Skip to main content

Perusall Support

Search

Sakai setup (LTI 1.1)

  • Updated

This article covers:

Installation

Average Grade Sync

Individual Assignment Grade Sync

Initial Setup

Connect Perusall and Sakai by adding Perusall as an external tool in Sakai. 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.)

Installation: 

  1. In a Sakai course, click: Site info > External tools > Install LTI 1.x Tool
  2. Enter “Perusall” in the Tool Title field
  3. Choose “Allow” in the Allow tool title to be changed field
  4. Enter “Perusall” in the Button Text field
  5. Choose “Allow” in the Button Text to be changed field
  6. Enter “The Perusall social learning platform” in the Description field
  7. Choose “Enabled” in the Tool Status field. 
  8. Enter “https://app.perusall.com/lti/launch” in the Launch URL field 
  9. Choose “Do not allow” in the Allow launch URL to be changed field
  10.  Enter your institution’s Consumer Key in the Launch Key field
  11.  Choose “Do not allow” in the Allow launch key to be changed field
  12.  Enter your institution’s Shared Secret in the Launch Secret field
  13.  Choose “Do not allow” in the Allow launch secret to be changed field
  14.  Check Send User Names to External Tool
  15. Check Send Email Addresses to External Tool
  16. Check Allow External Tool to return grades
  17. Check Allow External Tool to create grade columns
  18. Check Provide Roster to External Tool
  19. Check Allow External Tool to store setting data
  20. Check The tool URL can receive an LTI launch
  21. Check Allow the tool to selected from Lessons
  22. Check Allow the tool to be one of the assignment types
  23. Choose “Always launch in Popup” in the Launch in Popup field
  24. Choose “Never launch in debug mode” in the Debug Launch field
  25. Click Save

If you plan to use grade sync, skip ahead to the Grade Sync section. If not, add a Perusall link to your Sakai course following the instructions below:

  1. Enter your Sakai course
  2. Click Site Info > External Tools > Tool Links > Create Tool Link 
  3. Choose Perusall from the Select Tool dropdown menu
  4. Check Add Site Link
  5. Click Save

Click the Perusall link you just created (on the left sidebar) and then click “Press to re-launch page.” to launch Perusall and create a Sakai-linked Perusall course. Students can also click this link to launch into your Perusall course.

Grade Sync

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

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 Sakai 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.

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. In Sakai, click: Site Info > External Tools > Create tool link
  3. Click: Continue > Finish > Assignments > Add 
  4. Enter “Perusall” in the Title field
  5. Provide instructions in the Assignment Instructions field
  6. Choose “External Tool (LTI)” from the Submission Type dropdown menu
  7. Click Select External Tool (LTI) > Perusall 
  8. Enter “Perusall” in the Tool Title and Button Text fields
  9. Enter https://app.perusall.com/lti/launch in the Launch URL field 
  10.  Click Save > OK
  11.  Check Load this tool in a new tab
  12.  Check Allow Resubmission
  13.  Choose Unlimited from the Number of resubmissions allowed dropdown menu 
  14.  Choose a date past your assignment’s due date for the Resubmissions Accept Until field 
  15.  Choose Points in the Grade Scale field
  16.  Ensure the number in the Max Points field matches the high end of the Assignment score range of your Perusall course (which is by default 0-3 and found in Settings > Advanced).
  17.  Click Post. To create a Sakai-linked Perusall course and test the Perusall link you just created, click: the Perusall link > Go to External Tool > Launch External Tool in New Window.

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

Individual assignment grade sync:

To sync students’ individual assignment scores, create Perusall assignment links in Sakai whose names match your Perusall assignments.

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 Sakai, click: Site Info > external tools>new tool link
  4. Paste the assignment’s title in the Title field
  5. Provide instructions in the Assignment Instructions field
  6. Choose “External Tool (LTI)” from the Submission Type dropdown menu
  7. Click Select External Tool (LTI) > Perusall 
  8. Paste the assignment’s title in the Tool Title and Button Text fields
  9. Enter https://app.perusall.com/lti/launch in the Launch URL field 
  10.  Click Save > OK
  11.  Check Load this tool in a new tab
  12.  Check Allow Resubmission
  13.  Choose Unlimited from the Number of resubmissions allowed dropdown menu 
  14.  Choose a date past your assignment’s due date for the Resubmissions Accept Until field 
  15.  Choose Points in the Grade Scale field
  16.  Ensure the number in the Max Points field matches the high end of the Assignment score range of your Perusall course (which is by default 0-3 and found in Settings > Advanced)
  17.  Click Post. Test the assignment-specific link you just created by clicking: the assignment-specific link > Go to External Tool > Launch External Tool in a New Window. You should launch directly into its corresponding assignment in Perusall.

Repeat this process for each Perusall assignment.

Note: 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 access a particular assignment through the corresponding link, then Perusall will not be able to send the student's score back to Sakai for that assignment.

 

See our general LMS troubleshooting page for other common issues.