Canvas Updates & New Releases

September 2023 Release Summary

Instructors  

The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to all Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes sorted by date and organized by role (All Users: Instructor, Student, and Admin). You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side. 

New Quizzes Build Upon Prior Attempt

The Build on last attempt setting makes it possible for students to take additional attempts on a quiz, only re-attempting those questions they answered incorrectly. This feature can help to improve student outcomes and performance.   

A video of this feature can be found here. For more details, see this guide.

August 2023 Release Summary

All Users

The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to all Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes sorted by date and organized by role (All Users: Instructor, Student, and Admin). You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side. 

Instructors

Grading Schema

The new Grading Schema is now available in Canvas.

A grading scheme is a set of criteria that measures varying levels of achievement in a course. Account-level grading schemes are grading schemes that can be defined at the account or sub-account level for the entire institution.  Grading schemes are built based on percentage ranges, and each percentage range is assigned a name value. You can create any type of grading scheme by editing the name and percentage range for each item. 

For additional detail see this guide.

June 2023 Release Summary

All Users

The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to all Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes sorted by date and organized by role (All Users: Instructor, Student, and Admin). You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side. 

New Quizzes
The Rich Content Editor is now available in New Quizzes. 

This update provides instructors the ability to:

  • Utilize the accessibility checker on questions and instructions, 
  • Add media recordings within New Quizzes, and 
  • Change the view between the HTML editor and classic view for advanced users. 

Users can also access a math editor. Additionally, this update provides students with the ability to record audio and video within the RCE of a New Quiz. For more details, see this guide.

External tools can now be used within New Quizzes. Tools such as MiVideo can be used to provide additional content within New Quizzes. For more details, see this guide.

Instructors

Modules
Instructors can now publish or unpublish modules in bulk.  Instructors have the option to publish all modules and items, publish all modules only, or unpublish all modules and items. Additionally, the publish icon on individual modules is updated to include a Module status menu. This menu includes the options to publish module and all items, publish module only or unpublish module and all items for individual modules.

New Quizzes
Instructors can now create zero point quizzes in Canvas and select an option to not display a column in the gradebook or student’s grades view. This allows instructors to remove unwanted content in the gradebook and prevent confusion for students related to zero-point practice quizzes. For more details, see this guide.

Rubrics
Instructors can now easily add rubrics to assignments using external tools. After creating an assignment using an external tool, the Add Rubric button is now available. For more details, see this guide
 

February 2023 Release Summary

Instructors (Rolled out March 1, 2023 for Students)

The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to all Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes sorted by date and organized by role (Instructor, Student, and Admin). You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side. 

Rich Content Editor (RCE)
The Rich Content Editor (RCE) now supports pasting and the drag and drop of content. Users can copy and paste an image from a browser or photo viewing app in the RCE. Also, users can copy an image, audio, or video file from a file system directory viewer, such as the macOS Finder or Windows File Explorer and paste it in the RCE. Additionally, users can drag a file from the local file system and drop it in the RCE.

When dragging and dropping an image from the web, an HTML IMG tag referencing the file at its location on the web is inserted into the RCE. This may or may not display the image for other users depending on the public visibility of the source image.

For additional information related to this feature, see this article: RCE Drag and Drop.
 

December 2022 Release Summary

The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to both students and instructors. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes sorted by date and organized by role (Instructor, Student, and Admin). You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side. 

Instructors and Students

Rich Content Editor
Within the Rich Content Editor (RCE), Canvas now provides a detailed word count when clicking on the Word Counter in the lower right corner of the RCE status bar. Previously the detailed word count was only available via the Tools link in the RCE tool bar. For more details on the detailed word count feature, see this guide.

Students

Grades
Students can easily access instructor feedback within Grades. When a new comment is added to a rubric, an indicator (blue dot) displays on the rubric button. When a new comment is added to an assignment, an indicator and the number of comments displays on the feedback button. Students can click the rubric and feedback buttons and quickly access the feedback from within Grades. For more information, see this video.

November 2022 Release Summary

The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to instructors. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes sorted by date and organized by role (Instructor, Student, and Admin). You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.

Instructor

Release Date: November 20, 2022

Canvas Gradebook

  • You can now easily apply a score to ungraded assignments in bulk. This can save a lot of time if you have many students who have ungraded submissions because they did not make a submission attempt. For more details on using the Apply Score to Ungraded Submissions feature in the gradebook, see this video.