Web Annotation of Research Articles in Learning Sciences

As a member of the Outreach Advisory Board of the Journal of the Learning Sciences (JLS), I was really glad to see the journal putting together a web annotation event during December 11-22, 2017. This activity is yet another move made by the editorial team to engage its readership on various social media venues.

During this web annotation event, participants are invited to annotate a recently published open-access article, Multilevel Boundary Crossing in a Professional Development School Partnership, using an open web annotation tool named Hypothes.is. Hats off to the authors for their support of this event.

The editorial team has put together detailed instructions in this Google presentation.

During and after the event, in addition to the Hypothes.is sidebar, a participant can either use Hypothes.is’ advanced search functionality or an aggregation tool to review existing annotations made on this article.

I am excited for this move JLS is making, not only because scholarship could be more networked and discursive, but also because I see great opportunities of using web annotation to bridge learning spaces in classrooms. To me, making an annotation is forming a relationship with an idea. As educators, we ought to think deeply and design smartly to value such relationships as students are traversing various treks of life. See our ongoing NSF project for details.