Using the Hypothesis app within Assignments allows some additional functionality over creating Module Items. Instructors can assess student work in SpeedGrader, assign the reading/annotating to a particular Canvas Group and also set due dates or dates of availability for the Assignment.
1. Select “Assignments” from your course Navigation sidebar
2. On the Assignments page click the “+ Assignment” button
2. Scroll down to the Submission Type field
Note: some users may have to click a More Options button to see this field.
From the drop-down menu, choose External Tool and click Find
Then click Hypothesis from list of tools
3. Select the content source to use for your reading
You will have the option to enter a publicly-viewable URL, select a file from your Canvas file repository, select a PDF from Google Drive, or select a PDF from OneDrive.
Expand the sections below for instructions to use each option:
Click the button that says Enter URL of web page or PDF. On the Enter URL dialog, enter a link to a public web page or PDF. Please note that the content at the link must be publicly viewable (i.e., not behind a login or paywall).
Click the Submit button.
You must upload PDFs to your Canvas file repository before completing the steps below. The Canvas File Picker does not allow for uploading new documents.
Click the button that says Select PDF from Canvas. You will see a list of PDFs that have been uploaded to your Canvas file repository.
Note: The Canvas File picker does not show any folder structure in your course’s file repository; instead you are shown a combined list of all PDFs available in your course. It could be difficult, therefore, to tell the difference between PDFs if they share the same file name, even if they are saved to different folders. We recommend changing the filename of the document you plan on using with Hypothesis so it will be obvious which PDF to choose from the list.
Highlight the file you wish to use and click the Select button.
The Canvas Page you use in Hypothesis must be published and visible to students.
Click the button that says Canvas Page. You will see a list of Published pages from your course.
Select the file you wish to use and then click the “Select” button.
Click the button that says Select PDF from Google Drive. You will be asked to select a Google account and/or authorize the Hypothesis LMS App to access Google Drive. To use an institutional Google Drive account you need to already have the ability to share documents with users outside your organization.
Search or browse to select a PDF to use in your reading. You may also click the Upload tab to upload a new PDF to use.
Only files for which you have edit permission are able to be used by Hypothesis.
Click on the file you want to use and then click the Select button.
Note: This process will change the sharing permission of the selected Google Drive file to allow the PDF to be shown to anyone viewing the assignment. For more information please see our document about using Hypothesis with Google Drive.
Click the button that says Select PDF from OneDrive. You will be asked to select a Microsoft account and/or authorize the Hypothesis LMS App to access OneDrive. To use an institutional OneDrive account you need to already have the ability to share documents with users outside your organization.
Once logged on, browse to select a PDF to use in your reading. You may also select the Upload option to upload a new PDF to use.
Only files available in “My files” are able to be used by Hypothesis. You will be unable to use PDFs that belong in any Shared Libraries.
Click to select the file you want to use and then click the Open button.
Note: This process will change the sharing permission of the selected OneDrive file to allow the PDF to be shown to anyone viewing the assignment. For more information please see our document about using Hypothesis with OneDrive.
When selecting a text from JSTOR it must be one that your school has license to access, and you must use the JSTOR stable URL. Complete instructions here.
Find and copy the Stable URL of the article you will be assigning from JSTOR.org. The stable URL is listed as part of the content metadata section of the page, usually under the title, author, and journal information.
Select the JSTOR article option in the Hypothesis picker during the assignment creation process and paste the stable URL into the text field. Click the right arrow and then accept JSTOR’s terms of use.
When selecting a text from VitalSource it must be one that your and your students have access to independent of Hypothesis. Complete instructions here.
Open your VitalSource bookshelf, and then find and copy either the text’s VBID or the text’s URL.
Select the VitalSource article option in the Hypothesis picker during the assignment creation process and paste the VBID or URL into the text field. Click the right arrow and then the “Select Book” button.
In the next screen select the starting point of the assignment (for example, you may have a specific assignment start on the book’s 2nd chapter instead of starting at the beginning of the book for every assignment).
With the starting point selected, click the Select button.
You have the option to allow the creation of reading groups based on a pre-existing group set. To enable this, check the box to indicate This is a group assignment, then select the appropriate existing group set from the drop-down list.
If you do not want to designate the reading as a groups assignment, leave the Group assignment box unchecked.
Click the Continue button.
5. You will be returned to the Configure External Tool window
Notice that the URL text box is now populated.
Tip: We recommend checking the “Load In A New Tab” option. This will allow for a better reading experience for students, especially those who magnify the contents of their screen for accessibility purposes.
Click the Select button.
6. Edit the Assignment name, instructions, due dates, and any other settings you wish to change
Scroll down and click Save or Save & Publish
7. Preview your Hypothesis-enabled reading
The reading should now open with the Hypothesis sidebar loaded.
You and your students will now be able to select text and annotate.