Using the Hypothesis LTI

Hypothesis is a social annotation tool that offers a Learning Tool Interoperability (LTI) connection within your Blackboard course. After creating a Hypothesis LTI, students working alone or in groups can annotate PDF files using their web browser. Others in class can see those annotations and reply to them while reading the PDF. 

Before Adding a Hypothesis LTI Item

Before getting started with Hypothesis, here are a few things to consider. 

1. Your files must be in Portable Document Format (PDFs)
2. You may need to move the PDF files into a different folder or cloud storage location before you begin. We recommend using either Google Drive or OneDrive with your Drake.edu account. Note: To use a PDF file stored in your Blackboard course, the file must be uploaded to the course's Content Collection, not just the course content page. 
3. If you intend to have small group reading assignments, you need to set up the Blackboard Groups beforehand. Read the Blackboard Help guide to Groups if needed. 

Adding a Hypothesis LTI Item

Complete the following steps to add a Hypothesis LTI item to the course content. This LTI item functions like a hyperlink. When students click the LTI item, their web browser will open a new tab with the PDF file in the Hypothesis reading application. 

1. Choose where you want to add the LTI item. Hover your mouse and click the Add Content (+ sign). 
2. Select Content Market. 
3. Scroll down to Hypothesis and click the (+) sign to create the LTI link. 

Once you have added a generic link, you can edit the item. 

1. Click the three-dot menu of the item and select Edit. 
2. Change the title from the generic Hypothesis text to delineate the reading you are linking to. 
3. Choose whether you want to add a Gradebook entry for the reading. 

Now, associate the new link with a PDF reading assignment. 

1. Click the LTI link from the course content page. 
2. On the new tab that opens, select the location where you stored your PDF file. Note: If you want to use the "Select PDF from Blackboard" option, you must first add the PDF to the course's Content Collection in Blackboard. 
3. Select your file and click submit. 
4. Choose whether to make this a small group assignment. Make sure you have set up the Blackboard Groups prior to this step. 
5. You can close the browser tab after opening the PDF in the Hypothesis reading application. 

You need to complete the prior steps for each PDF reading in your course. 

Using Hypothesis 

• For students, the Hypothesis LTI item functions exactly as a hyperlink. This is the only way for students to get to the Hypothesis social annotation tool, so make sure there are no other PDF copies of the text on Blackboard that could confuse a student.
• Any time you want to view student annotations or look at the PDF reading yourself, you can click on the item from Blackboard to open it in the Hypothesis reading application. You can also make public annotations within the application, as well as respond to student comments.
• Use the headers inside the Hypothesis reading application to select a specific student or group. From this view you can see the annotations made by that student or group as well as a count of how many annotations each student made. 
• If you added a Gradebook entry to the Blackboard course, you can provide a grade for each student at the top of the Hypothesis reading application while viewing their contributions. Hypothesis requires a grade out of a 10-point maximum, but if you have a different number of points in Blackboard, the correct percentage will be applied. E.g., if you give a student 8 of 10 points on Hypothesis, Blackboard would automatically enter 4 points if your Gradebook entry had a maximum of 5 points. 

Links to Hypothesis Help 

Creating Hypothesis-Enabled Readings - how to get started using the Hypothesis LTI in Blackboard Ultra