How do I manage my course content? What materials can I use?

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Perusall makes it easy to pull materials into your course.  Create a low- or no-cost course by using journal articles, self-created materials, web pages, YouTube and Vimeo videos, podcasts, etc. If you do want to have students use a book, Perusall’s catalog is extensive—students simply purchase the book through Perusall and then you can assign parts of the book at any time.  Read below to explore the wide variety of content options you can add to your course.

Selecting materials

You can add any of the following types of files to your course's library to be used for assignments.  To see these within your Perusall course, navigate to Course home > Library > Add content.

  • Choose from the following text-based documents to add to your course Library:
    • Books from our catalog of 1,000,000+ titles
      • We work with a number of publishers to make textbooks available for students to purchase and use through Perusall. (The student may be able to select between options for long-term access and short-term rental, depending on what options the publisher makes available.) Browse our catalog to view the titles currently available. 
      • Students simply purchase access to the book through Perusall and then you can assign parts of the book at any time. Students can also purchase access codes for books in Perusall through your bookstore.  
      • If you don't see the book you want to use, navigate to Library > Add + > Book from Perusall catalog > select the  Request title. 
    • EPUB book files, PDF files & Scanned documents
    • Word documents & PowerPoint presentations
      • Upload this content directly from your device, or import from your Dropbox or Google Drive account.
    • Google Docs & Google Slides
      • Import Google Docs documents and Google Slides Presentations directly into your Perusall course Library.
        • Comments and highlights made on materials inside of Google Drive will not carry over to Perusall.
    • Source code files (in most popular languages)
      • Perusall will apply syntax highlighting to the file so students can easily discuss the code with each other.
  • Choose from the following multimedia resources to add to your course Library:
    • Images in JPG, GIF, or PNG format
    • Web pages
      • When a web page is added to Perusall, Perusall will capture a "snapshot" of the web page to ensure that the underlying content does not change after you have assigned it. (Ensure that the webpage does not have pop-ups or require a login.)
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
      • Audio cannot be uploaded to Perusall. Perusall will play audio that is hosted extenrallrsa You can search for podcast episodes directly within Perusall, or you can paste in the direct URL to an MP3 audio file.
    • External Links
      • Links do not open directly within Perusall; however, they are a convenient way for instructors to incorporate non-Perusall content into their Library. The link will take students to a new window and are helpful with regard to supplementary material. 
  • Choose from these additional resources to help organize your content and evaluate student engagement:
    • Folders
      • Store course content in Folders, create Hidden folders that only instructors can access, and create Student upload folders to allow your students to post documents in your course. Learn more about folders.
    • Quizzes

If you have materials that are not freely shareable with students (e.g., a book chapter), upload the content and then click Clear digital rights to leverage Perusall’s partnership with the Copyright Clearance Center—students then pay a small copyright clearance fee to access the materials. Learn more about clearing digital rights.

Managing the library

  • You can select multiple items in your course library using the multi-select tool (the checkboxes to the left of each document title), and:

    • Assign the selected items together in one assignment
    • Move selected to folder
    • Delete selected

    Multi-Select.gif

  • To delete an individual item from your Library, click on the item and click Delete.

    Delete items can be restored if you navigate to Deleted Items at the bottom of your Library, and click Restore.

  • Sometimes users upload files that are difficult to highlight, or do not function with read aloud.  Instead of deleting the document, instructors can locate the original document in the course library, and click replace file.  Replacing a file switches the document, automatically updating any associated assignments, and retains previous comments.

    Replace Files.gif

    The replace file button is only available to instructors who originally uploaded the document.  If you are copying content from another instructor, you will need to contact them in order to replace a file.

 

Assigning content

Once you have your course materials added to your Library, you can create assignments under the Assignments tab. Assignments can mix together different kinds of content: for example, a single assignment can ask students to read a textbook chapter, watch a video, and then respond to a quiz. If you have opted to use Perusall's automated scoring, assignments will be scored in accordance with your course setup, or you can specify scoring settings on a per-assignment basis. Learn more about creating standard assignments.

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