Creating an Assignment in Perusall and Canvas

This article walks through how instructors can create an Assignment in Perusall and a corresponding Assignment in Canvas. The integrated assignment will automatically create a grade center column in Canvas. There is a gade syncing

Great Tutorial for Instructors learning about Perusall:

Setting up Perusall Assignments in Canvas (9 min)

Step 1: Create an Assignment in Perusall

Click the Perusall link from your Canvas left-hand navigation menu.
- If you do not see the Perusall link in the Course Layout Menu, be sure to integrate Perusall and Canvas first.
Go to the Assignments tab in Perusall.
Click the +Add assignment button.

A new window will open up and start us on the Content tab. Select the Content to assign drop-down menu and click on the content you wish to use.
- If there are not documents to select, add documents to the Perusall course in the Library tab.
Once the Select the Next step > button from the bottom right of the screen.

Give the assignment a Submission Deadline and an Assignment Name.

The Assignment Name should be unique; you will also create a corresponding Assignment in Canvas with the exact same name. Matching Assignment Names are important for Grade Sync to be successful.

Add Instructions for Students (optional).
- Tip! Consider copying and pasting the same Assignment directions to the corresponding Canvas Assignment instructions area. This gives the students every opportunity to review the instructions.

Go through the rest of the Optional Settings.

Select Next step.
We are now in the Scoring tab. In the “Assignment Scoring” area, select Use Course Scoring Settings or customize by selecting Specify custom scoring settings for this assignment.
Select Save changes button in the lower right corner of the screen.

Step 2: Create Corresponding Assignment in Canvas

Return to the course site in Canvas.
Select Assignments from the Course Layout Menu.
Select +Assignment and Create a Canvas Assignment.

Assignment Settings in Canvas:

Assignment Title: The Assignment Title in Canvas needs to match the Assignment Title from Perusall. Because of this, use the “Copy full title for LMS” button to copy and paste the title into Canvas.

Instructions: Consider copy and pasting the instructions from Perusall.
Points: Match the number of points listed in Perusall.
- To verify how many points the assignment is worth in Perusall:
  - In Canvas, Select Perusall from the Course Layout Menu.
  - A new window will open up in Perusall. Select Settings in the left-hand menu.
  - Select Advanced from the tabs across the top of the screen.
  - Review your grade settings and set up whatever works for you. Select Save Changes button when done.

In the Submission Type area:
- Select “External Tool” from the drop-down menu.
- Select Find.
- A new window will pop-up:
  - Scroll down and select Perusall, it will highlight gray.
  - Verify the URL auto-populates at the bottom of the window.
  - Check the “Load in a new tab” box.
  - Click on Select.

The Submission Type area should now look like the screenshot below, if it doesn’t - please try again:

Once the Assignment is set up completely, select Save and Publish on the bottom right of the screen.

Step 3: Add the Assignment to the desired module

Navigate to the desired module in your Canvas course.
Select the + symbol on the Module Bar.

A new window will pop up, select Assignments from the drop-down menu.
Locate the Assignment you created, click on it.
Select Add Item.

The assignment will be added to the bottom of the module, drag and drop it to the correct location.
Make sure the Assignment is Published by clicking on the publish (green checkmark) / unpublish symbol (grey circle with a line through it).

When the instructor or the students click on the Assignment Link, they will be taken to the assignment in Perusall and have the ability to mark on the document using it’s tools.

Step 4: Automatic Grading and Releasing Grades to Canvas

Perusall is all about meaningful engagement. Perusall uses AI to automatically grade student annotations, evaluated on the basis of quality, timeliness, quantity, and distribution. Even though the top score is 2, Perusall can award a score of 3 which is a bonus point that indicates that the student’s comment or question was exceptional. A zero means that the student's comment was deemed by Perusall to demonstrate no real substance or thoughtful reading. For more information, see Annotating in Perusall scoring examples.

Quality	2 = Demonstrates thorough and thoughtful reading AND insightful interpretation of the reading 1 = Demonstrates reading, but no (or only superficial) interpretation of the reading 0 = Does not demonstrate any thoughtful reading or interpretation
Quantity	Overall score is calculated using the highest-quality annotations (threshold amount set by the instructor) for each assignment.
Timeliness	Completing the reading and posting annotations before the posted deadline is required to receive credit. You may choose to allow a grace period during which the credit for student annotations linearly decreases from 100% at the deadline to 0% at the end of the grace period.
Distribution	Annotating only part of the text and/or failing to distribute your annotations throughout the document lowers the overall score.
Overall Evaluation	An overall evaluation for each reading assignment based on the criteria above as follows: 3 = Exceptional (rarely given) 2 = Meets expectations 1 = Needs improvement 0 = Insufficient

Note: As an instructor you can override the score in Perusall. When you override a score, you are indicating to Perusall that you deem that type of comment or question to either be worth more or less than was automatically scored. This will help modify the algorithm to better meet your requirements. You can manually override student scores from the Gradebook page by clicking on the pencil icon.

Grades recorded in the Perusall activity will be automatically synced to Canvas Gradebook once they have been released to students. Changes made to the Perusall activity will also be reflected in Canvas gradebook, for example changes to the lateness penalty. It may take up to an hour for a grade update to be reflected in the Gradebook.

Additional Resources:

How Grading works with Perusall (PDF)
Grading and Scoring in Perusall (Perusall Support)