An online learning experience for curious readers
The Annotation Academy is a series of learning journeys for everyday readers and curious students passionate about annotation — the addition of notes to texts — and how this literacy practice aids collaboration, learning, and the construction of new knowledge.
The five functions of annotation
Providing information
Footnotes, timestamps, data labels, alt text, glosses
Sharing commentary
Marginalia, book reviews, peer feedback, reactions
Sparking conversation
Threaded replies, annotated syllabi, public dialogue
Expressing power
Censorship, redaction, graffiti, counternarratives
Aiding learning
Comprehension, knowledge construction, collaborative inquiry, social annotation
Two pathways, one community
Pathway A
How do we read together? How does collaborative annotation enable group inquiry, associative connections, and the discernment of multiple perspectives? Build knowledge through shared texts and shared margins.
Pathway B
What are we reading for? Whose marks matter? Explore annotation as critical literacy, counternarrative, and civic practice — from Harriet Tubman's pension file to the murals on the border wall.
Plus: extension electives
The Annotated Syllabus
Turn your course syllabus into a collaborative conversation
Annotation & Art
Explore annotation as creative and visual practice
Annotation in the Wild
Place-based annotation walks and fieldwork
Digital Walls & Civic Writing
Annotation on social media platforms
Teaching with Annotation
Design annotation-rich learning experiences
Book Marks & Library Advocacy
Annotation, banned books, and intellectual freedom
“We are annotators who can enliven the histories and literacies of annotation with justice-centered narratives. Mark my words.”
— Remi Kalir, Re/Marks on Power