Using social annotation to construct knowledge with others: A case study across undergraduate courses

Background: Social annotation (SA) is a genre of learning technology that enables the addition of digital notes to shared texts and affords contextualized peer-to-peer online discussion. A small body of literature examines how SA, as asynchronous online discussion, can contribute to students’ knowledge construction (KC)—or a process whereby learners collaborate through shared socio-cognitive practices. This case study analyzed how SA enabled student participation in seven KC activities, such as interpretation and elaboration. Methods: We analyzed 2,121 annotations written by 59 students in three undergraduate courses at a Canadian University in the first months of 2019. Using a method of open coding and constant comparison, we coded each annotation for evidence of KC activities. Results: Results showed a range of KC activities in students’ SA. Across courses, interpretation was the most common KC activity (40%), followed by elaboration (20%). Annotations that were part of peer-to-peer discussion included all seven types of KC activities, but some activities, such as consensus building, support, and conflict, were almost exclusively found in replies to others. Conclusions: This study suggests that SA is a productive form of online learning through which undergraduate students in multiple disciplinary contexts can interact with peers, make sense of academic content, and construct knowledge by reading and writing together.