A Blended Classroom Activity: Social Annotation

By Zainab Cheema 

What is social annotation, and how can you use it to further blended learning in your 21^st century classroom? Social annotation is an activity that helps students learn by fostering real-time learner centered collaboration and ownership over the content. There are many strategies and tools for social annotation, but in this post, I introduce you to one way of doing this learning activity using UDL and blended learning approaches.

Social Annotation and UDL 

As Universal Design for Learning gains traction, more educators are reconfiguring their classrooms to provide students with choice, variability and accessibility. Blended learning often means integrating learning modes of the live classroom with online learning lessons and resources to maximize student interest and engagement. In UDL and Blended Learning: Thriving in Flexible Learning, Caitlin Tucker and Katie Novak observe that the UDL framework “embraces learner variability and provides a lens of creating instructional goals, methods, materials and assessments that work for everyone—not a single, one-size all fits solution. The ‘universal’ concept means we can design a lesson with enough flexibility to work for all learners that remains focused on the same firm goals.” Blending online and F2F pedagogies allows for teachers to shift to the role of facilitator, designing engaging lessons in which students actively direct their learning.

Lesson Plan for Social Annotation

Social annotating teaches students critical reading, critical thinking, and collaboration in one activity. My method uses UDL and blended learning techniques in scaffolding the lesson plan. I teach college students world literature, and one of the most challenging (and exciting) aspects of my lessons is communicating different cultural worldviews to students that may not be that familiar with those regions of the world. In my lesson plan on Sindbad the Sailor story cycle from The Arabian Nights, I begin by assigning students various videos on the historical and cultural context of The Arabian Nights on Edpuzzle, using in-built quiz style questions to test student comprehension of the content as they stream the videos. When students meet in class, I do a Kahoot quiz that that tests their retention of the video sources. (Note—I don’t count the Kahoot as a grade but rather ask students to check their knowledge, asking them to review the areas that they missed).

The Sindbad saga encompasses several stories, and over the next few class days, we sit in a circle and read key passages together. The Reading circle increases student engagement and opens a safe space for conversation and questions. As we read, I ask students guiding questions on the passages. Students’ responses and observations usually provoke lively discussion. As we discuss the passages, I link the content with the themes and context of The Arabian Nights that had been covered by the video materials and in-class powerpoints. The Reading circle is where the asynchronous learning blends with the energy, improvisation and dialogue of the live class. Learning to apply the context to the text that they are interpreting, students master the material and become more confident in their observations.

Now, I am ready to let the students collaboratively take the drivers’ seat. Now, we are ready for social annotation. This is how it works. I assign students the last two voyages of the intrepid sailor. I use Google Docs to post the text of these two voyages online and to share it with the students. When students come in to class, I explain how and what to annotate. Firstly, I briefly mention the purpose of the assignment—to give them to creative ownership over the text and its interpretation and to teach them how knowledge is created through collaboration.  Next, I distribute a handout that lays out some basic guides and approaches to annotation:

• Underline the major points. Summarize these points in your own words.
• Circle the key words or any words that are confusing or unknown to you.
• Use a question mark for questions that you have during reading. Write down your question on the margin
• Use an exclamation mark (!) for anything that may surprise you and write a brief note about what caught your attention.
• Draw a line or arrow when you make a connection to something inside the text, or to an idea or context outside the text. In the margin, describe the connections in your own words.

Next, I divide students into groups and assign each group a different section of the saga. Using data from the Edpuzzle and Kahoot quiz, I select group members based on varied levels of mastery. I ask groups to discuss their story section first amongst themselves. Using whatever smart device they have, they begin jotting down their comments, questions, and markings on the text. We conclude with each group presenting their annotations to the class. I’ll usually ask other groups about their reactions to the annotations to extend discussion and to allow students to develop their own interpretations of the passages that they did not annotate. A possible follow up activity is usually to assign students a discussion post where they reflect on how the activity changed their impression of the main character and his journeys. 

What are the Benefits of the Lesson Plan?

Recognizing that students do not learn the same way, the lesson plan blends together asynchronous and synchronous methods of approaching the source material. Social annotation helps students interact, learn from one another and get on the same page. The activity covers the fundamentals of collaborative learning: it fosters positive interdependence, teaches cooperative and social skills, ensures individual accountability and helps groups process, condense and synthesize information. Students develop critical thinking skills and learn to trust their own evaluations of the text in the safe space of group work. The activity can lay the foundational of more creative or interpretative lesson plans to follow.

What are some EdTech Variations?

 I find that the workflow and accessibility of Google Docs makes it an optimal social annotation platform. However, there are other online annotation tools that can be used for this particular activity. Here are some of the other options:

• Hypothesis is built on an open-source platform and has a strong, stated position on student privacy. It’s prioritizing easy user experience, clean interface, and ease of use makes it a strong choice. It works well in smaller courses.
• Perusall offers auto-grading based on number of annotations and replies. It allows 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 works well for larger courses.

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