Introduction

In this article, we will walk you through the purpose and main functionality of the Comprehension tool.

Comprehension tool meant to allow the students improve their understanding of a text by annotating a file based on predetermined topics. Helps instructors turn course materials into an active learning activity. Instead of students passively reading, watching, or listening to content, the tool guides them to engage with the material by selecting relevant sections, connecting them to teacher-defined topics or themes, and adding annotations.

The tool is especially useful for activities where students need to understand complex materials, prepare for class, identify key concepts, or reflect on what they have learned.

Here you can find our user guides for Comprehension.

• Comprehension: For Students

• Comprehension: For Teachers (Active Assignment)

• Comprehension: For Teachers (Setting-up)

   

How It Works

The Comprehension tool allows instructors to add learning materials such as documents, videos, images, or audio files. After adding the material, instructors create specific topics or themes that students should focus on while reviewing the content.

Students then go through the assigned material and select relevant parts that connect to the teacher-defined topics. For each selected section, students can add an annotation and, depending on the activity settings, provide a written elaboration or summary. This helps students explain why the selected part is relevant and demonstrate their understanding of the material.

If enabled by the instructor, students may also view annotations from their peers. This allows them to compare interpretations, respond through comments, and learn from one another’s perspectives.

Teachers can monitor student progress, review annotations, filter contributions, comment on student input, and use analytics to understand how students are engaging with the material.

Highlighted Features

Multimedia-based comprehension activities: Supports documents, videos, images, and audio, enabling guided activities across diverse course content.

Teacher-defined topics or themes: Instructors set topics with titles, descriptions, and required annotations to focus student attention on key concepts.

Topic-based annotations: Students link relevant content to teacher-defined topics, promoting active engagement with key ideas.

Written elaborations and summaries: Students may explain annotations or write summaries to deepen understanding.

Peer visibility and interaction: Instructors can allow students to view and interact with peers’ annotations via comments or upvotes.

Group-based participation: Enables collaborative work by letting students view contributions within their groups.

Progress tracking and analytics: Teachers monitor participation, completion, annotations, comments, and workload.

Teacher feedback and moderation: Instructors review, filter, and comment on annotations to guide learning.

Reflection step: Optional module for students to reflect on learning, challenges, and activity impact.

Grading options: Enables assessment of participation or performance, with grade review, adjustments, and LMS publishing.

Benefits of using Comprehension

Supports active learning - Comprehension encourages students to interact directly with course materials by selecting, annotating, and explaining relevant sections.

Improves understanding of complex materials - By guiding students to focus on specific teacher-defined topics, the tool helps them break down complex materials into clearer and more manageable parts.

Encourages preparation before class - Students can complete comprehension activities before lectures, seminars, or discussions. This helps ensure they come prepared with a stronger understanding of the material.

Promotes critical thinking - Students are asked not only to identify relevant sections, but also to explain why those sections matter. This helps develop analysis, interpretation, and reasoning skills.

Supports reading, viewing, and listening strategies - Because Comprehension supports different media types, it can be used to help students develop comprehension strategies across written, visual, video, and audio-based materials.

Enables peer learning - When peer visibility is enabled, students can compare their annotations with others, learn from different perspectives, and engage more deeply with the content.

Gives teachers insight into student progress - Teachers can use analytics and student contributions to understand how students are engaging with the material and where additional support may be needed.

Good to Know

• Transforms course materials into interactive learning activities.

• Instructors set topics to guide student focus.

• Students add annotations, elaborations, and reflections to enhance understanding.

• Peer visibility promotes learning from others’ ideas.

• Analytics help instructors track engagement and progress.

• Grading options assess participation and comprehension.

• Encourages active learning and deeper grasp of content.