LoginSign Up
← Back to all sparks
P

Perusall

EDTECH
Velocity0.0

Perusall refreshes its UI to absorb a year of expanded assignment types and instructor controls.

edtechsocial learningpeer reviewlmsinstructor toolsui refresh
◆Current state
Perusall is a social-learning platform centered on collaborative annotation of course materials. The January 2026 release is a UI refresh — a single simplified sidebar, reorganized Settings, more flexible grouping — that consolidates the navigation around the broader feature set built up over 2024 and 2025. That earlier work pushed Perusall well beyond annotation: peer review went from new in mid-2024 to substantially refined a year later, with new assignment types (Fishbowl, instructor review), differentiated assignments, granular TA permissions, and reusable scoring templates.
◆Where it's heading
The product is evolving from an annotation tool into a course-assignment platform with instructor operations baked in. Peer review was the wedge in 2024; 2025 widened the assignment catalogue and added the kinds of controls (TA permissions, reusable rubrics, late-submission handling) instructors need to actually run those assignments at scale. The 2026 UI refresh signals consolidation — the team is making the broader catalogue discoverable rather than adding new features for now.
◆Prediction
Based on the visible cadence — annual major batches around the start of the academic year — the next observable move is likely further refinement of peer review workflow flexibility, since that's been the most consistently iterated surface across the input entries.

◆Recent moves

  1. 8mo ago

    Simplified UI, more flexible grouping, and more

    ⚡ SPARK

    The 2026 UI refresh is more than a redesign — it's the structural moment that makes the larger 2025 feature set navigable, with a simplified sidebar and logically grouped Settings replacing the accreted layout that had developed feature-by-feature.

    View source ↗
  2. 1y ago

    Fishbowl assignments and instructor review assignments

    ⚡ SPARK

    Fishbowl and instructor-review assignments expand the catalogue in two directions at once — group-style asymmetric peer review and direct instructor evaluation — and together they reposition Perusall as a general assignment platform rather than just a peer-review tool.

    View source ↗
  3. 1y ago

    Peer review workflow improvements

    Peer review keeps getting more configurable — late submission handling, optional instructor review windows, optional overall feedback. These are exactly the friction points instructors hit when trying to use peer review as a routine assignment type rather than a one-off experiment.

    View source ↗
  4. 1y ago

    Reusable scoring templates and rubrics

    Reusable scoring templates remove a consistent annoyance — re-entering identical scoring settings across each assignment — and let course-wide grading policy live in one place. Practical, not flashy.

    View source ↗
  5. 1y ago

    Flexible permissions for TAs

    Granular TA permissions (review grades, assign grades, edit course) give instructors a real way to delegate without handing over the keys — a small change that materially affects how Perusall fits into team-taught or large-enrollment courses.

    View source ↗
  6. 2y ago

    Peer review assignments

    View source ↗