I think I have identified a new educational tool category. By tool category I mean a service or set of inter-related services that all the user to act on content in a way that makes some learning task more efficient or more productive. So, while a tool likely has a limited purpose, the tool and the content are independent.
To my knowledge, this tool category has yet to be named, but I will attempt it identify it by example. Some might describe the processes involved as “deep reading”. In my own experience both as a college instructor and researcher, I would describe this tool as suited to study. I would also note that both reading and writing skills can be emphasized using these tools (as would be the case in text-based study activities).
If I were to propose a descriptive phrase, I would describe these as tools for “collaborative markup”.
Here is the general idea. The processing of a challenging document can be enhanced by external prompts and activities. These external resources can be provided by experts or be self generated. An author encourages a certain amount of the processing of the pure text with headings and text embellishments (bolded or italicized). When working with hard copy (old school), college students have long underlined, highlighted, and annotated. This was the general topic of some of my research. The idea of “expert” notes, highlights, etc. was a way researchers conceptualized the potential of offering students content “marked up” in a way that may encourage more effective processing.
The “collaborative markup tools” offer a digital way to markup text in different ways and share this augmented content (expert to student, peer to peer, etc.).
The following is a list you might explore. There are differences I have not explored (e.g., the service provides access to copyright content for markup, the cost per student, availability of templates for analysis, content can be added).