Tool Description
Perusall is a tool that aims to change how students view the reading of material from a solitary experience to one that is engaging and collaborative with classmates and instructors. Published textbooks, open educational resources (OER), and personal instructional materials can be assigned to students with just a few clicks of a button. Perusall automatically grades students' engagement with the assigned materials and once prompted, will upload grades to Canvas.Accessing Your Perusall Course through Canvas
To access and connect your Canvas course with Perusall for the first time, you need to build the connection between your Canvas course and Perusall. These steps are applicable if you have not started an assignment within Perusall, but you need to access Perusall course through Canvas.
Please follow the steps below:
Please follow the steps below:
- Open your Canvas course.
- Go to the Assignments in the course navigation pane on the left side of the screen.
- Click the +Assignments button.
- Under the Submission Type, Select External Tool, and click Find.
- Search for and click on Perusall 1.3.
- Canvas will load a new window, and you will be asked to choose between:
- Home page: Link to your course home page
- Assignments: Select a Perusall assignment to connect to your LMS. In this option, you can either choose a Perusall assignment you have already built inside Perusall or create a new assignment in Perusall
- Library: Select an item from your Perusall Library to connect to your LMS.
- Go to Library and click on Build my Perusall course button.
- You will have a new browser window open your Perusall course with the heading Welcome to Perusall!.
- Continue to follow the steps in the Get Started with Perusall section to complete the process setting up your Perusall course.
- Once completed, you can continue to build your first assignment for your course by following the steps on Create a New Perusall Assignment through Canva
Get Started with Perusall
Once you create and connect your Perusall Course with your Canvas Course, Perusall offers a step-by-step Get Started guide to set up your Perusall Course.
- Go to your Perusall course, you can access your Perusall course through any of your Perusall assignments within your Canvas Course or you can follow the steps from Accessing Your Perusall Course through Canvas.
- Go to Course home.
- Click Get Started and you will see a Welcome section with two options:
- Start with empty course
- Copy existing course.
- Click Start with empty course.
- Click Continue.
- Perusall offers a starter assignment where you can use your Syllabus or use a pre-built starter assignment by Perusall titled Making the most of learning with Perusall. If you skip this section by clicking Continue, you can always refer to Create your Starter Assignment.
- Select content you will use. If you plan to add it later, you can skip this step by clicking Continue. It is recommended to add at least one content item you will use mostly within your course.
- Under the Student cost section,
- You can click Continue for any included items. Texas A&M University has an institutional license which means that there will be no charges for students accessing the platform.
- If you are planning for your students to rent or buy a textbook from the Perusall Catalog, there will be cost applied to the students.
- Fill in the basic setting for the course:
- Fill the Department (pick which one reflects your closest affiliation)
- Set the start and end date of the course
- Define Scoring and Analytics
- Decide how to Release scores to students
- Set the Grade sync to LMS option
- Define LMS gradebook column management setting. This is a very important step to avoid duplication of your gradebook column. Please refer to the Setting Deep Linking in the LMS Gradebook Column Management
- Put the Enrollment estimate
- Define Target group size if you plan to have some workgroups within your assignment. and any additional settings
- Click Continue.
- Perusall will automatically sync your class roster, and you can click Continue.
Create a New Perusall Assignment through Canvas
If you decide to start your new Perusall assignment through Canvas, you will need to avoid duplication of the gradebook column by ensuring that your Perusall course settings for LMS gradebook column management in the Scoring section are set as Instructor creates deep links in LMS; no Perusall gradebook columns will appear in LMS until deep links have been created. Please see Setting Deep Linking in the LMS Gradebook Column Management for more information.
Note: You will need to add any content to the library prior to following the steps below. To add content to the library, please refer to Load Course Material into the Perusall Library section.
Please follow the steps below to create your assignment:
Note: You will need to add any content to the library prior to following the steps below. To add content to the library, please refer to Load Course Material into the Perusall Library section.
Please follow the steps below to create your assignment:
- Create an assignment on Canvas.
- Note: We recommend that you do not fill the assignment name, score, or due date as these will populate from the Perusall assignment.
- Under Submission Type, Select External Tool, and click Find.
- Search for and click on Perusall 1.3.
- Canvas will load a new window, and you will be asked to choose between:
- Home page: Link to your course home page
- Assignments: Select a Perusall assignment to connect to your LMS. In this option you can either choose a Perusall assignment you have already built inside Perusall or create a new assignment in Perusall
- Library: Select an item from your Perusall Library to connect to your LMS.
- Click +Create New Assignment.
- Fill in the title for the assignment and the due date.
- Click Next Steps.
- Choose the content to assign:
- If you have content in your library, you can pick what you want to use.
- If you do not have any content, click to Next Steps.
- Fill in the instructions for the students.
- Set the visibility of the assignment to the students.
- Choose which groups to assign to (you can set the assignment for the entire class, specific students, or groups of students).
- Select your preferred Anonymous posting option and other remaining settings.
- Click Next Step.
- Define your Scoring, including components and weights.
