Canvas Release Notes (2018-08-04)

In an effort to continually improve Canvas, Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, releases Canvas upgrades every three weeks along with Release Notes. Pertinent features and upgrades are listed below. In this production release (August 4), students can manage to-do items for all their courses using a List View Dashboard option. In DocViewer, comment replies are stacked together and can be expanded to view the entire comment thread. The Rich Content Editor supports the longdesc attribute for images. Welsh has been added as a supported language.

Gradebook Export/Import CSV files display custom columns created via the API. For moderated assignments, only final graders can excuse students from assignments in SpeedGrader. Institutions using Scheduler view an updated Scheduler interface with improved functionality. The beta label has been removed from the Quiz/Test button on the Assignments page. Canvas displays a message notifying students that their submission uploads are processing when students are submitting assignments using Google Apps.

Production release notes also include API updates and fixed bugs. This announcement lists pertinent updates that affect instructors and students and omits features that are not applicable for Rutgers Canvas. You may view the full Canvas Release Notes for August 4, 2018, and its accompanying screencast. The next release will be on August 25.

New Features

Dashboard

The Dashboard includes an option to view all course tasks in a list format. This view is currently only available to students. In addition to displaying automatically populated graded To Do items, the List view allows instructors to add non-graded items to the To Do list and students to add their own items to the To Do items.

For full details, questions, or comments about the Dashboard List View, please see the Canvas Release: Student Dashboard List View document.

Updated Features

Students can navigate away from the assignment submission page without disrupting a file upload for Microsoft Office 365 or Google Drive file submissions. Canvas displays a message notifying students that their submission upload is processing.

Stacking Replies

Comment replies are stacked together and can be expanded to view the entire comment thread.

When users view comments for a DocViewer-supported document, comments with replies are stacked together. The number of replies is indicated for the comment thread. Users can click the first comment to expand and view all additional comments.

Gradebook

Export/Import CSV Custom Column Visibility

Gradebook Export/Import CSV files display custom columns created via the API. As part of exporting a Gradebook CSV file, instructors can view custom columns in the file. Custom columns can be created by an admin or an instructor via the API for the course. Custom columns are included at the end of the CSV file along with the final columns in the Gradebook. Custom columns can be created as editable or read-only. Read-only column content cannot be changed. If a custom column is editable, changes can be made in the CSV and uploaded to the Gradebook.

New Gradebook

CSV Export/Import Custom Column Visibility

Minimum Column Width Change

New Gradebook assignment columns support a minimum width of 10 px. Instructors can expand and collapse columns in the New Gradebook. However, the menu for each assignment column can only be viewed when the column is approximately 60 px.

Rich Content Editor

Longdesc Whitelist

The Rich Content Editor supports the longdesc attribute for images. This attribute supports image URLs that direct to a detailed description of an image.

Users can add an image to the Rich Content Editor and use the HTML Editor to add the longdesc attribute. Long description attributes include a URL that can direct to another element in the Rich Content Editor, another file within Canvas, or an external website.

SpeedGrader

Moderated Grading Excused Assignment Exemptions

Only final graders can excuse students from assignments in SpeedGrader. Graders in SpeedGrader are not able to add an EX to excuse an assignment. If a grader attempts to add an EX, the grade text box is cleared out and not retained as a grade.

Other Updates

Assignments

Quizzes.Next Beta Label Removal

The beta label has been removed from the Quiz/Test button on the Assignments page. Instructors using the Quizzes. Next LTI in their courses access the tool from the Assignments page. The Quiz/Text button no longer includes the beta label. No functionality has been affected by this feature.

Languages

Welsh (Cymraeg) has been added as an available language in Canvas. Users can enable languages in their User Settings. When a language is selected, users will view all Canvas areas in the selected language.

Fixed Bugs

Please view the Canvas Release Notes for August 4, 2018 Fixed Bugs descriptions and its accompanying screencast for more information concerning accessibility improvements and other bug fixes. Some bugs that may have affected Rutgers users are stated here.

Assignments

Media Comment Uploads and Submission Details Page

In the Submission Details page, uploading a media comment and refreshing the page does not remove the comment. Explanation: When a user uploaded a media comment in the Submission Details page, refreshing the page also removed the media comment. Canvas code has been updated to verify the media comment type and retain the comment on the page.

Gradebook

Concluded Course Enrollments and Gradebook CSVs

Gradebook CSV files do not include concluded enrollments in concluded courses. Explanation: When a Gradebook CSV file was exported from a concluded course, the CSV file also displayed all concluded enrollments even if SpeedGrader and the Gradebook did not display concluded enrollments in the course. Canvas code has been updated to always export enrollments according to the enrollment options set in the Gradebook.