If you are considering using Talis Engage at your institution or library, you may have considered whether a reading list is the right place to have a discussion, especially if your VLE has a forum that students are already accustomed to. Forums have their place, and Talis Engage is not intended to replace them. By using Talis Engage as part of your reading list however, you can transform students' reading from an isolated activity with a static resource into a collaborative activity with a dynamic resource. Below we briefly outline some of the pedagogical benefits of social annotation, and reasons you may wish to consider using Talis Engage to enhance student conversations.
Social annotation is an evidence-based active learning approach
Social annotation has been demonstrated to have an array of positive effects on student learning and comprehension, with a variety of literature in support of this approach. Social annotation can have positive effects on:
- Assessment performance (Cui & Wang, 2023)
- Student collaboration (Kalir, 2020)
- Knowledge construction (Morales et al, 2022)
- Reading comprehension (Chen & Chen, 2014)
- Classroom equity (Brown and Croft, 2020)
Facilitate interaction
By offering a space for contextual conversation, social annotation facilitates three kinds of interaction:
- Student-student interaction: Students are able to work together within the margins of the resource itself, asking and answering questions, co-constructing knowledge, and learning from one another.
- Student-staff interaction: Students are also able to interact directly with their teachers in the margins. Students can confirm their understanding with teachers directly, and teachers can keep up to date on how students are progressing with their reading.
- Student-resource interaction: Students are able to interact directly with the resource themselves, highlighting and taking notes that are visible only to themselves. For students who are keen to benefit from observing the conversation but less inclined to be directly involved, this provides them with the opportunity to learn alongside their classmates.
Reduce cognitive load and increase time on task
Reducing the extraneous cognitive load experienced by students leads to better learning and reduced stress for students. Switching between reading lists, publisher sites, and VLE forums contributes to that cognitive load, meaning students will be less focused on their reading and more focused on the array of tabs they have open at the top of their screen. This also results in students losing valuable time to obstacles like paywalls or log-in processes. By providing one central platform for students to read and discuss, students benefit from a streamlined experience, where reading and discussion can happen together.
Will Talis Engage replace our VLE?
No. That is not the purpose of Talis Engage, nor our long-term aim. Instead, our goal with Talis Engage is to amplify the role of the academic library in teaching and learning, providing a platform for social annotation that integrates seamlessly with your reading lists. Staff and students can benefit from a single platform for organising course materials, viewing those materials, and interacting with those materials. Switching on and configuring Talis Engage is entirely at your discretion, so if you do not believe it would be appropriate for your institution's purposes you can leave it switched off indefinitely.
| Suggestions for using forums | Ways to use Talis Engage |
| Host general discussions about broader topics | Encourage students to engage more deeply with specific resources |
| Post reminders about upcoming deadlines | Scaffold the academic reading process |
| Facilitate groupwork and assessment | Have students annotate their syllabus together, creating a shared understanding of what's expected of them |
References
- Cui T and Wang J (2024) Empowering active learning: A social annotation tool for improving student engagement. British Journal of Educational Technology 55(2): 712–730. DOI: 10.1111/bjet.13403.
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Kalir JH (2020) Social annotation enabling collaboration for open learning. Distance Education 41(2): 245–260. DOI: 10.1080/01587919.2020.1757413.
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Morales E, Kalir JH, Fleerackers A, et al. (2022) Using social annotation to construct knowledge with others: A case study across undergraduate courses. F1000Research 11: 235. DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.109525.2.
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Chen C-M and Chen F-Y (2014) Enhancing digital reading performance with a collaborative reading annotation system. Computers & education 77: 67–81. DOI: 10.1016/j.compedu.2014.04.010.
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Brown, Monica, Croft, et al. (2020) ERIC - EJ1253880 - Social Annotation and an Inclusive Praxis for Open Pedagogy in the College Classroom, Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2020. Available at: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1253880 (accessed 24 April 2025).