What is Perusall?
Perusall is a social annotation tool that provides students with a place to engage in dialogue, share insights, and deepen their understanding of course materials via collaborative conversation on the material itself. The annotations create a layer over the content like margin comments in a shared Word Document.
Using social annotation enhances collaborative learning and critical thinking. Students and instructors share perspectives, ask questions, and engage in discussions directly on course readings and materials.
Students can learn from their peers, observe different interpretations and analyses, and broaden their understanding of the material.
Instructors can use social annotations to provide timely feedback and support to students. They can highlight important sections, ask guiding questions, and respond to student comments, facilitating a more interactive and supportive learning environment.
How can I add Perusall to my Canvas Class?
Perusall at St. Thomas was recently updated (from 1.1 to 1.3) which makes adding it to your Canvas site much easier.
If you are importing a class that was created before January 2026, please make a Perusall appointment using STELAR Bookings. The upgraded Perusall has a different approach to making and importing assignments and may have repercussions for your current set-up.
To add Perusall 1.3 to your class:
- Navigate to your Canvas class site.
- Go to Settings.
- In Settings, choose the Navigation tab.
- Find Perusall 1.3 in the available tools. Move Perusall 1.3 to the list of tools at the top (the enabled tools) by either:
- Dragging and dropping the tool
- Clicking on the three dots next to Perusall 1.3 and selecting enable from the drop down.
- Scroll down to save your changes.
How do I set up my Perusall library and assignments?
Perusall is a separate app with its own assignments, grades, files, etc. It integrates into Canvas so you and your students can access it easily from Canvas Modules.
To create Perusall assignments, start in Perusall (not Canvas).
Accessing Perusall
To access Perusall, click on Perusall 1.3 in the Course Navigation menu.
Perusall will open in a new tab. If it’s your first time using Perusall, you will likely need to accept Terms of Use before accessing the app
Get Started Tool
When you first access Perusall for your class, the tool will take you through a "Get Started" tour to set up some important settings.
At St. Thomas, we use the free version of Perusall. Perusall has gone through a fee restructuring and has revised the course set-up process as of July 6, 2026. Instructors creating a materials-only course without a license (St. Thomas doesn’t have a license) will be asked to select a student platform fee. There will no longer be a $0 option.
To use Perusall, you’ll need to request a fee waiver. The reasons for a fee waiver at St. Thomas are:
- I’m using Perusall with my students for the first time.
- I’m testing or demoing Perusall.
- I’m interested in assigning a fee, but my bookstore doesn’t work with Perusall.
Adding Readings and Assignments
In Perusall, your workflow will be:
- Upload files or add links to readings in the course Library in Perusall.
- Create assignments in Perusall.
This Getting Started tutorial from Perusall has helpful information.
To create your Canvas assignments:
Perusall can automatically set up assignments in Canvas. Add detailed instructions for students in Perusall (instead of in Canvas).
Recommendations and Resources
Copying Perusall into Next Term
After you import your Canvas content into the next term, you'll also need to import Perusall. When you import Perusall, it will remove student comments and create a new, fresh library for the new term's students to work from.
In the new term's course, choose "Copy Existing Course". Perusall has created a tutorial to walk you through the steps of copying into a new term.