Annotation tools available for FAS courses

Academic Technology for FAS currently supports two annotation-related toolsets that can be added to Canvas course sites. Click below to learn more about each, and contact atg@fas.harvard.edu with any questions.

 

AnnotationsX logo Perusall logo

 

AnnotationsX logo

AnnotationsX is an educational tool that allows faculty to set up text, image, and video objects within their Canvas (or Edx) course site, so that students can engage with the materials by submitting annotations.

Text Annotation: Instructors can set up a text object, such as a short story or poem, that will be available to the class. The instructor and students can then view and annotate the text from within the Canvas site, see each other’s annotations, and add comments to existing annotations submitted by the instructor or fellow students. Annotations can also be tagged, for easy sorting and organization of annotations. This is useful to engage students in careful readings of short texts.

Image Annotation: Instructors can set up an image object to be available to the class. The instructor and students can then view and annotate the image from within the Canvas site, see each other’s annotations, and add comments to existing annotations submitted by the instructor or fellow students. Annotations can also be tagged, for easy sorting and organization of annotations. This is useful for close examination and discussions of images.

Video Annotation: Instructors can also set up video objects to be annotated. Instructors may specify YouTube videos. Students will be able to annotate segments of a video, indicating relevant starting and stopping points. When the video is played, annotations automatically appear at the corresponding times in the video.

Once installed, AnnotationsX is accessed from the left navigation bar of your canvas site. To request access to AnnotationsX, please email atg@fas.harvard.edu.

 

 

snapshot of the video annotation tool in AnnotationsX

 

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Perusall logo

Perusall is a social annotation tool that integrates with Canvas via LTI assignments to allow students and instructors to collaboratively markup PDF documents. If you'd like your students to annotate their PDF and digital textbook readings, Perusall may be for you.  

To add Perusall to your Canvas site, please email atg@fas.harvard.edu (note: support for this tool is provided by Perusall, not by Academic Technology for FAS).

Perusall offers ongoing intro seminars. Click to sign up for

Perusall 101 - Designed for instructors who are new to Perusall, this webinar covers how to create your course, make assignments, create groups and preview Perusall’s peer-to-peer engagement features.

or

Perusall 102 - Designed for instructors who have used Perusall before, this webinar will cover more advanced features, such as peer review assignments, scoring options, LTI 1.3 LMS integration, and more. 

 

 

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