When building assessments in Canvas, faculty often wonder which tool would best fit their assessment needs. We have gathered below a comparison of grading features and tool options in order to better inform users as they make their decisions. We invite you to contact us at acadtech@cornell.edu to discuss which of these tools might best meet your needs.
What can be annotated
Annotation options
Assignments and Grading
Integration with Canvas & Gradebook
Extra Features
| Feature/Function | Hypothesis | Perusall |
|---|---|---|
| PDFs | ✔ | ✔ |
| Word docs | ✘ | ✔ |
| Google Docs | ✔ (may not work in restricted countries) | ✔ (may not work in restricted countries) |
| Website pages | ✔ (w/ more access to deeper pages in domain) | ✔ (will take a snapshot of a page) |
| Textbooks / firewall articles | ✔ Can annotate CAMP materials and JSTOR article directly | ✔ May require paid access for students. Can access CAMP materials by using access code https://app.perusall.com/catalog |
| Student created content | ✔ (w/ the help of the instructor) | ✔ (Instructor can enable folder for student upload) |
| audio files | ✘ | ✔ Podcasts |
| video | ✘ YouTube | ✔ Streaming video (YouTube, Vimeo, Box, etc.) |
| Canvas pages | ✘ | ✔ |
| can limit page ranges | ✘ | ✔ |
| Feature/Function | Hypothesis | Perusall |
|---|---|---|
| Inline annotation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Document Notes | ✓ | ✓ |
| Write in Latex | ✓ | ✓ |
| Commenting on peer annotations | ✓ | ✓ |
| Can download document (without annotations) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Can download document (with annotations) | ✘ | ✓ |
| Can disable downloading | ✘ | ✓ |
| TA role can set assignments | ✓ | ✓ |
| Instructor/TA can comment on annotations | ✓ | ✓ |
| Instructor/TA can comment privately on annotations | ✓ with speedgrader | ✓ |
| Instructor/TA can post questions on the doc for students to answer | ✓ | ✓ |
| Annotations can be private to student | ✓ | ✓ |
| Has one-to-one annotations between instructor and student | ✓ | ✓ |
| Annotations can be anonymous | ✓ | ✓ |
| Teacher can delete or edit student comments | ✘ | ✓ |
| Can only be shared with instructor | ✓ | ✓ |
| Instructor can post questions for students | ✓ only as a user within the doc | ✓ |
| Students can export annotations | ✘ (on roadmap) | ✓ |
| Students can print files | ✓ uses adobe reader interface | ✓ |
| Useful for synchronous excercise | ✘ Shows red dropdown when new annotation has posted | ✘ Page must be refreshed |
| Has Synchronous annotations (like google doc) | ✘ Page must be refreshed | ✘ Page must be refreshed |
| Sort annotations | ✓ sortable by student | ✓ |
| Has controlled tags | ✘ | ✓ |
| Has Tagging | ✓ | ✓ |
| Can restrict copy/paste | ✘ | ✓ |
| Can OCR Documents automatically | ✘ | ✓ |
| Feature/Function | Hypothesis | Perusall |
|---|---|---|
| Creating an External Tool Assignment (will link to Canvas Gradebook) | ✔ | ✔ |
| Useful for synchronous exercise | ✘ Shows red dropdown when new annotation has posted | ✘ must refresh page |
| Has autograding | ✘ Complete/Incomplete only | ✔ |
| Can configure autograding using a provided rubric | ✘ | ✔ |
| Assignments can be added as extra credit by check box | ✘ | ✔ |
| Feature/Function | Hypothesis | Perusall |
|---|---|---|
| Integration with Canvas | ||
| Supports multiple user roles through Canvas | ✔ | ✔ |
| Requires separate account / login | not if used through Canvas | not if used through Canvas |
| Adding an External Tool to a Module (won’t link to Canvas Gradebook) | ✔ | ✔ |
| The tool can be added to course navigation | ✘ | ✔ |
| Integration with Canvas Gradebook | ||
| Can be a graded activity if added as a Canvas Assignment | ✔ | ✔ |
| A new submission shows if has annotated the document | ✔ | ✘ |
| Student annotations can be viewed in the SpeedGrader | ✔ | ✘ |
| Instructor can provide private feedback | ✔ Yes, through Speedgrader | ✔ |
| Grading happens in the tool’s interface | ✘ | ✔ |
| Pushes grades to Canvas gradebook | ✔ complete/incomplete | ✔ |
| Supports Canvas Groups | ✔ | ✔ |
| Can be copied from existing Canvas courses | Yes, but doesn’t carry annotations over | ✔ |
| Allows files to be stored in Canvas | ✔ | ✔ |
| Has range of complexity for start up | ✘ | ✔ Can use with only simple annotation features (no grading, etc) |
| Hypothesis | Perusall | |
|---|---|---|
| Analytics | ||
| Instructor can view hotspots | ✘ | ✔ |
| Provides analytics | ✘ | ✔ robust |
| Can turn off analytics | N/A | ✔ |
| Peer Review | ||
| Has peer review | ✘ | ✔ |
| TurnItIn | ||
| Has TurnItIn integration | ✘ | ✔ |
| Digital Rights | ||
| Can assist with clearing digital rights | ✘ | ✔ |
| iClicker | ||
| Can integrate iclicker | ✘ | ✔ and provides discount if purchasing iClicker through Perusall |
| AI | ||
| Has AI support for Instructors | ✘ | ✔ |
| Has AI support for students | ✘ | ✔ |
Additional Resources
- CTI Resource: Getting Started with Hypothesis
- CTI Resource: Getting Started with Perusall
