Perusall Overview and Use Cases for Faculty
Perusall is a social annotation tool that allows students and instructors to collaboratively annotate PDFs, images, documents, videos, podcasts, and digital textbooks.
You can use Perusall to:
- Stimulate discussion
- Draw attention to important ideas in a document
- Increase student engagement
Instructor Orientation/Training
While no training is necessary to use Perusall, these Perusall Instructor Guides can give you an introduction to this tool.
Instructor Responsibilities
How to request access to Perusall:
- All University of Michigan faculty already have access to Perusall. You may enable this tool from the Canvas Course menu via Settings.
How to Configure/Set up your Perusall Account
Note: we recommend hiding the Perusall app from the left navigation after setting up your Perusall assignments to eliminate any problems with grade-syncing.
Testing
- There is no mandatory testing process for Perusall, but it is recommended that you practice with the software before the beginning of the term.
Migrating Perusall course content from one course to another
- If you are a teacher in the original source course, you may create a new Perusall course in your new Canvas course by enabling Perusall from settings, and click Perusall from the course menu. This will create a corresponding course in Perusall that is linked to the new course in Canvas. In the new Perusall course, navigate to the Library tab on the course home page and select Add > Material from another course to copy over your documents and assignments to the new course. All you'll need to do now is to adjust the assignment due dates.
Please click the following link to see the details. Copying Perusall Course content from your own course.
- If you are not a teacher in the original source course, you may request a Perusall copy code from the teacher of the original course. The instructor can find the copy code from the original Perusall course by accessing the Perusall course > Settings > Access > Copy the course code.
If you are using Perusall standalone, click the Perusall logo to go back to the course list, and then click Copy Course. This will create a copy of your old course, copying over documents and assignments but not the roster or student data.
Please click the following link to see the details. Copying Perusall course content using copy course code.
Previously Identified Student Roadblocks
- If you would like to have students to access Perusall assignment directly, please hide the Perusall tool from the left menu after the Perusall assignment is created. This could prevent causing confusions for students to access the assignment directly.
- Assignment name in Perusall course should be exactly the same as the assignment name in Canvas, otherwise error message will appear in linking the assignment in Canvas.
Perusall Instructor Course Prep Checklist
- Activate Perusall in your course site
- Add readings to your course
- Create assignments
- Set up Perusall course policies
- Manage groups
- Manage grades
- Prepare information for students on how Perusall works
Depending on your course needs, you may need additional items in your checklist. Feel free to schedule an appointment with an instructional designer for a more personalized Perusall orientation.
How to Get Help
For assistance, you can:
Instructor FAQs
Perusall Quick Links