Earlham Libraries Home: Moodle Help: Perusall

About Perusall/Getting Started

To learn about Perusall, do the following:

Understand that Perusall allows for "collaborative reading"--allowing classes to annotate and discuss course readings together. Perusall aims to transform the solitary act of reading into one that classes can do together. Perusall assignments can add to in-class discussions of a text, or replace reading quizzes or reading response posts to discussion forums. To get started, do the following:

In the top right corner of your course, click turn editing on.
Click add an activity or resource and choose Perusall.
Choose an activity Name (e.g. "Socrates Reading"). Note: Activity name must match the assignment name you choose in Perusall.
Click save and display. On next page click open in new window to enter Perusall interface.
Click library to upload readings. You need to limit uploading to what would be permitted under fair use and copyright restrictions.
Click assignments to create assignments for particular library readings, including due dates and special instructions.
Click settings to adjust welcome message to students (instructions), scoring (how student engagement will be evaluated), grouping (if you want students to read in groups), release scores to students (manually/immediately/never), and assignment score range (default is 0, 1, 2, 3).
Click student view to preview assignments as a student.

Creating and Responding to Annotations

To create and respond to annotations, do the following:

Know that you can increase instructor presence over Perusall by creating and responding to annotations. In order to do this, do the following:

Within the reading, double click or select a section of text to add a comment. To add comments to an image or figure, choose annotate figure at top of screen.
Others' comments will appear as highlighted text. Double click on a highlighted passage to view the "conversation" about that section.
To view one student's or group's comments, click at the top to change view from all comments to specific student or specific group.

Using Perusall as a Student

To use Perusall, do the following:

Understand that Perusall is a tool for annotating text. You will use this tool in class to read text together and leaving comments and questions for your classmates and teacher. You may also have assignments which use Perusall. To learn more about Perusall, do the following:

Watch the YouTube video linked below.

FAQ

To see answers to commonly ask questions, read below:

If the information you see does not answer your questions, feel free to request assistance at moodlehelp@earlham.edu. Otherwise, consider the following:

Why aren't my grades syncing back to Moodle gradebook?: Grades in Moodle Gradebook may take several hours to update. If you see angry exclamation points next to students scores in Perusall, make sure the name of assignment in Perusall is an exact match for name in Moodle. If the exclamation points are only listed next to some students, they need to re-enter the Perusall reading from Moodle to reconnect their Moodle identity and their Perusall identity. See more info on grade syncing issues from Perusall.
How can I adjust my assignment so it's easier for students to get full credit?: Many faculty report the default Perusall scoring settings make it difficult for students to earn full credit. In Perusall settings, select the scoring tab to adjust how grades are calculated. Common adjustments include increasing annotation content score target (move from 60% to a higher percent), reducing number of annotations to grade, or increasing getting responses target (move from 20% to a higher percent). In general, moving the slider percentage to a higher percent will make it easier for students to get credit for their engagement.
I'm having trouble highlighting the correct section of text, or I'm using images/figures. How can I get it to select an exact spot?:Try switching to the Annotate Figure mode (within top menu).