How do I add learning objectives to my Perusall course?

Feature release date: June 11, 2026.

During the Get started process, you can upload your course syllabus into Perusall.

By enabling the Automatically extract course information from the syllabus option, Perusall will read your syllabus to automatically populate your course context fields as learning objectives. These objectives can be managed at both the course and assignment level.

Perusall does not train AI models with your syllabus. Your uploaded syllabus remains entirely within your course and is never distributed to other users or third-party sources.

Managing Course Learning Objectives

Once you complete the initial setup, you can review, edit, or add to your autogenerated course insights at any time:

1. Navigate to the left side panel and select Settings > Context. 
2. Determine the appropriate Department for your course (Choose the best fit, as exact institutional department names may vary).
3. Choose the correct Student level (e.g., high school, graduate, etc.).

4. Provide any additional context about your students (e.g., "My students are entering with college-level writing skills"). This helps Perusall’s AI generate student-directed Checkpoints at the correct learning level.

5. Review your Course learning objectives. Since these are extracted from your syllabus, you can freely edit, delete, or add to this list.

6. Click Save changes.

To learn more about Checkpoints, read How can I add comments or questions directed to students?: 

Adding Learning Objectives to an Assignment

When you associate learning objectives with an assignment, they will be displayed directly to your students so they understand what specific skills the assignment addresses.

1. Navigate to Step 3: Options of the assignment creation process. 
2. Under Assignment learning objectives, click the Add button. A dropdown menu will appear, which includes all of your Course learning objectives. 
3. Select the learning objective(s) that best fit this assignment. 
4. Save your assignment.

Similar to Assignment instructions, students will see associated learning objectives, helping them to understand what specific skills a given assignment addresses.