Presenters are listed in alphabetical order.
Social Annotation for Power Negotiation
Building on scholars who have deemed social annotation an open educational practice with potential to promote social justice, we deem social annotation a disruptor of traditional power dynamics that affords students space to become active agents in knowledge construction. We support this notion with an example from a senior-level protected area management course in which Hypothes.is LMS app was used. In this course, students critically annotated public commentary on controversial proposals put forth by an Ontario provincial park. They also adopted personas of different societal groups, and from the perspective of their persona, offered annotations responding to different models of protected areas that were provided in open documents.
In detailing this example, we will offer practical strategies for creating a learning environment in which students feel empowered to “talk back” to a text. Further, because of the experience gained by students in negotiating social power, our example presents social annotation as a mechanism through which to prime students for future social engagement and public commentary. Attendees will leave our session with ideas for how they, too, can shape social annotation activities to provide a safe and empowering space for disruption of traditional models of knowledge production and exchange.