Shifting Reading into a Socially Constructed Activity: A Case Study on the Benefits and Challenges of Using

Abstract

Perusall is a social annotation tool that engages students in digital course materials. The system facilitates student interaction via posts consisting of questions, responses, and comments on the video, written materials, and audio sources. This paper considers student perceptions of Perusall in an upper-year social science course (n=28). Students described Perusall as fun and engaging because they enjoyed positive communication with classmates, and the system was easy to use. Challenges of using the tool reflect the need for students to learn a new interface and technology glitches such as disappearing comments. We include suggestions for instructors wishing to use Perusall in this paper.