Canvas Integration Features

  • Updated

Roster Sync

Each time you launch Perusall from Canvas, a roster sync is run in the background.  Any students that have added to your LMS course will be added to your Perusall course roster (under the Students tab), and any that have unenrolled will be removed from the course.

Group Sync

If enabled by your Canvas Admin, to access Canvas group sync, navigate to your Perusall course Settings > Grouping, select Specify groups, and then click Import Groups from Canvas or Import Sections from Canvas.  A pop-up will appear where you can select a Canvas group set or section to apply to your Perusall course. If you make changes to groups or sections in Canvas, re-import them to update Perusall, and Save Changes.

Grade Sync

If you'd like to sync scores from Perusall to your Canvas, in your Perusall course, navigate to Settings > Scoring > LMS grade sync.  

  • A student’s average score is each individual assignment score summed and then divided by the total number of assignments, while the total score simply takes the sum of across all assignments.

    Syncing the average or total score rather than individual assignment scores saves time because  Perusall will automatically create a grade book column in your LMS course that matches the summary column in your Perusall course, and send the scores for all assignments that have been released and are passed their due date.  To set up average or total grade sync:

    • Launch into your Perusall course > Click Settings > Scoring > scroll to Grade sync to LMS > select Automatically sync students' average or total scores back to the LMS > save.

    Students will click the Perusall link you created in Canvas Instructor Set Up, and Perusall will pass their average or total scores back to Canvas as you release assignment scores in Perusall.

  • Our LTI 1.3 integration gives instructors the opportunity to manage how gradebook columns in your LMS are created. Instructors can allow Perusall to automatically create LMS gradebook columns for each Perusall assignment, or they can manually create deep links to individual assignments in the LMS.  Released scores can then be sent back to your LMS.

    • If you select to sync students’ individual assignment scores, by default, each time you create an assignment in your Perusall course, a corresponding assignment link will automatically created in your Canvas Assignments page, and a grade item will automatically be created in your LMS gradebook.  As a result, student scores that have been released in the Perusall gradebook will automatically sync (unless using manual sync). Follow the step below to set this up:

      • Launch into your Perusall course: Click Settings > Scoring > LMS grade sync:
        • Set Grade sync to LMS to Automatically sync individual assignments scores back to the LMS
        • Set LMS gradebook column management to Perusall creates gradebook columns in LMS for each Perusall assignment automatically.
        • Click Save.

      Students will click the Perusall link you created in Canvas Instructor Set Up, and Perusall will pass their individual assignment scores back to Canvas as you release assignment scores in Perusall.

    • If you would like to create deep links to each individual assignment, Perusall will not automatically create the gradebook columns. Follow the steps below to set up deep links:

      • Launch into your Perusall course: Click Settings > Scoring > LMS grade sync:
        • Set Grade sync to LMS to Automatically sync individual assignments scores back to the LMS
        • Set LMS gradebook column management to Instructor creates deep links in LMS; no Perusall gradebook columns will appear in LMS until deep links have been created.
        • Click Save.
      • Return to your Canvas course, and you can create deep links.

Troubleshooting Grade Sync

  • When a Perusall course is set to Perusall creates gradebook columns in LMS for each Perusall assignment automatically (under Settings > Scoring > LMS grade sync > LMS gradebook column management), this error generally stems from the automatically created assignments/gradebook columns being deleted in Canvas.  This can usually be fixed by clicking Sync to LMS beneath the corresponding assignment in the Perusall gradebook to force Perusall to recreate the gradebook column.

    Learn more about grade sync in LTI 1.3.

Creating Deep Links in your Canvas Course

    1. Create your assignments in Perusall first.
    2. Navigate to your Canvas Assignments page, click + Add assignment, scroll down to Submission Type, and select External tool.
    3. Click Find, and then click the blue magnifying glass next to Perusall.
    4. In the next screen, select Perusall. A window will pop up that will allow you to select a Perusall assignment to link.
      1. Under Assignments, click on the dropdown to select an assignment.
      2. Ensure that Import grading information to LMS is enabled, and click Link to this assignment.
      3. Click Select.
    5. Enable Load This Tool In A New Tab, finalize assignment settings, and click Save & Publish.
    6. Open the assignment, taking you directly into the Perusall assignment.

    Canvas Assignment Deep Link.gif

  • If you'd like to create deep links to your Perusall course library items or to assignment, but do not want to have a grade associated with them in your Canvas gradebook, follow these steps:

    1. Navigate to your Canvas Modules, and click "+" beside your desired Module.
    2. In the new window, select to Add External Tool, and click Perusall 1.3.*

      If you do not see Perusall 1.3, contact your Canvas admin, and ask them to ensure they've enabled the Link Selection placement.

    3. Perusall will present you with a list of assignments you have created in your Perusall course, as well as your documents from your course library; select your desired item from the corresponding dropdown.
          • If you select an Assignment, disable Import grading information into LMS.
    4. The URL should automatically fill with the following URL:
    5. The page name will be the name of your document/assignment
    6. Enable Load in a new tab.
    7. Click Add Item, and then publish it to make it accessible to your students.

    Canvas Module deep link.gif

Canvas Pages and Files

To import Canvas Pages and Files into Perusall, navigate to Course home > Library > Add content and then select Page from Canvas or Document > Import from Canvas.

Similar to uploading documents from Google Drive and websites, Perusall imports a "snapshot" of the Canvas Page as it exists at the time of import. If you later change the Page in Canvas, that change won't be reflected in Perusall. You can also delete the Page in Canvas without affecting the content in Perusall.  Learn more about adding content to your Perusall course.

If your admin has enforced scopes for the Perusall API, they will need to include the ones needed for Pages & Files.

Please whitelist messages coming from @perusall.com and @mg.perusall.com to ensure users are able to receive our emails.

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