Annoto: Reflection Points Promote Critical Thinking

Environment

Annoto
MiVideo
Canvas

Issue

How an instructor can use Annoto's Reflection Point to prompt students to analyze, evaluate, and apply video content.

• Reflection point prompts students to pause and reflect at specific points during the video.
• The video pauses at the refection point, a popup dialog appears asking the student a question, and the student must reply before proceeding.
• Once a student replies, the reflection point does not reappear on subsequent views.
• The reflection point appears in the Comments space of the Annoto widget and is indicated by a light bulb icon.
• Since reflection points are a type of comment, replies are viewable by the entire course.

Tip: because Annoto is interactive and collects user behavior, it is not recommended to use Annoto in public courses since public courses do not require authentication to access. 

Resolution

Videos must be added to the MiVideo service to use Annoto.

The following Annoto features must be enabled to use reflection points:

• Comments = a reflection point is a type of comment that requires students to reply before proceeding.
• Reflection Point = allows instructors to create a new comment as a reflection point. 

There are several related features that can be enabled:

• Anonymous Comments = students reply anonymously, however instructors can see students names.
• Managed Comments = every reply will be pending a moderator’s manual approval before becoming public.
• Video Comments = allows students to reply with their own video using the built-in recorder. These video replies are saved to the student's My Media library, are automatically machine-captioned, and playback within the MiVideo player so captions and transcripts are available.
• Closed Discussions (Comments > Options > Closed Discussion) = prevents students from adding any comments other than replies to reflection points.
• Limit Fast Forwarding = prevents students from fast forwarding through the video.

1. Enable Reflection Points at the Individual Video Level

Only specific videos in the course will have the Annoto Reflection Point feature enabled.

1. Navigate to the video.
2. Click the Annoto icon in the lower right corner of the player to open the Annoto widget (if not already).
3. If you don't see the Annoto dashboard, click the Annoto menu button in the upper left of the widget and select Dashboard.
4. Click the Preferences icon in the upper right.
5. Enable Comments then enable Refection Point.
6. Enable additional features as needed.

2. Create a Reflection Point

1. Navigate to the video.
2. Click the Annoto icon in the lower left corner of the player to open the Annoto widget (if not already).
3. Open the Comments space (if not already) by selecting the tab in the widget's left navigation.
4. Write the reflection question into the text box at the bottom of the widget.
5. Click on the light bulb just above the text box to turn the comment into a reflection point.

Annoto Guides

• Annoto User Guide for Instructors 
• Annoto User Guide for Students

Additional Information

• Check out the new Academic Technology@Michigan website for course planning resources from across U-M
• Visit the Canvas @ Michigan site for faculty including the U-M Instructor Guide with links to additional support resources from across campus
• Check out the Canvas and MiVideo tutorials

Need additional information or assistance? Contact the ITS Service Center.