- Click OK.
- Go to the Assignments section on the Link Resource from External Tool.
- Select the Assignment that you just created from the dropdown menu.
- Click on the checkbox for the Import grading information to LMS. If you have instructions set for the assignment, you can also click the checkbox for Import assignment instructions to LMS.
Notes:
- It is recommended to always have the Import grading information to LMS toggle checked to ensure grading consistency.
- If you toggle on Import assignment instructions to LMS, the Perusall Assignment will override any directions created within Canvas. - Click Link to this Assignment.
- Click Select.
- Click on the checkbox Load This Tool In A New Tab.
- Click Save & Publish the assignment on Canvas.
Adding Assignment Created in Perusall Course to Canvas Course
You will use this section if you have already built your assignment within Perusall and the LMS gradebook column management in the Scoring section is set as Instructor creates deep links in LMS; no Perusall gradebook columns will appear in LMS until deep links have been created. Please refer to Setting Deep Linking in the LMS Gradebook Column Management for more information.
Please follow these steps below:
Please follow these steps below:
- Create an assignment on Canvas.
- Note: We recommend that you do not fill the assignment name, score, or due date as these will populate from the Perusall assignment.
- Under Submission Type, Select External Tool, and click Find.
- Search for and click on Perusall 1.3.
- Canvas will load a new window and you will be asked to choose between:
- Home page: Link to your course home page
- Assignments: Select a Perusall assignment to connect to your LMS. In this option, you can either choose a Perusall assignment you have already built inside Perusall or create a new assignment in Perusall.
- Library: Select an item from your Perusall Library to connect to your LMS
- Select the assignment you have built in Perusall by accessing the dropdown menu.
- Click Link to this assignment.
- Click the checkbox Import grading information to LMS if you have already set instructions for the assignment. You can also click the checkbox for Import assignment instructions to LMS.
Notes:
- It is recommended to always have the Import grading information to LMS toggle checked to ensure grading consistency.
- If you toggle on Import assignment instructions to LMS, the Perusall Assignment will override any directions created within Canvas. - Click Select on the Configure External Tool.
- Click the checkbox Load This Tool In A New Tab
- Click Save & Publish
- Perusall will sync the assignment name, points, and the instructions if you click the checkbox for Import assignments instructions to LMS.
- If you wish to modify the assignment, please make any changes in Perusall.
Build a New Assignment in Perusall
Follow these steps below to build your assignment within Perusall.
- You can access your Perusall course through any of your Perusall assignments within your Canvas Course or you can follow the steps from Accessing Your Perusall Course through Canvas.
- Go to your Course home.
- Click Assignments tab.
- Click Add assignment.
- Choose which type of assignment.
- Fill in the assignment name.
- Set the deadline.
- Select the content.
- Check the assignment options.
- Set the Scoring.
- Click Save.
Setting Deep Linking in the LMS Gradebook Column Management
There are two ways to create Perusall assignments in the newest version. You will need to decide which route you will take to do so. Adhering to the following steps is essential to avoid creating double assignment columns within your gradebook.
- You can access your Perusall course through any of your Perusall assignments within your Canvas Course or you can follow the steps from Accessing Your Perusall Course through Canvas.
- In Perusall, click on Settings.
- Click on Scoring.
- Click on LMS grade sync.
- On the LMS gradebook column management:
- Choose Instructor creates deep links in LMS; no Perusall gradebook columns will appear in LMS until deep links have been created if you plan to add your Perusall assignments through your Canvas course. You can still build your Perusall assignments within Perusall, but the gradebook column will only be created once you link the Perusall assignment with your Canvas assignment.
- Choose Perusall creates gradebook columns in LMS for each Perusall assignment automatically if you plan to add your Perusall assignments through Perusall, allowing Perusall deep linking to push the assignment and create the related gradebook column to your Canvas course.
- Click Save Changes
Create a Starter Assignment
- You can access your Perusall course through any of your Perusall assignments within your Canvas Course or you can follow the steps from Accessing Your Perusall Course through Canvas.
- Go to your Course home.
- Click on Library.
- Select Making the most of learning with Perusall.
- Choose your disciplinary area.
- Set the due date.
- Click OK
Load Course Materials into the Perusall Library
- You can access your Perusall course through any of your Perusall assignments within your Canvas Course or you can follow the steps from Accessing Your Perusall Course through Canvas.
- Go to your Course home.
- Click on Library.
- Click Add content.
- Choose any content type you wish to upload. Perusall allows you to use textbooks available from their catalog (there will be cost applied), PDF documents, MS Word documents, MS PowerPoint presentations, Google Docs, Google Slides presentations, Web page, Videos, Podcast, etc.
Perusall provides an option to upload PDF documents via the Copyright Clearance Center by selecting "Upload from my device" and confirming digital rights clearance. However, if they find out that you do not have the right or permission to use it, there will be a cost applied to the students.
If you intend to upload partial materials and are uncertain about their copyright status, check the University Libraries regarding Fair Use.