How To: Integrate Perusall into your Brightspace Course

Setting up Perusall Integration in Brightspace

The Perusall Integration in Brightspace allows instructors to create and link to a Perusall course, link to specific assignments in a Perusall, and pass grades from Perusall to the Brightspace
gradebook. Perusall is a social reading, annotation, and online discussion tool. While an integration exists in Brightspace, Perusall is not an supported service. 

Note: Perusall is free to use, however students may incur a cost if instructors designate text books to be purchased through Perusall. The Bookstore has a partnership with Perusall and
instructors are encouraged to notify the Bookstore and Perusall of any textbooks required for the course so that students are offered the most cost effective option.

Audience

Marist Faculty

Environment

Brightspace

Instructions

Create a link to a Persuall course

The Perusall integration in Brightspace can be found in the Content Tool.

  1. In your Brightspace course site, click on the Content Tool in the course navigation bar.
  2. Create a new Unit or Lesson, or locate the Unit or Lesson in which you would like to place the Perusall Integration link.
  3. Click the Add Existing button.
  4. Click on External Tool Activity
  5. Click on Perusall

Adding Students to a Perusall course

Students will appear in the Perusall course roster after they click the Perusall link or Perusall assignment links in the Brightspace course site.

Adding Perusall assignment links in Brightspace

Assignments created in Peruall can be added to your Brightspace course site. Students are encouraged to click the assignment link in Brightspace for their grade to pass properly to the Brightspace gradebook.

  1. Ensure that the main Perusall integration has been added to the Brightspace course site and activated.
  2. After loading content to the Perusall course, the content can be used to make an assignment.
  3. Create an assignment in Perusall.
  4. Go back to the Brightspace course site and navigate to the Content Tool.
  5. Create a new Unit or Lesson, or locate the Unit or Lesson in which you would like to place the Perusall assignment link. Assignment links can also be added to the HTML editor.
  6. Click the Add Existing button.
  7. Click the More button.
  8. Select Perusall Assignment Link.
  9. A window will appear showing the available assignment from Perusall that can be linked to the Brightspace course site.
  10. Select the Perusall assignment to link.

Syncing grades from Perusal to Brightspace

Automatic grade sync

Grades will automatically sync from Perusall to Brightspace after instructors have released student grades in Perusall.  Sync may take several hours to appear in the Brightspace gradebook.  As a reminder, students must click on the Perusall assignment links in Brightspace in order to link their individual grades to the Brightspace gradebook.

If grades are not syncing to Brightspace, ensure the following:

  • Students clicked the Persual assignment link from Brightspace
  • Grades have been released to students in Perusall
  • Sufficient time has passed for the sync to process, automatic grade sync may take several hours

Manual Grade Sync  

Instructors may prefer to manually sync grades from Perusall to Brightspace.  This allows instructors to select which assignments are passed to the Brightspace gradebook.  to change from auto sync to manual sync:

  1. Click the Perusall link in the Brightspace course site
  2. Click on the Settings tab in the Perusall course site
  3. Click the dropdown next to Grade sync to LMS
  4. Select Manually sync individual assignment scores back to the LMS
  5. Click the Save changes button

To select which grades to sync to LMS Brightspace:

  1. Navigate to the gradebook in the Persuall course
  2. Click the Sync to LMS dropdown at the top of the screen
  3. Select the assignment to sync to the Brightspace gradebook

Confirm Grades in Brightspace

The selected assignment grades will be synced to the Brightspace gradebook.

Please note that gradebook items generated by integrations are automatically included in the final grades for gradebooks with a weighted grade scheme.  Gradebooks that are not set up with a weighted scheme may find that the grades from external learning tools are excluded from final grade calculations.  To check the status and/or include the grades passed from the integration in to the final grade calculations:

  1.  Click on Grades in the Brightspace course site navigation bar
  2. Navigate to the gradebook column created by the integration
  3. Click the dropdown menu in the column and select Edit
  4. Scroll down and uncheck the box next to Exclude from Final Grade Calculation

Unchecking the box will ensure that the grade for that column is included in the final grade calculations.  This process should be repeated for each integration created gradebook item for which the grades should be included in the final grade calculation.

Support

While Marist IT provides access to Perusall throught he Brightspace Integration, support for Perusall is provided by Perusall.  See the Perusall Support Center for questions or issues with the Perusall platform.  https://support.perusall.com/hc/en-us

For Additional Assistance

Open a ticket, contact/visit an office, etc.

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