Canvas setup

Initial Setup

 

Connect Perusall and Canvas by adding Perusall as an app (LTI tool) in Canvas. You can add the Perusall app to Canvas automatically or manually. You will need your institution’s Consumer Key and Shared Secret, which you can obtain by contacting Perusall Support from your official university email address using the subject line “Key and Secret Request”. (For security verification purposes, please provide a link to an institutional web page that shows your name, email address, and title/affiliation.) 

 

Automatic installation:

1. In a Canvas course, click: Settings > Apps

2. Search “Perusall” in the Filter by name field

3. Click: Perusall > + Add App 
4. Enter your institution’s Consumer Key and Shared Secret and then click Add App. 

Manual installation: 

1. In a Canvas course, click: Settings > Apps > View App Configurations > + App 
2. Choose By URL from the Configuration Type dropdown menu
3. Enter “Perusall” in the Name field
4. Enter your institution’s Consumer Key and Shared Secret 
5. Enter https://perusall.com/downloads/lti-config.xml in the Config URL field
6. Click Submit

Refresh the webpage and click Settings > Navigation. You can then add a Perusall link to the course navigation sidebar by dragging Perusall to the top list and clicking Save. Click the Perusall link that appears on the sidebar to launch Perusall and create a Canvas-linked Perusall course. Students can also click this link to launch into your Perusall course.

 

Here's a video showing this process:

 

Grade Sync 

 

You can sync students' average assignment scores or students’ individual assignment scores  back to Canvas. 

 

Average grade sync: 

A student’s average score is each individual assignment score summed and then divided by the total number of assignments. 

 

Syncing average rather than individual assignment scores saves time on the front and back end of grade sync. On the front end, instructors only create a single link in Canvas rather than links for each Perusall assignment. On the back end, students only click a single link to enter Perusall and sync their grades rather than individual links for each assignment.

 

Instructions to sync students’ average assignment scores:

1. In Perusall, set the Grade sync to LMS field (Settings > General) to Automatically sync students' average scores back to the LMS. 
2. Create an assignment link in Canvas by clicking: Assignments > +Assignment.
3. Enter a name that doesn't match any of your assignments' names in Perusall. (For example, something generic such as “Perusall”.) 
4. The number in the Points field should match the high end of the Assignment score range of your Perusall course (which is by default 0-3 and found in Settings > Advanced). 
5. Choose External Tool from the Submission Type dropdown menu.
6. Enter https://app.perusall.com/lti/launch as the External Tool URL. 
7. Click Save & Publish.

Students will click this link to access their Perusall assignments and Perusall will pass their average scores back to Canvas as assignment scores are released. Hide the generic Perusall link from the course navigation sidebar (so students only use the assignment link just created) by clicking Settings > Navigation and then dragging Perusall to the bottom list and clicking Save. 

 

Individual assignment grade sync:

To sync students’ individual assignment scores, you will create assignment links in Canvas whose names correspond with each of your Perusall assignments.

 

Instructions to sync students’  individual assignment scores:

1. In Perusall, set the Grade sync to LMS field (Settings > General) to Automatically sync students' individual assignment scores back to the LMS
2. In Perusall, click: Course home > Assignments > select an assignment > Copy full title for LMS. The assignment name will be copied to the clipboard.
3. In Canvas, click Assignments > +Assignment. Paste the assignment’s title into the Assignment name field.
4. The number of points of the assignment link in Canvas should match the high end of the assignment score range of your Perusall course (which is by default 0-3 and found in Settings > Advanced).
5. The submission type should be External Tool.
6. The External tool URL should be https://app.perusall.com/lti/launch.
7. Click Save & Publish.

Test the assignment-specific link you just created by clicking on it. You should launch directly into its corresponding assignment in Perusall. Repeat this process for each Perusall assignment. Hide the generic Perusall link from the course navigation sidebar (so students only use the assignment-specific link, thereby ensuring grade sync) by clicking Settings > Navigation and then dragging Perusall to the bottom list and clicking Save. 

 

Note: In order to successfully sync individual assignment scores, students must access each Perusall assignment by clicking its assignment-specific link in Canvas. If a student does not, then Perusall will not be able to send the student's scores back to Canvas.

 

Here's a video showing this process:

 

Group sync

 

If you would like to sync your Canvas groups to Perusall, click: Settings > Grouping > Manually assign students to groups > Apply groups from Canvas > Save changes.

 

If you already have students enrolled in the Perusall course, they will temporarily be placed in Group 1. Students will be placed in Perusall groups that correspond with your Canvas groups upon their next launch into Perusall. Students not assigned to a group in Canvas will remain in Group 1 in Perusall. (If all of your students have been assigned to groups in Canvas, Group 1 will be empty once all students join the course in Perusall.)

 

To ensure this integration works as expected, be sure that:

1. You have installed Perusall using the process above. If you have, the Custom Fields text box (in Canvas, Settings > Apps > gear icon in Perusall row > Edit) will following on a line by itself:
   group_ids=$Canvas.group.contextIds
2. There is only one "group set" specified in Canvas.

Note: 1) every student in the course must access Perusall (from Canvas) in order for the new groups in Perusall to show up properly. This is the case since Perusall receives the new grouping information from Canvas when each student launches into Perusall from Canvas. 2) Perusall group numbers will not necessarily correspond with the Canvas group names, but students grouped together in Canvas will be grouped together in Perusall as well.

 

Student view

Canvas' Student View button will not work with Perusall, since Canvas doesn't send an email address to Perusall as part of that launch. To see what students will see once they launch into Perusall, utilize the Student View link on the left navigation bar within your Perusall course.

 

See our general LMS troubleshooting page for other common issues.