Spring 2023 Perusall Canvas Integration Upgrade

Perusall’s Canvas integration was upgraded to a new version on April 3rd at 1:00pm. This new version brings enhanced features and easier workflows in connection with your Canvas course spaces.

If you are a Perusall user and have created Perusall content before the upgrade on April 3rd, you must take the 3 steps listed below before you can continue using Perusall in your Canvas courses.

If at any point you have questions about the changes to Perusall, or need assistance with migrating to the new version, please contact:

Perusall Support

Step 1: Activating the new Perusall Integration in Canvas

1. Begin by going to your Canvas course space.
2. Open your course Settings area and go to the Navigation tab.
3. Find Persuall in the list of apps and enable the course navigation link.
   For assistance on this, please see the following step-by-step Canvas guide.

Make sure to follow these steps in any other course space in which you are using Perusall.

Step 2: Migrate your existing Perusall content to the new version

1. Start by clicking on the Perusall link in your course’s navigation menu.
   Please Note: See the steps above if you have not already activated Perusall.
2. This will launch Perusall from your LMS course, and will display a one-time “confirm and merge” message. You will receive an email shortly after with instructions on how to complete the process.
3. After completing step 2, launch Perusall again from your Canvas course space. You will now be brought into a new blank course associated with the LMS Course.
   Please Note: This new Perusall LTI 1.3 course space is separate from any Perusall space you already set up, and must be used from this point on. Your old Perusall space will no longer be connected to Canvas.
4. Next, you need to bring course content into your new Perusall LTI 1.3 space. Go to the Perusall document Library and select Copy materials from another course from the menu on the right. In that dropdown find your old Perusall space.
5. Select to move all material over (including the instructor comments and course settings).
6. You’re all set to use the updated Perusall integration and its new features in this course.

Make sure to follow these steps in any other course space in which you are using Perusall.

Step 3: Cleaning up older Perusall Assignments in Canvas

The following section is only for cleaning up content copied into a Spring 2023 (or newer) course space. Please do not use these steps on Winter 2023 or older courses.

Now that the upgraded Perusall integration is connected to your course space, you will want to clean up old Canvas assignments connected to the old version of Perusall in the course Assignments and/or Modules areas. There are two methods:

Option 1: Editing existing Perusall assignments and deep links (such as ones linked in Canvas Modules). To do this, edit the assignment or module, and update the external tool so that it uses the new Perusall LTI 1.3. This method is likely the better option for those of you who have linked to many Perusall activites in the Modules area of your course.

Please Note: If you go with this option, you will also want to update your Perusall settings so that Canvas doesn’t automatically create assignments in Canvas for each activity. This can be done by going into Perusall > Settings > Scoring tab, then changing the LMS gradebook column management setting to Instructor creates deep links in LMS; no Perusall gradebook columns will appear in LMS until deep links have been created. This will prevent Perusall from duplicating assignment columns in Canvas, and respect the ones you already have deep links for.

Option 2: Remove all old Perusall assignments (and any other links to Perusall activities linked in Modules), then use the Grade Sync feature below to sync the assignments to Canvas. For more information, see the Grade Sync section below. This method is likely the better option if you primarily linked to Perusall from the Assignments area of your course space.

Make sure to follow these steps in any other course space in which you are using Perusall.

Grade Sync

If you would like to automatically sync the average of all Perusall assignments to a single gradebook column in Canvas, launch into Perusall, select Settings > Scoring > Grade sync to LMS > Automatically sync students’ average scores to LMS, and then click Save changes.

If you would like to sync individual assignment scores to multiple columns in the Canvas gradebook, launch into Perusall, select Settings > Scoring > Grade sync to LMS > Automatically sync students’  scores to LMS, and then click Save changes.