Using the Perusall LTI

Perusall is a social annotation tool that offers a Learning Tool Interoperability (LTI) connection within your Blackboard course. After creating a Perusall LTI, students working alone or in groups can annotate a variety of documents using their web browser. Others in class can see those annotations and reply to them while engaging in the material.

Before using Perusall

Before adding a Perusall link to your course, make sure to read the Getting Started for Instructors document. The PDF is available on the Perusall page on the Getting Started tab. 

  1. Before using Perusall, consider the purpose and goal of your assignment. This will help you select the appropriate settings while you set up the assignment. 
  2. Read the scoring options carefully. Perusall will integrate with your Blackboard Ultra gradebook, but make sure that the automatic scoring and other settings match your preferences for the assignment. 
  3. Consider which materials you will want to add to the course. For greatest ease of use, having all course documents and files you plan to use will make it easier to use Perusall throughout the term. 

Setting Up Your Course (Getting Started tab)

Complete the following steps to link Perusall LTI to your Blackboard Ultra course. 

  1. In the Details & Actions list (under the "Course Faculty" name and photo), find Books & Tools
  2. Click on "View course and institution tools"
  3. From the pane on the right, scroll all the down and choose "Browse all course tools".  
  4. Scroll down to Perusall and click anywhere on the card to open the application. 

The first time you open the Perusall application, follow the directions on the right side of the page "To set up your course". This takes just a minute. There are four steps that link you to Perusall Help pages and walk you through basic settings options. If you choose the default options, you can always change them later in Settings. 

Adding Content to Perusall (Library tab)

Note that you will be prompted to do the following in Step 3 of the "To set up your course" directions. 

From inside the Perusall reading application: 

  1. In the left navigation menu, select Course Home.
  2. From the home page, select Library.
  3. Click the Add Content button to select the material you want to add. It may take several minutes for Perusall to process the document. You may want to select multiple content materials and leave some time for processing before creating assignments. 

There is a wide range of options available to add to Perusall, including journal articles, documents from your hard drive, webpages, YouTube videos, podcasts, and more. You can also link textbooks and publisher materials to your Perusall course. There is detailed information about each document type available from the Add Content area. 

Creating an Assignment in Perusall (Assignments tab)

After you have added materials to your course library in Perusall, you can create assignments with them. 

  1. Select any item in your Library by clicking on it.
  2. From the pane that opens up, select Assign.
  3. Work through the options available. You can assign all or part of the material, and you can bundle multiple documents into one assignment. You must select a deadline from the Options tab to save the assignment. 
  4. Select Save Changes. You can now access this assignment in the Assignments tab. 

What to Put in Your Blackboard Course

After you have created an assignment, decide how you want students to access your Perusall course. 

Option 1: Hyperlink specific Perusall assignments into a Blackboard document

  1. After creating one or more assignments in Perusall, click on the Assignments tab to see all. When you click on one of the assignments, a new pane will open on the right side of the screen with all the information about that assignment. 
  2. Click on Open to see the assignment in the Perusall reading application. 
  3. Highlight the URL of your browser, right-click and choose Copy. 
  4. Return to your Blackboard course. Choose or create a Document where you want to share the hyperlink. 
  5. Add Content or edit an existing content box. Select the hyperlink tool, paste the URL you copied, and give the link a title such as the name of the assignment. 

When students click this link, the specific assignment will open in the Perusall reading application as a new tab. 

Option 2: Use a single Perusall LTI link that students return to repeatedly

  1. In the Details & Actions under Books & Tools, select "View course and institution tools"
  2. From the pane on the right, scroll all the down and choose "Browse all course tools".  
  3. Scroll down to Perusall and click on the (+) sign to add an LTI link. 

This LTI item functions like a hyperlink. When students click the LTI item, their web browser will open a new tab for the Perusall reading application, where they can see all their assignments. You can place this LTI item in the Blackboard Ultra course content area where students can repeatedly access it throughout the term. 

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