Perusall Pilot
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We want to encourage greater collaboration and engagement between students and their peers, as well as between students and their professors, while exploring articles and textbooks that are essential to their studies.
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This fall, we are excited to launch a pilot program for Perusall based on requests from our faculty for a social annotation application! Currently, around 1,300 students at UIC are using a free version of Perusall in their courses, which allows for a limited number of annotated texts. At LTS, we want to encourage greater collaboration and engagement between students and their peers, as well as between students and their professors, while exploring articles and textbooks that are essential to their studies.
We are excited to enhance this innovative tool by purchasing a premium version with additional support and 1,700 extra licenses. Our goal is to make this application accessible to a broader audience, fostering new opportunities for collaboration and engagement.
Starting July 1st, faculty will have the opportunity to integrate Perusall into their courses for the upcoming fall semester. We can’t wait to see how it enhances the learning experience! Based on your engagement and feedback from surveys, we may extend the pilot into a second year or fully adopt the application, for anyone who wants to use it. Get ready to transform the way students interact with their course readings! Some key benefits we anticipate for faculty and students include:
- Collaborative Learning: The ability for students to annotate texts collectively encourages discussions and peer learning, which deepens comprehension.
- Engagement: Interactive features such as commenting and highlighting keep students invested in the material, while the social aspect promotes active participation.
- Active Reading: Perusall fosters strategies for active reading, empowering students to better understand and retain information through discussion and annotations.
- Feedback and Assessment: Instructors can easily track student engagement and understanding through analytics, enabling them to provide targeted feedback and support.
- Accessibility: The platform accommodates various learning styles and needs, ensuring accessibility for all users.
- Integration with Course Materials: Perusall allows instructors to upload diverse types of texts, simplifying the platform’s incorporation into existing curricula.
- Time Management: The application encourages students to complete readings before class, optimizing class time for discussion and application of concepts.
- Peer Support: Students can ask questions and clarify concepts with one another, fostering a supportive learning environment.
Overall, Perusall significantly improves the reading experience by fostering an interactive and collaborative environment. By allowing readers to engage with the text and each other, it transforms the traditional act of reading into a dynamic learning process. This collaborative approach encourages discussion, promotes critical thinking, and allows learners to share insights and perspectives. As a result, users are more likely to retain information and achieve better learning outcomes, making Perusall a valuable tool for students seeking to enhance their understanding of the material. If you are interested in engaging in this pilot, please contact LTS and let us know your level of interest.