation?

When we read and think together, a text can become a richer learning object. We can learn how others make sense of a reading or how they deconstruct the text. Annotation can help a class understand the mechanisms behind building an argument or offer them the space to flag portions of the text that are unclear. Annotating online can embed a class discussion within the text itself.

Studies have shown that social annotation can assist students with:

• processing domain-specific knowledge
• supporting argumentation and inquiry
• improving literacy skills
• connecting online learning spaces.

“Annotation provides information, shares commentary, sparks conversation, expresses power, and aids learning.” Remi Kalir and Antero Garcia, 2019.

Considerations for using social annotation

Cornell currently supports Perusall as it's social annotation tool. It allows for sentence-level note taking or critique on classroom readings, news, blogs, scientific articles, books, terms of service, ballot initiatives, legislation and more. Additionally, it can be accessed directly in Canvas. 

See our social annotation tips for more information and tips on using social annotation in your class.

Perusall

Perusall is best used in larger courses. It offers auto-grading based on number of annotations and replies, and can provide access to a number of publisher texts found in a searchable database. Some will require a student-paid licensing fee. Perusall requires a separate login for students. It also supports Groups in Canvas, and this is why we recommend it for large courses.

Hypothesis

Starting in Summer 2025, the university will be transitioning to a license with Perusall, and will no longer be providing access to Hypothesis for social annotation.