2019 Release Notes

Canvas Tutorials 2019 Release Notes

Getting Started Module

Updates from Recent Releases

December 21, 2019 Links to an external site.

New Analytics - The new analytics option can be enabled in on course by course basis in the course settings under feature options. Please note this will replace the current analytics in a course and students will be able to see their own data. The new analytics will be turned on for ALL courses on December 16, 2019. See Analytics 2 for more information.
User Profile - The Canvas user account will be receiving an update on December 16, 2019. See User Account Profile Update page for details.
Announcements, Global Announcement Notification Option - In the Notifications page, the Alerts section includes a Global Announcements option. By default, the notification preference is set to Immediately via email. Other notification channels default to off.
Conferences, BigBlueButton Interface Webcam Window Resizing - This change allows participants to manage the size of the webcam in a BigBlueButton conference.
Conferences, Interface User Talking Indicator - This change allows moderators to better see who is talking in large BigBlueButton conferences.
New Quizzes, Numeric Question Invalid Input Warning - In Numeric questions, the invalid input warning displays if a student responds to a numeric question with an invalid variable. This change reduces unintentional misgrading when students attempt to answer a numeric question and matches parity with numeric questions in existing quizzes.

Below are items that have been delayed in recent release notes. The delay was based on user feedback for improving the the updates. Look for these changes in future updates.

(Delayed) New Quizzes, Quizzes Page New Quizzes Button - The New Quizzes button has been moved from the Assignments page to the Quizzes page. This change helps instructors logically identify new and old quizzes.
(Delayed) New Gradebook, Plagiarism Icons - For plagiarism tools, plagiarism reports display in the New Gradebook. This change matches previous functionality only available in the existing Gradebook for instructors. Updated icons will be added to the student Grades page in a future release. See How to Create TurnItIn Assignments in Canvas for details.
(Delayed) Rich Content Editor, Rich Content Editor Interface Enhancements - The current Rich Content Editor will be deprecated in the 20 June 2020 release. After this release instructors can enable the New Rich Content Editor option on course by course basis in the course settings under feature options. It is important to note this option will also affect student view as well. Lake Land College plans to enable this option for ALL courses on May 15, 2020. See Rich Content Editor Update (Coming Soon) for details.

November 16, 2019 Links to an external site.

New Analytics - The new analytics option can be enabled in on course by course basis in the course settings under feature options. Please note this will replace the current analytics in a course and students will be able to see their own data. The new analytics will be turned on for ALL courses on December 16, 2019. See Analytics 2 for more information.
Portfolium Network Integration - The Portfolium network integration allows all Canvas users to create a Portfolio in Portfolium. See Portfolium Overview for details.
Dashboard, Course Card Unfavorite Option - In the Course Card Dashboard, courses can be removed as favorites from the course card Options menu. This change allows users to quickly remove a course as a favorite without having to access the Courses page.
(Delayed) New Gradebook, Plagiarism Icons - For plagiarism tools, plagiarism reports display in the New Gradebook. This change matches previous functionality only available in the existing Gradebook for instructors. Updated icons will be added to the student Grades page in a future release. See How to Create TurnItIn Assignments in Canvas for details.
New Quizzes, In-Process Quiz Manual Submission - Instructors can manually submit student in-process quiz attempts. This change allows instructors to submit outstanding quiz submissions on behalf of their students, specifically for situations where a quiz will never auto-submit because it is missing a timer and/or due date. See New Quiz Tool Overview for details.
Pages, Microsoft Immersive Reader - The Microsoft Immersive Reader is being offered in Canvas as a trial feature that can be enabled by a Canvas admin as a feature option in Account Settings. To learn more about this feature, see the Microsoft Immersive Reader website Links to an external site.. This feature creates a reading experience that adds accessibility and comprehension for learners of all ages and abilities. Note: We will not enable this feature until we understand the terms for this integration.
(Delayed) Rich Content Editor, Rich Content Editor Interface Enhancements - The current Rich Content Editor will be deprecated in the 20 June 2020 release. After this release instructors can enable the New Rich Content Editor option on course by course basis in the course settings under feature options. It is important to note this option will also affect student view as well. Lake Land College plans to enable this option for ALL courses on May 15, 2020. See Rich Content Editor Update (Coming Soon) for details.

October 19, 2019 Links to an external site.

Analytics, New Course and User Analytics - The existing course and user analytics links and pages are deprecated. The New Course and User Analytics functionality is available in all courses. This change allows institutions to preview new Course and User Analytics in their courses before they are enabled by default for all institutions on 21 March 2020. Lake Land College will enable new analytics on December 16,, 2019. See Analytics 2 page for more details.
Conferences, BigBlueButton Interface Private Chat Restriction - The BigBlueButton interface supports restricting viewers from creating private chat messages with other users. This change allows moderators to manage private chats within BigBlueButton conferences.
Navigation, Menu Visibility - The Admin, Course, and User Navigation Menus have been updated to include color and visual indicators to define active menu items. Additionally, the Course Navigation Menu includes tooltip indicators to clarify inactive menu items. No functionality has been affected. This change helps improve accessibility in Canvas. Previously the inactive links displayed in light gray text with a light border, which did not fulfill contrast ratios. Additionally, active and inactive links only relied on color to convey information. See Canvas Course Overview for more details.
New Gradebook, Post Policy Icon Updates - The word Manual displays in the assignment header to indicate the assignment is set with the Manual Posting Policy. Additionally, the outlined Visibility icon only displays when entered grades need to be posted. This change helps simplify the number of icons related to the manual posting policy and provide icon consistency throughout Canvas. See Viewing the Gradebook for details.
(Delayed) New Rich Content Editor, Rich Content Editor Interface Enhancements - The Rich Content Editor is deprecated. The New Rich Content Editor is available for institutions to enable in their courses. This change allows institutions to preview the New Rich Content Editor in their courses before it is enabled by default for all institutions on 20 June 2020. Lake Land College will enable the new rich content editor on May 15, 2020. For more information about Rich Content Editor Enhancements, please see the Rich Content Editor Update (Coming Soon) page.

September 21, 2019 Links to an external site.

New Gradebook, Student Group Filter - SpeedGrader can be filtered by student group via an option in course settings. When this feature is enabled, SpeedGrader will only load submissions from a selected group. This feature is designed for large courses and helps manage submissions for an instructor or TA. Filtering submissions by student group also improves SpeedGrader loading times more efficiently than filtering submissions by section.
New Quizzes, Multiple Choice Individual Level Feedback - Multiple Choice Questions support individual feedback for each answer. This change allows students to receive specific feedback relating to each individual answer choice.
(Removed) Navigation, Menu Visibility - This was removed from this update and will be in next release. The Admin, Course, and User Navigation Menus have been updated to include color and visual indicators to define active menu items. Additionally, the Course Navigation Menu includes tooltip indicators to clarify inactive menu items. No functionality has been affected. This change helps improve accessibility in Canvas. Previously the inactive links displayed in light gray text with a light border, which did not fulfill contrast ratios. Additionally, active and inactive links only relied on color to convey information.

August 17, 2019 Links to an external site.

Conferences, Breakout Rooms - Canvas Conferences supports breakout rooms as conference groups. This feature allows instructors to place students into groups for team collaboration during a conference.
Conferences, Closed Captions - Canvas Conferences supports live closed captioning. This feature allows a stenographer join a conference as an observer and provide live captioning to attendees.
Course Settings, Unsplash Course Card Image Search - The Flickr image search has been replaced by Unsplash. This change replaces Flickr with Unsplash, which offers high-quality, safe images for use as course card images.
New Quizzes (Quizzes.Next), Assessment Preview - The Build page supports previewing New Quizzes assessments in the student’s perspective. This change allows instructors to view and test assessment questions and settings by viewing an assessment the way students see it.
New Quizzes (Quizzes.Next), Item Bank Sharing - The Item Banks page supports sharing item banks with other users. This change allows a user to gain access to another user’s item bank and use those items in their assessments.

July 13, 2019 Links to an external site.

New Gradebook, Grade Post Policies - The New Gradebook includes a grade posting policy, which sets how grades and comments are released to students. This change redefines assignment-wide muting to an individual assignment level, making grades visible down to individual sections of a course, or hide previously posted grades if needed. For a summary of Post Policy changes, please see the Post Policies Overview and API Changes document Links to an external site..
Canvas Commons, Featured Content - Commons includes featured content at the top of the Search page that highlights or promotes specific resources. This change allows instructors to easily identify high quality instructional content in Commons. Featured content is currently curated by the Commons team and highlighted to benefit all Commons users.
Canvas Commons, Imported Tab Search Field - The Imported page includes a search field for users to search for, sort, and filter previously imported resources. This feature allows users to find specific resources on the Imported page.

June 22, 2019 Links to an external site.

Commons, Unsplash Image Search - The Flickr image search has been replaced by Unsplash. When instructors and admins share a new resource or edit an existing resource, they can select an image to display as a thumbnail for their resource using Unsplash. Unsplash image search replaces the existing Flickr search functionality. The Flickr logo has been removed from the interface. Existing images imported from Flickr will not be affected.
New Gradebook, Student Group Data - The New Gradebook View Filter and Student Name Secondary Info both include options to display student group data. This change allows instructors to filter the New Gradebook by student groups and view student name secondary info by group name.
New Quizzes (Quizzes.Next), Assessment-Level Accommodations - Instructors can provide accommodations to students in an individual assessment. This change allows instructors to give students extra time or attempts for a specific assessment without applying the accommodation to all assessments in a course.
New Quizzes (Quizzes.Next), Assessment Point Total - The Question Navigator displays the assessment point total. This change allows instructors to view the point total for an assessment from the Build page.
Canvas Interface, Branding Update - The Canvas and Instructure logos have been updated throughout the interface. This change promotes consistency with updated Canvas and Instructure branding.
Commons, Empty Page Message Update - The empty page messages have been updated in Commons for consistency and clarity. Empty page messages display when no search results are found or if a page in Commons has no content to display. This change improves the consistency of page messages throughout Commons.
Discussions, Reply Settings Interface Change - When students are not allowed to edit or delete their own discussion posts, the Settings menu for a discussion shows those functions have been disabled. This change more clearly informs students if they are allowed to edit or delete their own discussion posts. Previously when this feature was disabled, the Settings menu was removed, causing students to think there was a bug with being able to edit or delete their posts.

June 1, 2019 Links to an external site.

Conversations, Compose Field Message Removal - The Compose Message window does not include an option to remove previously received messages. This change improves accessibility within the Compose Message window.
New Gradebook, Message Students Who Alphabetical Sorting - The Message Students Who window displays names in alphabetical order. This change allows instructors to find student names in the window more easily.
New Quizzes (Quizzes.Next), Assessment On-Screen Calculators - The Settings page includes an option for allowing calculators during the entire assessment and not just for individual questions. This change allows students to view a calculator throughout an assessment.
New Quizzes (Quizzes.Next), Numeric Question Scientific Notation Responses - Numeric questions accept scientific notation answers for the Exact Response and Within a Range requirement options. This change allows instructors to create questions that require responses in scientific notation.

May 11, 2019 Links to an external site.

Design Tools Multi Tool Updates - You can now adjust the delay date for announcements using the Delay date modifier.
New Gradebook, Student Context Card and Final Grade Override - This change allows Final Grade Overrides to be included in the Student Context Card.
New Quizzes (Quizzes.Next), Beta Environment Support - The Canvas beta environment supports most Quizzes.Next features. However, reports, statistics, and item bank search and tagging are not supported.
Files, Restricted Access Permissions Interface - The Restricted Access files interface has been simplified in page design and includes individual icons for each permission type. However, no functionality has been affected. This change more clearly defines the two options offered for files set with restricted access.

April 20, 2019 Links to an external site.

Conferences, BigBlueButton Interface Redesign - The BigBlueButton Conferences interface has been redesigned using HTML5 for improved usability. This change makes the Conferences interface faster and easier to use and removes the requirement for extensions or plugins. See What's New in Conferences for more detail.
New Gradebook, Final Grade Override Setting Persistence - The Final Grade Override option in the New Gradebook is treated as a course setting and is persistent for all graders in the course. When enabled in the New Gradebook, the Override column displays for all other instructors who view the New Gradebook or the Individual View Gradebook. This change provides viewing consistency for all graders in the Gradebook.
Commons, Filter Tray - The Filter window in the Commons Search page includes wider spacing between icons and for search filters.
Commons, Status banners - Status banners have been updated or removed for messaging clarification. This update simplifies and clarifies existing banner messages and removes redundant messages in Commons.
Course Import, Pages Terminology - In the Course Import Tool, Wiki Pages terminology has been changed to Pages. This change aligns consistency with Pages terminology throughout Canvas.

March 30, 2019 Links to an external site.

New Gradebook, Final Grade Override Percentage Scores - Percentages added as an override grade are displayed as the entered percentage and the grade associated with the grading scheme. The lower bound of the grading scheme is not factored into the percentage display. This change allows instructors to adjust the final grade using a specific percentage and have that percentage apply for the grade.
Notifications, Content Link Error - The Notifications page includes a new alert for instructors to be notified about broken links in a course. This change allows instructors to be notified about broken links via notifications when they are accessed by students in the course.
Notifications, SMS Message Content - Cellular (SMS) Notifications have been shortened to distribute one message about the related content. Additionally, content no longer includes direct URLs to access the content within the course. This change minimizes the number of text messages sent to a subscribed user.
New Quizzes (Quizzes.Next), Item Bank Tags - Instructors can add tags when editing an item bank item. From the Tags and Metadata field, instructors can enter text to create a new tag. After a tag is created, it can be selected as a tag in any item bank associated with the user who created the tag.
New Quizzes (Quizzes.Next), Item Bank Search - Instructors can search for items within any item bank by using the Search field. Search results will display items with matching results in question titles, question stems, and answer choices.
Commons, Back Button Context - When instructors view the details for a resource, the Back button displays the location of the previous page in the text.
Groups, Group Membership Edit Message Clarification - When an instructor has previously created a group assignment that has received group submissions, adding or removing any student within the group triggers a group membership warning. The previous message did not warn instructors about the loss of data within SpeedGrader that may occur.

March 9, 2019 Links to an external site.

Assignments, Moderated Grading Audit Trail Enforcement - (Feature option that must be enabled) As part of a moderated assignment, the Assessment Audit section displays automatically within SpeedGrader for any user with permission to view the moderated grading audit log. This change removes the Anonymous Moderated Marking Audit Trail feature option and no longer requires this feature option to be enabled separately when creating moderated assignments.
Commons, Favorites and Downloads Sorting - Resource cards display the number of times a resource has been downloaded or imported and the number of times a resource has been favorited. Users can also sort search results by Most Favorited and Most Downloaded. This update allows instructors to easily view how many times a resource has been favorited and downloaded. It also allows instructors to sort search results by Most Favorited or Most Downloaded.
Commons, Institution Search Results - When viewing the resource Details tab in Commons, users can view filtered search results that only display resources from their specific institution. This update allows users to find resources from the same institution as the resource they’re currently viewing.
Commons, Resource Card Improvements - This update includes several changes to the interface of resource cards in Commons search results. The updated resource cards now show updated icons, resource type, grade level, and the number of times a resource has been downloaded and added as a favorite. This update simplifies the information displayed on the resource card.
Commons, Outcomes Removal - Commons resources no longer include a section to associate outcome standards. Resources with existing associated outcomes will not be affected. This change simplifies resource management and allows instructors to import resources and add the outcomes that are specific to their teaching needs.
Discussions, Author Search Functionality - Users can search discussion topics by author name in addition to title. This change restores previous author search functionality within the Discussions page.
New Gradebook, Gradebook Export CSV Final Grade Override Column - When the Final Grade Override feature option is enabled, any entries in the Override column display in CSV Gradebook exports. However, override grades are not valid as part of Gradebook uploads. This change adds override grades to Gradebook exports.
New Quizzes (Quizzes.Next), On-Screen Calculators - Quizzes.Next supports enabling on-screen calculators for assessment questions. This feature allows students to use a basic or scientific calculator when answering assessment questions.
Rich Content Editor, Commons Favorites Importing - Instructors can view and import content from their Commons Favorites list directly in the Rich Content Editor in Canvas. This feature allows instructors to import favorite content from Commons directly in their Canvas course.

February 16, 2019 Links to an external site.

New Gradebook, Final Grade Override - Note: This is feature option in a course and must be turned on before it displays in the new gradebook. Instructors can replace a student’s final grade calculated through Canvas activities with a manually entered grade. See Details on the New Gradebook for more information.
New Quizzes (Quizzes.Next), Reopen Student Assessment - Note: This is feature option in a course and must be turned on before it displays in the course. Quizzes.Next supports reopening submitted assessment attempts from the Moderation page. Instructors can reopen an assessment attempt for an individual students from the Moderations page. Reopening an assessment will reopen the most recent attempt. See New Quiz Tool Overview page for more information.
(Removed) Commons, Favorites and Downloads Sorting - (This will possibly be in the next release) Resource cards display the number of times a resource has been downloaded or imported and the number of times a resource has been favorited. Users can also sort search results by Most Favorited and Most Downloaded.
(Removed) Commons, Institution Search Results - (This will possibly be in the next release) When viewing the Resource Details tab in Commons, users can view filtered search results that only display resources from their specific institution.
DocViewer, Stylus Support - DocViewer supports the use of a stylus for annotations in certain browser configurations on touchscreen devices. Support is provided for the Microsoft Surface Pro running Windows 10 using the Chrome or Edge browser. Stylus support is limited to Bamboo Ink and any stylus officially supported by Microsoft for the Surface Pro. Limited stylus compatibility is also available in the Firefox browser.
New Quizzes (Quizzes.Next), Additional Result Restriction Settings - Note: This is feature option in a course and must be turned on before it displays in the course. The Restrict Student Result View option in Quizzes.Next supports additional options to display or hide points, items, responses, and feedback. See New Quiz Tool Overview page for more information.
Rich Content Editor, Commons Favorites Importing - Instructors can view and import content from their Commons Favorites list directly in the Rich Content Editor in Canvas. Any supported content added to the Favorites list in Commons are available for import in the Rich Content Editor. Users can search for items or filter by content type within the modal. Users can only import embeddable content types (documents, videos, audio, and images).
Files Thumbnail Images - When a user embeds an image into the Rich Content Editor, the Canvas files folder structure displays thumbnail images. When a user selects a Canvas file to embed in the Rich Content Editor, any image files in Canvas display a thumbnail version of the file to help identify the file. This functionality was temporarily unavailable after the Rich Content Editor was updated in a previous release.

January 26, 2019 Links to an external site.

Assignments, Moderated Grading Assignment Editing - For instructors using the Moderated Grading feature option, any grader who has permission to view the Grade Summary page for a moderated assignment can edit the assignment.
Outcomes, Student Learning Mastery Total Score Display - The Student Learning Mastery Gradebook displays the total score for an outcome if at least one alignment does not include hidden point values.
SpeedGrader, Rubric Additional Comments Text Field - When used within a rubric, additional comments can be added for a rubric directly in the SpeedGrader sidebar. Comments are displayed directly below each criterion.

January 5, 2019 Links to an external site.

Commons, Resource Previews - This change allows users to preview resource content before importing it into their course. Users will no longer need to import a resource from Commons to view all the contents of that resource. The user interface has also been simplified to make finding and importing Commons content easier.
Course Settings, Course Link Validator Design Enhancements - This change allows instructors and course designers to better understand the context of each broken link and how to resolve the link. Additionally, Course Card images that may be removed by Flickr Links to an external site. can be identified and resolved.
Course Dates and Functionality Clarifications - This change helps instructors understand how individual course dates affect course access for students when used with term dates. Additionally, the options to restrict students from viewing the course before or after the start date are located after the course dates and add additional clarification. Note: At Lake Land College, the term and course end date will be extended one week after grades are due after a semester is over. Once the term closes, the courses become read only for instructors and students lose access to content.