Perusall

Mission:
Created by educators for educators, Perusall is a social learning platform designed to enhance learning outcomes by fostering student engagement and collaboration with a wide range of course content.

Overview

Perusall was developed following a four-year research project at Harvard University and launched as a business in 2015. The platform has since been adopted by over 4 million students at 6,000 educational institutions across 117 countries. Perusall is used by instructors in both online and in-person settings, in small classes and large lectures, and across all academic disciplines.

Key Services and Features

• Social Learning Environment: Students collectively comment on readings and videos, respond to each other, and participate in a collaborative learning space.
• Content Flexibility: Instructors can adopt ebooks from a catalog of over 1.2 million titles, upload open educational resources, Google Docs, slides, PowerPoint, Word documents, PDFs, and integrate videos, web pages, audio, and podcasts.
• Automated Engagement Grading: The platform uses a machine learning model to automatically grade student engagement based on up to seven criteria, providing instant feedback to students and continuous insights to instructors.
• Analytics and Reporting: Features such as the student confusion report offer detailed insights into student activity and areas where students may need additional support.
• Integration: Perusall integrates with institutional learning management systems and can partner with campus bookstores. Institutional licenses are available.
• Security and Compliance: The platform is FERPA compliant, secure, free of advertising, and does not sell user data.
• Additional Uses: Beyond classroom instruction, Perusall can be used for faculty reading groups, author-led book events, and summer reading programs.

Who They Serve

Perusall serves students and educators at educational institutions globally, including those in Louisa County, VA, and surrounding regions, provided their institutions adopt the platform. The platform is suitable for K-12, higher education, and professional development contexts.

Eligibility

Eligibility is determined by institutional adoption; individual instructors or institutions can request information or licenses to use Perusall.

Research and Impact

Perusall's efficacy is supported by published research studies, and the platform is credited with significantly increasing student completion of assigned readings and improving learning outcomes.