Moodle Help

Linking to Your New Perusall Account

Note: These instructions only apply if you've used Perusall in the past. If you have never used Perusall, skip to the second box on this page. During the upgrade to Moodle 4.1, Earlham switched to a new version of Perusall. Follow the instructions written below to ensure you link to your new account.

1. Toggle on editing mode in the top right corner of your course. 
2. Select add an activity or resource, followed by Perusall 1.3.
3. Add the name of the activity. After doing this, hit select content. 
4. You will see a warning telling you that you already have an account under your email address. Follow the instructions outlined in the warning, clicking where it says confirm and merge accounts. (NOTE: The email is not spam). 
5. After linking accounts, return to the activity in Moodle and finish creating it. Once you select add content, you will accept the privacy policy and select build my Perusall course.
6. Read the instructions within Perusall to build your new course. 

What is Perusall?

Perusall allows for "collaborative reading." Classes annotate and discuss course readings together. Perusall assignments can add to in-class discussions of a text or replace reading quizzes and reading response posts to discussion forums. To get started, do the following:

1. In the top right corner of your course, toggle on editing.
2. Click add an activity or resource and choose Perusall 1.3.
3. Choose an activity Name (e.g. "Socrates Reading"). The activity name must match the assignment name you choose in Perusall. 
4. Click save and display. On next Limit your uploads to what would be permitted under fair use and copyright restrictions.
5. Click assignments to create assignments for particular library readings.
6. Click settings to send welcome messages to students (instructions), edit scoring (how student engagement will be evaluated), assign groups (if you want students to read in groups), and release scores to students. 
7. Click student view to preview assignments as a student. 

Creating and Responding to Annotations

You can increase instructor presence in Perusall by creating and responding to annotations. In order to do this, do the following: 

1. 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.
2. Others' comments will appear as highlighted text. Double click on a highlighted passage to view the "conversation" about that section.
3. 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

  Perusall is a tool for annotating text. You will use this tool in class to read text together and leave comments and questions. You may also have assignments which use Perusall. To learn more about Perusall, watch the video linked below. 

FAQs

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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).
4. Why am I seeing duplicate gradebook columns? Perusall 1.3 automatically creates grade items in the gradebook. If you're using assignment-specific links, however, you need to turn off the aforementioned feature. Learn how to do this by clicking here and scrolling to the section called "Why am I seeing duplicate gradebook columns?"