College and university educators can streamline communication, reduce workload, and improve efficiency by using social annotation tools. These tools can also positively impact how students perceive their learning. At the University of Indiana Bloomington, Justin Hodgson, Associate Professor English, and his team redesigned the first-year online composition course. “Our biggest challenge was two-fold, “he said. “How do we get students to read the texts that faculty assign and how to encourage students to engage with that content more deeply?” But Hodson and his colleagues also wanted to improve the personal connections between students in online environments. “We wanted to create a stronger sense of community,” he said. So they began using a social annotation tool.
