Weekly Instructor Tip: Use Perusall 1.3 to Bring Your Readings Alive
Hello Instructors,
This week, we're encouraging you to explore Perusall 1.3, an improved integration of the popular social annotation tool that will take your students’ reading experiences to the next level. The latest upgrade brings improved ease of use, enhanced features, and you can still access and reuse all your old materials!
What is Perusall?
Perusall is a social E-reader that allows you to have whole class discussions within the text. Students can highlight text and leave comments and replies, as well as upvote each other’s questions and answers. Research has shown that Perusall may increase student engagement and completion of the readings. There are automatic and manual grading options, and if desired, the instructor can pass grades to the Canvas Gradebook.
Why Upgrade to Perusall 1.3?
Significant improvements to the Perusall integration in Canvas
We are pleased to share that there have been significant improvements to the integration between Perusall and Canvas. These improvements and features include:
- Automatic Roster sync
- Your entire course roster is automatically available and updated each time you launch Persuall.
- Better sync with grades
- Students’ grades come over easily and automatically, and students are no longer required to launch Perusall directly from a Canvas assignment.
- Ability to recognize Canvas groupings
- Apply Perusall to your existing Canvas reading groups, or assign groups in Perusall itself
- AI prompt generation
- Highlight any passage and automatically generate a draft writing prompt for students
How Can I Make the Switch?
In the course in which you want to add Perusall:
1. Go to "Settings."
2. Click the “Navigation” tab.
3. Drag Perusall 1.3 from the lower menu to the upper menu.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click “Save” to save your changes.
For more information about adding materials to Perusall and creating assignments, visit the additional resources below.
Transitioning Your Existing Course
Your 1.1 course can't be directly upgraded to 1.3, but you can copy your 1.1 course materials directly to a new 1.3 course.
Solving Grade Sync Issues
If you're experiencing any grading issues, ensure your students launch the LTI 1.3 integration at least once during the semester.
For further assistance with using Perusall in your course, please reach out to the Center for Instructional Design and Educational Technology @ IC! You can book a meeting with Instructional Designers Marilyn Dispensa or Tristan Ross for one-to-one help in setting up Perusall. Faculty can also schedule a 1:1 consultation through the Bookings link - https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/CenterforInstructionalDesignandEducationalTechnology@ithaca.edu/bookings/
Links to an external site.
Additional Resources
Perusall 1.3
Perusall 1.3 Integration into Canvas (Instructor setup) - Bing video
LTI 1.3 Frequently Asked Questions – Perusall
What's the difference between 1.1 & 1.3? – Perusall
Using Perusall
Getting Started with Perusall for Instructors