Feature Q&A: Canvas Release Notes (2022-10-15)

[InstContentTeam]

Looking to discuss these features from the 2022-10-15 Release Notes? Post a reply and start a conversation!

Updated Features

• Conferences: BigBlueButton Conference Updates

Feature Options

• Pages: Schedule Page Publication
• Speedgrader: Multi-File Submissions Display as Single Submission for Third-Party Tools

Other Updates

• Inbox: Improved Inbox Functionality [Production Release Delayed]
  
  

ADD FEEDBACK FOR THESE FEATURES IN Q&A TOPIC

• This topic is for feature discussion only—Please share use cases, best practices, questions, clarifications, etc. regarding this feature.
• Please thread replies as possible to keep posts organized. This will help everyone to track discussions and to participate.

ADDITIONAL FEEDBACK—WHERE TO POST IDEA SUGGESTIONS AND SUBMIT BUG REPORTS

• Idea requests for the Product Team to consider should be submitted in ideas.canvaslms.com . This is the best way to ask for additional or alternative functionality than what is included in the release. Linking to the related idea here so others can find it is encouraged!
• Bug reports should be submitted to Canvas Support. This way, cases can be connected and uniform updates can be provided to those involved. Bugs will not be triaged in this thread

[audra_agnelly]

In the current inbox, the Send an individual message to each recipient box is checked by default. In the refactored inbox in Beta, this box is not checked. Teachers are accustomed to individual messages as the default setting and many are not going to notice the change. This presents a huge risk that sensitive information will be sent to all parties when the teacher unknowingly sends a group message when the are expecting all recipients to be blind-copied.

Also, Admins make note: if you have the msgobs script added to your custom JS, check your Beta. I no longer see the Include Observers button in the message composer. I've reached out to the developer of that script to see if this is something that can be fixed to work with the refactoring since Canvas has not made this native functionality. If anyone knowledgeable in JS has ideas on how to update that script to work with the refactoring, I'd love to hear them. I'm going to have a lot of angry teachers in a few weeks once this rolls to production.

[ayer_j]

I have not seen the beta of these new Inbox features, but wanted to reply to your info.  In our district, the Send to individuals box is UNchecked by default.  This would not be a change for us.  Maybe this is specific to certain builds or admin options?

Secondly, from what I've gathered in my experience, when sending sending to all students, it does not appear to be a group email to them.  It simply keeps them in the same Inbox thread for me vs separate email threads if I selected send to individuals.  It's not like a traditional email Reply All function or anything.  I've never had a problem where I sent to all and they could see each other's messages.  Is this functionality changed in the Beta or is this again something different per admin rules set up?

Just wanted to add my observations and curious about what the community sees versus what I and my district sees.

[audra_agnelly]

I've realized since posting that the check by default is part of the custom script we are running to attach observers.

If the box is unchecked, this behaves as a group message. The recipients see everyone on the thread and have the option to reply all:

 

[aishwaryap]

What about the Deprecation of Numerical variable substitutions will be changed to string values in the release? 

[ccarnes]

Will scheduling the page for publishing put the page on the "to do" list for the student?

I know sometimes students will only read the to do lists rather than go to modules. We use BluePrints and lock our pages. So I am looking for a way to get the pages on the to do list.

Thank you!

[Hildi_Pardo]

Hi @InstContentTeam - The link to the video for Schedule Page Publication is going to the Big Blue Button video:   Release Screencast: 2022-10-15 Pages Schedule Page Publication

[audra_agnelly]

I know I was hung up on the impact of the inbox changes, but I don't recall seeing Pages: Schedule Page Publication earlier. Was this a late addition to the 10/15 release notes? I see this same item is also listed in the November release notes and I'm not seeing any differences in the details between the October and November posts. Is there an additional change occurring with this feature in November or was this feature released early? 

[HeatherAhern]

Hi @audra_agnelly The Pages: Schedule Page publication was not a late addition to the 10/15 notes. The only difference between the October and November notes is the default status. In November the default status changes to Enabled in production instead of Disabled.

[HeatherAhern]

Hi @Hildi_Pardo It was actually linked to the showcase which plays all feature screencasts. I have updated the link to direct to the individual screencast. Hope this helps.

[atcarver]

@HeatherAhern - is there an explanation as to why this switched from a Feature Option (with default Enabled and Unlocked per the 10/15 release notes) to a mandatory enforcement in the 11/19 release notes?
Or is this still going to be a feature option we can turn off? We were looking to disable this out of the gate until we could evaluate the feature.

[f_schwizer]

Hi @HeatherAhern 
We consider the Schedule Page Publication feature to be a great addition. In the German translation it now says 'veröffentlichen bei', but we would correctly say 'veröffentlichen am'. Is it possible to adapt this? We also hope that such a feature will follow for other content, e.g. for modules etc.

[HeatherAhern]

Hi @atcarver,

Yes, the feature will default to Enabled 11/19, however, the option to Disable it will still be available.

Hi @f_schwizer,

Thank you. I will reach out to our translation team and bring this to their attention for evaluation.

[atcarver]

Thanks @HeatherAhern - to confirm, I'm referring to "Enforcement of Multi-File Submissions Display as Single Submission for Third-Party Tools Feature Option" - is that going to be a feature option?

[HeatherAhern]

Hi @atcarver , Thank you for the clarification. No, the Multi-File Submissions Display Feature option will be removed as of 11.19. Therefore, admin will not be able to disable it. It is currently available as a feature option until the 11/19 enforcement date.