Rutgers.eduIn 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 (November 17), students can directly upload and embed images in the Rich Content Editor, and browser support has been updated for screen readers.
Feature Options
- For courses using Anonymous Grading in the New Gradebook, anonymous assignments cannot be sorted in the New Gradebook.
- For courses using Moderated Grading and the Learning Mastery Gradebook, learning outcome results are displayed after grades have been posted for a moderated assignment.
External Tools (LTI)
- For users who use the Commons LTI, content can be marked as a favorite resource.
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 Production Release Notes (November 17), and its accompanying screencast. The next release will be on December 8, 2018.
Updated Features
Commons
Favorite Content
Content can be marked as a favorite resource. This feature replaces the 5-star rating system in Commons. Favorited content displays the favorite icon in the content card. This update allows instructors to curate and easily find content in Commons by favoriting content and curating a list of favorites in the Favorites page. Instructors can mark content as a favorite to curate a list of favorite resources in Commons. Favorited items are found in the new Favorites tab in Commons. Items in the Favorites tab can be unfavorited to remove them from the Favorites page. Please see Canvas Release Notes: Favorite Content for images.
Moderated Grading
Learning Mastery Gradebook Outcomes Display
Learning outcome results are displayed in the Learning Mastery Gradebook after grades have been posted for a moderated assignment. This change ensures outcomes results are aligned with the final grade awarded to a student. Graders in a course who grade a moderated assignment will not be able to view outcomes results until the assignment’s final grades have been posted. Outcome results for moderated assignments display the same as for other assignments in the Learning Mastery Gradebook.
New Gradebook
Anonymous Assignment Disabled Sort Column
Anonymous assignments cannot be sorted in the New Gradebook. This change helps preserve anonymity in the New Gradebook. Instructors can view anonymous assignments in the New Gradebook. By default, anonymous assignments are also muted. For anonymous assignments, the Sort By column is disabled. Note: This change does not affect muted assignments that are not anonymous. Please see Canvas Release Notes: Anonymous Assignment Disabled Sort Column for an image.
Rich Content Editor
Embedded Image File Uploads
Users can directly upload a file to embed in the Rich Content Editor. This change allows users to upload and embed files without first having to upload the image to Canvas. When embedding a file in the Rich Content Editor, such as when embedding an image in a discussion, users can view enlarged Course Files and My Files links for selecting an image. However, if a file has not yet been uploaded to Canvas, users can upload a file directly from their computer to their My Files folder. Students must select the My Files folder to activate the Upload File button, as students are not allowed to upload files to the Course Files folder. Images will be uploaded to the root My Files folder unless a specific folder is selected. Like with other image files, users can modify the attributes for the image, if necessary, then update the image. Please see Canvas Release Notes: Embedded Image File Uploads for images.
Other Updates
Accessibility
Screen Reader and Browser Support
Screen reader support has been discontinued for Internet Explorer 11 and Edge browsers. Windows users who rely on screen reader support should use Firefox as their supported browser. For full details about accessibility support, please see Accessibility within Canvas.
Fixed Bugs
Please view the Canvas Release Notes for November 17, 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
Due and Availability Date Seconds Adjustment
Seconds for due and availability dates are recorded as hh:mm:59 if the minute value is set to 59 (e.g. 11:59 pm). However, any due or availability date times manually changed to a non-59 minute value (e.g. 11:30 pm) are recorded as hh:mm:00.
Explanation: In the 2018-09-15 release, Canvas code was updated to always record assignment times as hh:mm:59, even if the assignment was changed to a non-59 minute value. This behavior caused any manually changed assignments to allow to be submitted almost one minute after the due or availability date. Canvas code has been updated to the previous behavior for assignment submission times, which defaults the seconds value to hh:mm:59 for any minute set at 59, but sets the seconds value to hh:mm:00 for any non-59 minute times. Assignment times updated via the API retain the time noted in the API call.
External Tool Submission Uploads
Uploaded files can be submitted for external tool assignments.
Explanation: When a student tried to submit an assignment by uploading a file through an external tool, the screen generated an error and the file selection button was not displayed. Canvas code has been updated to display the file selection button for external tool assignments.
Moderation Page Availability
For moderated assignments, the final grader can select grades for students if the assignment has only been graded by the final grader.
Explanation: When a moderated grading assignment had only been graded by the final grader and no other graders in the course, the grade summary moderation page did not display options for the final grader to select final grades and post grades to the Gradebook. Canvas code has been updated to allow the grading options to display for the final grader.
Calendar
Allow Students to See Time Slots Scheduler Option
The Allow Students to See Who Has Signed Up for Time Slots option in Scheduler clarifies that time slots will be shown if slots are still available.
Explanation: When a new Scheduler appointment was created with the option to allow students to see who has signed up for time slots, the option only allowed students to view the information until all time slots had been filled. This behavior confused instructors who were expecting their students to see that information even after the time slots had been filled. Canvas code has been updated to clarify the checkbox setting as only showing time slots if slots are still available.
SpeedGrader
Free-Form Comments Display
Free-form Comments display for reuse without having to refresh the page.
Explanation: When a user created a free-form comment in a rubric and saved the comment to be reused, comments did not appear to be saved until the page was refreshed. Canvas code has been updated to not require a page refresh to display saved free-form comments.