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Canvas Updates

The following is a highlight of recent Canvas updates and releases For a full summary of all Canvas updates, check the Canvas Release Notes organized by date.

Powering Back to Campus 2024 with Canvas – Instructor POV

August 2024 Updates

Canvas Release for August 2024 included an update to ‘Disallow Threaded Replies’ that enables instructors to restrict threaded replies.

There have been some issues since this was deployed on 8/14, as the update caused some discussions to have the ‘Disallow Threaded Replies’ setting checked by default when it should not have been. To address this issue, Instructure’s Product and Engineering teams will be adding a temporary option at the course level to bulk update all discussions in course to allow threaded replies. This button will be available on Monday, 9/16 in the Discussions page in courses that contain at least one discussion affected by this issue. Please read this blog post for full details: Temporary button to uncheck the Disallow Threaded Replies option in all Discussions.

SEE DETAILS ON THIS COURSE LEVEL BUTTON Below:

  • This option will be available in the UI starting 9/16 through the end of October.
  • The self-service button will only be visible in courses that still contain at least one discussion affected by the issue. If your discussions have already been manually updated, modified via API, or resolved through support, you will not see the button. Once the button is used and the update process is successfully completed, the notification will no longer appear in that course.
  • If you dismiss the alert but later decide to proceed with the update, you can either clear your browser cache or access Canvas from a different browser or device to view this option.
  • Please check out the blog post for a video that outlines the user workflow for this button

July 2024 Updates

Canvas Release for July 2024 includes many new helpful updates and features for instructors, including these highlights:

    • Message Students Who Total Grade Update
    • Enhanced ‘Assign To’ for Assignments, Discussions, and Pages
    • Updated Module settings
    • SpeedGrader comment draft enhancement
    • Discussion/Announcement Redesign
Message Students Who Total Grade Update

In the Message Students Who Total Grade modal, the Cutoff Value field [1] is moved and a header is added. Additionally, a message displays that states This is based on values seen in this grade book. Additionally, a message stating that values seen by the instructor, may differ from the values student’s view displays. [2].

View full release notes from Canvas Support: Canvas Release Notes (2024-07-03).

Enhanced 'Assign To' Functionality

The “Assign To” interface in Canvas has been updated to make it easier to use. The Assign To box is no longer visible when editing an assignment, but a “Manage Assign To” link button has been added. Clicking this button opens a tray on the right that reveals the Assign To panel. The panel has been redesigned with separate date and time selectors, each date on its own line, and everything resized to be readable.

Instructors can now assign Pages to students and set availability dates. This update streamlines instructor workflow and improves the ability to differentiate instruction. Note: Pages cannot be assigned due dates.

When viewing an assignment or graded discussion, instructors can use the Assign To button to quickly manage due dates and availability dates.

The functionality of Assign To remains the same:

  • The Due Date is what appears on the student “to do” lists and calendar, and any submissions after this time are marked as late.
  • The Available From date is when the assignment opens and begins accepting submissions. Before this date, the students only see the general details (title, point value, and dates) of the assignment; they can not see the full prompt and cannot yet submit.
  • The Until date is when the assignment closes. Students cannot submit after this time.
  • Each Assign To box (which defaults to “everyone”) shows who that set of dates applies to. “Everyone” changes to “Everyone Else” once you add any exceptions with the +Add button. You can differentiate due dates by sections in cross-listed courses. If you remove “Everyone”/”Everyone Else” from the list, only those students explicitly listed will have the assignment available.

View full release notes from Canvas Support: Canvas Release Notes (2024-07-20).

Updated Module settings

On the Modules page, instructors can assign students to an entire module and individual module items from the Modules page. Additionally, the Add Module and Edit Module Settings pages are redesigned as trays.

Notes:

  • If a student is assigned only a specific item within a module and not the entire module, they will see only that item in the feature area, such as an assignment on the assignment page, and not the rest of the module.
  • If a student is assigned an entire module, but only specific items within that module, students can only view the items they are assigned.

View full release notes from Canvas Support: Canvas Release Notes (2024-07-20).

SpeedGrader Comment Drafts

In SpeedGrader, after drafting a comment and moving on to another student, a Draft pill displays indicating that the comment has not been submitted. This update enhances the user experience by clearly indicating when a comment has not yet been submitted.

View full release notes from Canvas Support: Canvas Release Notes (2024-07-20).

Discussion/Announcement Redesign

The Discussion/Announcement Redesign feature option has now been enforced for all Canvas institutions. This change provides users with the most engaging, user-friendly, and efficient discussion and announcement interface.

For additional information, see the Discussion Redesign and Announcement Redesign guides.

View full release notes from Canvas Support: Canvas Release Notes (2024-07-20).

June 2024 Updates

Canvas Release for June 2024 includes many new helpful updates and features for instructors, including these highlights:

    • YouTube LTI Terms and Conditions
    • Lucid Integration
    • SpeedGrader Screen Capture and Auto Captioning
YouTube LTI Terms and Conditions

When launching the YouTube app to select content for the first time on a device, users should read the YouTube Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Then, select the I have read and agree checkbox [1] and click the Accept button [2] to use the app.

Note: Once the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy are accepted, the agreement is saved on the device and will not display again. This update complies with Google’s terms for using a YouTube API.

View full release notes from Canvas Support: Canvas Release Notes (2024-07-20).

Lucid Integration

The Lucid Edu suite integration offers real-time collaboration tools to enhance interactions among users.

In the Course Navigation, click the Lucid link to access the integration.

Review details on setting up or linking Lucid accounts in Canvas here.

Additional Resources

View full release notes from Canvas Support: Canvas Release Notes (2024-06-15).

SpeedGrader Screen Capture and Auto Captioning

The Studio screen capture and captioning features for media comments is now available in SpeedGrader. This update enhances the clarity of instructor feedback and improves accessibility by providing a streamlined user experience.

Note: Closed captions may not be generated instantaneously and may require some time to process and appear.

The recorder is only available in Chrome and Edge. Currently, there are no plans to introduce support for Firefox and Safari in the recorder. The Studio recorder for playback will be introduced in a future release

View full release notes from Canvas Support: Canvas Release Notes (2024-06-15).