In 2015, ASSETT conducted a campus-wide Teaching with Technology survey of faculty from across campus. 聽A theme that emerged was they wanted strategies and tools for motivating students to prepare in advance. Our Tech of the Month, Perusall, was designed to do just that 鈥� it helps students master readings faster and gain a better understanding of the material through collaborative reading. 聽
Developed by renowned physicist聽Eric Mazur, is an online聽annotation tool that promotes active, collaborative reading. 聽Through this tool, faculty assign readings, either through online textbooks, articles, or PDFs. 麻豆淫院 can highlight, create private or public comments, and answer questions around the assigned reading. As noted in Perusall鈥檚 , students are encouraged to annotate thoughtfully by creating comments that deeply engage points in the reading, stimulating discussions, offering informative questions or comments, and helping others by addressing their questions or confusions. 聽
Perusall also has some nice course management features. For large enrollment courses, students are automatically placed into smaller groups for each document. 麻豆淫院 can only see and can respond to comments and questions from other group members. 聽Faculty can also provide automated personalized guidance for students鈥攅specially for those who may be falling behind and not engaging with the readings and peers. 聽Perusall creates a Student Confusion Report that summarizes areas of text that students found confusing. And Perusall can also be integrated into Canvas, CU鈥檚 new learning management system. If you鈥檙e interested in using this tool in your course(s) and would like assistance, one of our Student Fellows will be happy to provide you with support.
