Desire2Learn Integration Features: Full implementation guide

While the Desire2Learn Instructor Setup gets your initial course navigation link live, this guide walks you through the comprehensive, chronological lifecycle of managing your integration—from day-one roster syncs to deploying your grading structure.

Phase 1: Student roster setup 

Ensure your student registry and course structure are correctly mirrored from Desire2Learn .

Roster sync

You do not need to manually invite students. Each time you launch Perusall from Desire2Learn, an automatic background sync occurs.

• Any student added to your Desire2Learn course is automatically added to your Perusall roster (found under the Students tab).
• Students who unenroll from your Desire2Learn course are automatically removed. 

Group sync

If enabled by your admin, you can sync your Desire2Learn groups directly to Perusall to keep your student discussion sizes manageable. To access: 

1. Navigate to your Perusall course Settings > Grouping. 
2. Select either Fixed grouping for all course material, Assignment-based, or Library content-based grouping from the grouping methods.
3. Then, scroll down to click Import Groups Import Groups from Desire2Learn to trigger a pop-up window allowing you access to your D2L group sets.  
4. Select one group set to apply to your Perusall course, and click Save Changes.

💡 Need help with group settings? For a comprehensive look at how discussion small-groups function, student sorting behaviors, and editing group sets, see the complete guide on How do groups work? 

Phase 2: Select your grade sync options

Perusall offers three ways to pass grades back to Desire2Learn. We recommend choosing your approach before creating or linking assignments. 

Strategy 1: Summary column sync (single column)

Best for instructors who want a clean, minimalist Desire2Learn gradebook. Perusall creates one single column in Desire2Learn that dynamically updates with the student's rolling score.

The settings:

1. Navigate to Settings > Scoring > Basics, and select your summary column preference:
   • Average Score: Sum of all individual assignment scores divided by the total number of assignments.
   • Total Score: Cumulative sum of points across all assignments.
2. Once complete, navigate to Settings > Scoring > LMS grade sync > Grade sync to LMS, select Automatically sync students' average or total scores back to the LMS, and click Save. 

Strategy 2: Automatic column creation

Best for instructors who want Perusall to automatically create LMS assignment gradebook columns for every individual Perusall assignment. Any changes made to assignment deadlines or score ranges in Perusall are automatically reflected in your LMS course. 

The settings:

1. Navigate to Settings > Scoring > LMS grade sync. 
2. Under Grade sync to LMS, select Automatically sync individual assignment scores back to the LMS.
3. In the new dropdown, LMS gradebook column management, select Perusall creates gradebook columns in LMS for each Perusall assignment automatically, and click Save.

Strategy 3: Deep linking (manual LMS assignment link creation)

Deep linking is the only way to create assignment-specific links in Desire2Learn (links that open directly to a specific Perusall assignment).

This workflow gives you precise control to embed assignments directly into Desire2Learn Modules. It also allows you to offer ungraded access to readings without creating unnecessary gradebook columns.

The settings:

1. Navigate to Settings > Scoring > LMS grade sync.

2. Under Grade sync to LMS, select Automatically (or manually) sync individual assignment scores back to the LMS, and click Save.

3. A new dropdown will appear titled LMS gradebook column management. Select Instructor creates deep links in LMS; no Perusall gradebook columns will appear in LMS until deep links have been created.

Phase 3: Assignment linking

1. Build your library

Before setting up assignments within Perusall, you must populate your course materials. 

💡 Managing Materials: To learn more about uploading textbooks, multimedia resources, or organizing items into folders, see the comprehensive How do I manage my course library content? What materials can I use? documentation. 

2. Setting up assignment links

Let’s get your LMS links ready for your students. Follow the quick steps below for your chosen gradebook setup.

If you chose summary column sync OR automatic column creation

The hands-off workflow: You do not need to create individual links in Blackboard.

1. Create your assignments inside Perusall.

2. In your D2L course, students will click the Perusall link you created in D2L Instructor Set Up, and Perusall will pass their scores back to D2L as you release assignment scores in Perusall.

   Reminder: One LMS gradebook column is auto-created for summary column sync, while automatic column creation adds a column for each Perusall assignment.

If you chose deep linking

You must create a specific "deep link" in Desire2Learn for every individual assignment you built in Perusall.

The graded workflow: You will manually construct individual links that map to a Desire2learn gradebook column.

1. Create your assignments inside Perusall.

2. In your D2L course, navigate to a Module, and click Existing Activities > Perusall Deep Link.

3. In the next screen, a window will pop up that will allow you to select a Perusall assignment to link.
   • Under Assignments, click on the dropdown to select an assignment.
   • Ensure that Import grading information to LMS is enabled, and click Link to this assignment.
4. Beside the assignment title, click Edit Activity and enable Open as External Resource.
5. Refresh the page, and open the assignment. It will take you directly into the Perusall assignment.

The ungraded workflow: Use this pathway if you want to provide deep links directly to specific Perusall content or assignments but do not want to generate a gradebook column in Canvas.

1. Create your assignments inside Perusall.

2. In your D2L course, navigate to a Module, and click Existing Activities > Perusall Deep Link.

3. In the next screen, a window will pop up that will allow you to select a Perusall assignment to link.
   • A Perusall window will launch. Choose the specific assignment or library item you wish to connect, ensure that Import grading information to LMS is unchecked/disabled, and click Link to this assignment.
4. Beside the assignment title, click Edit Activity and enable Open as External Resource.

5. Select Add and Manage Grade Items, and remove the grade item so it is left ungraded. 

6. Refresh the page, and open the assignment. It will take you directly into the Perusall assignment.

Troubleshooting & email white-listing

To ensure smooth communication and prevent missed grade sync notifications, please ensure your campus IT department whitelists the following email domains:

• @perusall.com
• @mg.perusall.com

For technical failures regarding grade communication, please review the guide on How LTI 1.3 integration grade sync works.