An Overview of Perusall

Last revised: 12/6/2023 by TJS

Overview

Perusall is a free “social annotation” tool that helps students engage with course material in class groups. When integrated with HuskyCT, instructors can create reading or viewing assignments in which students create & share their own annotations and respond to each other’s comments & questions. Perusall informs instructors of the concepts that generate the most student questions & discussion, and Perusall can assist instructors score assignments quickly and efficiently. Perusall also reminds students of incomplete assignments, prompting higher rates of completion and preparedness.


* PLEASE NOTE: Perusall will be included in the new Husky Book Bundle. To ensure students who opt into the Husky Book Bundle get Perusall access through Barnes and Noble at no additional cost, faculty members must place their Perusall textbook orders through the UConn Barnes and Noble.

To order your Perusall text through Barnes and Noble, please contact:
Katherine Meyer
kmeyer@bncollege.com

Cheyann Plecity, CPlecity@bncollege.com
CPlecity@bncollege.com

Faculty can upload original, open-source, or publicly-accessible content (PDFs, websites, YouTube videos, etc.) to create interactive Perusall Assignments.  Articles from journals the Library subscribes to may be uploaded to Perusall as PDFs, provided that the material would be available only to enrolled students during an academic term.

Feature Highlights

  • For instructors

    • Browse the catalog of thousands of eTextbook titles from major publishers that you can adopt using Perusall.  (Students purchase Perusall eTextbooks through the UConn Bookstore.)
    • Upload other digital materials to your Perusall course library (PDFs, websites, videos, etc.) at no cost.
    • Respond to student questions & comments about instructional material directly, in the material itself.
    • Use learner analytics to analyze student performance and algorithmic tools to help you grade & provide feedback efficiently.
    • Group students automatically, regardless of enrollment size.
    • Generate “Student Confusion Report” to identify topics that prompt the most student annotations & questions.
    • Monitor individual student engagement and progress with the materials.
    • Sync Perusall with the HuskyCT Grade Center.
    • Meet FERPA requirements.
  • For students

    • Reading course material and watching videos becomes a social experience.
    • Access all digital course materials in one place.
    • Interact with classmates, ask and answer questions through annotations.
    • Control assignment notifications (“Deadline approaching”).
    • Respond directly through email.
    • Take Notes.
    • “Upvote” your classmates’ comments and questions.


Why Use Perusall?

If instructors are concerned that their students are not getting the most out of their reading assignments, Perusall can help. Below is a snapshot of the impact of Perusall on student reading engagement:

  • 90–95% of students completed all but a few of the reading assignments before class” (*Miller et al., 2018)
    • Compared to 20-40% otherwise; most of the literature reports that 60–80% of students do not read the textbook before coming to class (Cummings et al., 2002; Clump et al., 2004; Podolefsky and Finkelstein, 2006; Stelzer et al., 2009).
  • 80% of students complete 100% of the reading assignment before class” (*Miller et al., 2018)
    • Compared to the average: 28% of the assigned reading completed before class. (Clump et al., 2004)
  • Students read for a longer period of time (measured by Perusall) than what the research indicates as the average student reading time (student-reported) (*Miller et al., 2018)
  • “Students using Perusall perform significantly better on in-class exams” compared to students using a different annotation tool (*Miller et al., 2018)
  • “Perusall contributes to deep learning and … students who perform the annotation assignments as required obtain significantly higher examination marks” than their “average mark” in other courses. (Suhre et al., 2019)


How to use Perusall and where to find support

Instructor Student
UConn Knowledge Base – Perusall Perusall – Getting Started
Perusall – Instructor Support Perusall – Student Support

 

Additional Resources

Introduction to Perusall (8:17) Gary King, co-founder of Perusall, provides an overview of Perusall and describes the components of an engaging reading experience. You can also view his overview slides here.

All Perusall Videos

External Links

References

* As noted in the paper’s Conflict of Interest statement, this study was conducted by Harvard faculty who are also principals of Perusall, LLC.

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