Sakai setup LTI 1.1

  • Updated

We have a new Perusall integration method available (it is called LTI 1.3). Benefits include: group sync, roster sync, seamless grade pass back, and no need for the Key & Secret! Learn more about the difference between the integrations.

For this setup process, your IT Administrator is required to do the installation. If your IT administrator chooses to proceed, they can view our set up guide here Sakai Admin Setup

Step 1: Request Key & Secret

To connect Perusall to Sakai, contact support@perusall.com to obtain the institution’s Consumer Key & Shared Secret. Please email in 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.

Step 2: Install Perusall

  • In a Sakai course, click: Site info > External tools > Install LTI 1.x Tool
  • Tool Title: enter Perusall.
  • Allow tool title to be changed field: select Allow.
  • Button Text field: enter Perusall.
  • Allow button Text to be changed field: select Allow.
  • Description: enter The Perusall social learning platform.
  • Tool Status: select Enabled.
  • Launch URL: enter https://app.perusall.com/lti/launch
  • Allow launch URL to be changed: select Do not allow.
  • Launch Key: Enter your institution’s Consumer Key.
  • Allow launch key to be changed: select Do not allow.
  • Launch Secret:  Enter your institution’s Shared Secret.
  • Allow launch secret to be changed: select Do not allow.
  • Under Privacy Settings, enable:
    • Send User Names to External Tool.
    • Send Email Addresses to External Tool.
  • Under Services, enable:
    • Allow External Tool to return grades
    • Allow External Tool to create grade columns
    • Provide Roster to External Tool
  • If available, enable Allow External Tool to store setting data.
  • Enable Allow the tool to be selected from Lessons and Allow the tool to be one of the assignment types  
  • Enable The tool URL supports a single LTI tool (Resource Link launch)
  • Launch in Popup: select Always launch in Popup
  • Debug Launch: Never launch in debug mode
  • Configuration dialog when tool is selected: select Bypass configuration dialog
  • Click Save.

Step 3: Create your Perusall Course

  • Enter your Sakai course, and click Site Info > External Tools > Tool Links > Create Tool Link.
  • Choose Perusall from the Select Tool dropdown menu, and enable Add Site Link.
  • Click Save, and click on the Perusall link in your left navigation to create your Sakai-linked Perusall course!

After you've set up your Perusall course, you can create assignment links in Sakai for your students to access your Perusall course content.  When a student clicks on a Perusall link in your Sakai course, a Perusall account will be created and they will automatically be enrolled in your course.

Grade Sync to your Sakai Course 

You can sync students' average or total assignment scores OR students’ individual assignment scores back to Sakai.  Click on the toggles below to learn more.

  • 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 an instructor will only need to create one Perusall link in your Sakai assignments page rather than an individual link for each assignment. Students will access Perusall through this link.

    • 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.
    • Return to your Sakai course, navigate to Assignments > Add, enter any assignment instructions you desire (i.e., "Click on this link to access your Perusall assignments"), and scroll down to Submission Type > External Tool (LTI). 
    • Click Select External Tool (LTI) > Perusall, and enter a title (i.e., “Perusall Assignments”) in Tool Title and Button Text fields. (Save)
    • Accept the assignment title change, and enable Load this tool in a new tab.
    • Enable Allow Resubmission, and select unlimited in the number of resubmissions allowed dropdown.
    • Under Grading, enable Grade this assignment.
      • For average grade sync, this can be found under Settings > Scoring > General > Assignment score range.
      • For total points sync, this is the total number of points of all Perusall assignments that students will be completing over the duration of your course.
      • Set the Grade scale to Points.
      • Set the Max Points field to the highest possible score a student can earn. 
    • Click Post.

    Students will click the Perusall link you created to access their Perusall assignments and Perusall will pass their average scores back to Sakai as you release assignment scores in Perusall.

  • To sync students’ individual assignment scores, you will create assignment links in Sakai for every assignment in Perusall.

    • Launch into your Perusall course > Click Settings > Scoring > scroll to Grade sync to LMS > select Automatically sync individual assignments scores back to the LMS > then save.
    • In Perusall, click: Course home > Assignments > select an assignment > Copy full title for LMS. The assignment name will be copied to the clipboard.
    • Return to your Sakai course, navigate to Assignments > Add, enter any assignment instructions, and scroll down to Submission Type > External Tool (LTI). 
    • Click Select External Tool (LTI) > Perusall, and paste the assignment title in Tool Title and Button Text fields. (Save)
    • Accept the assignment title change, and enable Load this tool in a new tab.
    • Enable Allow Resubmission, and select unlimited in the number of resubmissions allowed dropdown.
    • Under Grading, enable Grade this assignment.
      • Set the Grade scale to Points.
      • The Max Points field should match the high end of the Assignment score range of your Perusall course (found under Settings > Scoring > General).
    • Click Post, and click the Perusall link that appears to launch to test launch.  You should launch directly into the corresponding assignment in Perusall.  

    Repeat this process for each Perusall assignment.

    We suggest hiding the generic Perusall link (created in Step 3: Create your Perusall Course) from the students’ view in Sakai so students only use the assignment-specific links, thereby ensuring grade sync works correctly. You can do this by navigating to Site Info > External Tools > Tool Links, locate Perusall, click Edit, disable Add Site Link, and click Save.

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

See our general LMS troubleshooting page for other common issues.

Adding ungraded assignment links through Lessons

If you'd like to ungraded Perusall assignment links in your Sakai course, you can do this using Lessons.

  • (Optionally) In your Perusall course, navigate to Settings > Scoring > LMS grade sync > grade sync to LMS, and select Do not sync grades back to the LMS.  (Save Changes.)
  • In your Sakai course, navigate to Lessons > Add Content > Add External Tool.  
  • Click on Perusall, and in the resulting window, paste the corresponding assignment title in the Tool Title field and Button Text field. (Save).
  • Click on the new assignment link to verify that it launches directly into the proper Perusall assignment.

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