Annotation Studio is rooted in a technology-supported pedagogy that has been developing in undergraduate literature classes at MIT over the past decade. The tool removes barriers to first-hand discoveries that spark interest in close reading and critical writing about literature. By enabling the user to tag texts using folksonomies rather than TEI, this educational platform allows students to practice scholarly primitives quite naturally, thereby discovering how literary texts can be opened up through exploration of sources, influences, editions, and adaptations. In other words, Annotation Studio’s tools and workspaces help students hone skills traditionally used by professional humanists.
While we understand that you know how to run your class best, we can share the lessons we’ve learned from years of classroom testing. At our January 2015 workshop, Collaborative Insights through Digital Annotation, we discussed how the use of a digital annotation platform affects students’ reading and writing processes, how to plan for classroom integration, and how to assess the effectiveness of online annotation tools for learning. Video of panels from this workshop, a discussion on how to assess student learning using Annotation Studio, and the keynote address from Prof. John Bryant, can all be found here.