Rutgers.eduIn an effort to continually improve Canvas, Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, releases Canvas upgrades every third Saturday of the month along with Release Notes. Pertinent features and upgrades are listed below.
In this Canvas release (February 20), LaTeX equations can be entered in any Canvas text field, and MathJax is loaded if Canvas detects an equation image added by delimited LaTeX characters.
This announcement lists pertinent updates that affect instructors and students and omits features that are not applicable for Rutgers Canvas. The next release will be on March 21, 2021.
View Full Release Notes on Instructure Website (2/20/2021)
Updated Features
Courses
MathJax Equation Enhancements & Text Field LaTeX Characters
LaTeX equations can be entered in any Canvas text field, and MathJax is loaded if Canvas detects an equation image added by delimited LaTeX characters.
All Users
LaTeX equations can be added in any text field in Canvas and are typeset or processed by MathJax. Equations can be added through manual entry, or through the Equation editor as supported in the Rich Content Editor.
For full details please see the Canvas Update: MathJax Equation Enhancements & Text Field LaTeX Characters.
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Gradebook
View Ungraded as Zero
The Gradebook View menu includes the View Ungraded as 0 option, which is a visual change only and does not affect any grades.
Instructors
The View menu includes the View Ungraded as 0 option, which allows instructors to view student grades as if all ungraded assignments were worth zero points. This setting also persists for the Individual View Gradebook.
Each time the View Ungraded as 0 setting is selected, the Gradebook displays a window explaining the details about the setting. The user must agree to the details before the setting can be used.
For full details please see the Canvas Update: View Ungraded as Zero.
Import Override Scores in Gradebook
The Gradebook importer recognizes and can apply changes for override scores. This change allows instructors to modify override scores via Gradebook CSV import.
Instructors
When an institution has enabled final grade overrides, and an instructor has enabled the option in the Gradebook, the instructor can use the CSV export file to enter and upload final grade override scores.
As with other CSV changes, changes to the final grade overrides column display in the import confirmation page, which allows instructors to verify the final grade override scores before they are uploaded to the Gradebook.
Changes to final grade override scores also reflect in the Gradebook history.
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Rich Content Editor
Pretty HTML Editor
The Rich Content Editor includes a pretty HTML editor in addition to the raw HTML editor. This change provides an enhanced HTML experience for users.
All Users
When using the Rich Content Editor, users can switch to the HTML editor by clicking the HTML editor icon.
For full details please see the Canvas Update: Pretty HTML.
Canvas Deploys
Canvas deploys contain code changes that are intended to fix bugs, improve performance, and prepare for new features, but they do not affect customer workflows. These deploys take place every two weeks and intended changes in workflow are noted in the Canvas Release Notes published monthly.
Deploy notes include notable fixed bugs and additional updates that do not affect existing user functionality. View last five full Deploy Notes: