Canvas Release Notes

Canvas Tutorials Release Notes

Getting Started Module

How Often Does Canvas Get Updated?

Instructure Canvas is a true cloud platform and doesn't use software version numbers. Currently, releases occur every three weeks. The update schedule can be viewing on the release notes page Links to an external site. in the Canvas Community. Information Systems & Services will offer workshops on any significant changes that occur in Canvas. The upcoming release notes have been conveniently linked here for you.

Latest Canvas Release Notes

View the release notes Links to an external site. for this release. This release was posted to production on December 21, 2019.

What's New in This Release

Commons, Favorites Import - Favorited Commons items can be imported from Quizzes, Pages, Discussion, Assignments, and Modules. This change allows users to import all favorited content from Commons into one of the five supported Canvas areas. See the Commons tutorial for more details.
Gradebook, Gradebook Import Reserved Names - Gradebook import CSV files ignore reserved name columns as well as hidden and deleted custom columns. For new custom columns, custom columns cannot have the same name as a reserved column. This change confirms data is uploaded correctly as part of the import and prevents grade conflicts from hidden or deleted columns.
New Quizzes, Quizzes Page New Quizzes Button - Note: This is course level feature option and will not display if new quizzes are not turned on in the course settings. The New Quizzes button has been moved from the Assignments page to the Quizzes page. Additionally, the quiz creation process supports both New Quizzes and Classic (old) Quizzes. This change helps instructors logically identify new and old quizzes and be able to create each type from the same location. In an upcoming release, users can choose to make a selected quiz type persistent. See New Quiz Tool Overview for details on the new quiz tool.

Below are items that are currently only available in beta or have been delayed in recent release notes. Only instructors will have access to beta. These options are available in beta or were delayed based on user feedback for improving the the updates. Look for these changes in future updates.

(BETA Only) Assignments, Student Enhancements - This is a course level feature option and will only be available in beta for the time being. This change improves the student experience in completing and submitting assignments, viewing rubrics, and locating instructor feedback. See Assignment Workflow Changes (Coming Soon) page for details.
(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.

See What's New in Canvas for details on latest significant updates and training workshops on the new features.

Mobile Updates

The mobile app will receive updates from time to time. See latest release notes Links to an external site..

Studio Updates

Studio is separate application that is integrated in Canvas. See the latest release notes Links to an external site..

Upcoming Release Notes

The next release will occur on March 21, 2020. The release notes will be posted on February 18, 2020.

To see the full schedule of upcoming release dates, visit the Canvas Release Calendar Overview Links to an external site. page in the Canvas Community.

Important Changes

Internet Explorer 11 is no longer supported browser. See Technical Requirements for more details.

Starting with July 2019 releases will occur monthly. You can learn more about the new schedule in the links from the Canvas Community.

Below are some feature updates that you can expect in the next year. As these features get closer to being in production, more information will be shared with the Lake Land College community.

InstCon 2019 Product Announcements Summary Links to an external site.- Details about releases in the past year and updates to come.
Assignments 2.0 - Improvements to submission and feedback loop for instructors and students.
New Analytics - Lake Land College enabled new analytics on December 16,, 2019. Instructors can enable new analytics in course now if desired.
Rich Content Editor Improvements - Lake Land College will enable the new rich content editor on May 15, 2020. Once this option is released to production, instructors can enable the new rich content editor if desired.
User Account Update - There will be extra page in the user account area of Canvas. This page is the profile page and will allow all users to add a biography and links to websites.