May 2024 Release Summary
The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.
Instructors
Gradebook Updates
Instructors can now access the Message Students Who option in the Total column in the Gradebook. Instructors can message students with a total grade that is higher or lower than a specific grade. For more details, see this guide.
The Message Students Who feature is enhanced to allow instructors to message students who have submitted an assignment. Options include messaging all students who have submitted on time, students with graded on time assignments, and students with ungraded on time assignments. For more details, see this guide.
The Message Students Who feature is updated to include a checkbox allowing instructors to exclude excused students from the message. For more details, see this guide.
All Users
Discussions & Announcements Redesign
Discussions and Announcements have been updated with a new design. This update includes a new UI for both Announcements and Discussions as well as several new Discussion features, without losing any of the existing functionality. For more details, along with a video demonstration, see this guide.
April 2024 Release Summary
The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.
Instructors
New Quizzes Item Analysis Report Updates
The Quiz and Item Analysis report will be updated to include the following data:
- Score distribution chart for Essay and File Upload question types
- Frequency summary and distribution for Numeric-Answer question types
For more details, see this guide.
New Quizzes Moderation Page Update
The Moderate page will be updated to allow instructors to switch between percentages and raw points in the score display column. For more details, see this guide.
March 2024 Release Summary
The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.
Instructors
Multi-Select Gradebook Filters
In the Gradebook, instructors can choose multiple filter options for each filter type. This update streamlines the process of managing filter selections, offering increased customization options, and facilitating faster filter navigation. A video of this feature and additional details can be found here.
February 2024 Release Summary
The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.
Instructors
New Quizzes Quiz and Item Analysis CSV download
In New Quizzes, the CSV format of the Quiz and Item Analysis report can be downloaded, encompassing all metrics and Answer Frequency Summary tables accessible through the User Interface. This functionality allows instructors to easily download data via CSV for a comprehensive look at quiz effectiveness. This provides the data as needed to create custom reports and support learning outcomes. A video of this feature and additional details can be found here.
January 2024 Release Summary
The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.
Instructors
New Quizzes Answer Frequency Summary for Additional Question Types
In the Item Analysis Report, the Answer Frequency Summary charts display the total number of correct responses, incorrect responses, and no responses for the following question types:
- Categorization
- Matching
- Ordering
- Hot Spot
- Formula
This update provides additional question types for instructors to evaluate student responses and patterns in order to provide appropriate intervention. For more details, see this guide.
Students
Submitted Date in Grades Page
In the Grades page, a submitted column displays the date an assignment is submitted. If an assignment allows multiple attempts, the column only displays the most recent submission date. For more details, see this guide.
November 2023 Release Summary
The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.
Instructors
New Quizzes Anonymous Grading
In New Quizzes, instructors can enable Anonymous Grading. When creating or editing a New Quiz and the Anonymous Grading feature option is enabled, instructors can select the Anonymous Grading checkbox.
Note: Once enabled, Anonymous Grading cannot be disabled for a New Quiz.
For more details, see this guide.
October 2023 Release Summary
The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.
All Users
Recurring Events in the Calendar
In the Canvas Calendar, users can now create and edit recurring events.
A video of this feature can be found here. For more details, see this guide.
September 2023 Release Summary
The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.
Instructors
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
The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. 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
The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.
All Users
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
The following is a highlight of recent feature releases and updates in Canvas that may be of interest to Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.
All Users
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 Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.
All Users
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 Canvas users. For a complete summary of all the updates to Canvas, see the Canvas Release Notes organized by date. You can also see release notes in the Canvas Help menu located on the global navigation bar in the lower left side.
Instructors
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.