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Canvas Release Notes (2019-11-16)

Canvas Release Notes (2019-11-16)

Upcoming Canvas Changes

  • 2019-12-21: End-of-Life functionality related to Live Events
  • 2020-01-18:
    • End-of-Life functionality related to Canvas Data
    • End-of-Life date for Gradebook
    • Enforcement of multiple feature options

For more information, please see Upcoming Canvas Changes‌.

In this Canvas release (November 16), the Help Menu includes a new training portal link for admin-, instructor-, and designer-based roles in North America. In the Course Card Dashboard, courses can be removed as favorites from the course card Options menu.

Feature Options

  • The Microsoft Immersive Reader feature option adds accessibility and comprehension to Canvas pages for learners of all ages and abilities.
  • For institutions using the New Gradebook, enabled plagiarism reports display in the New Gradebook. [PRODUCTION RELEASE DELAYED]

External Tools (LTI)

  • For institutions using the New Quizzes LTI, instructors can manually submit student in-process quiz attempts.

Release notes describe upcoming Canvas functionality and are subject to change.

Feature Options

The following feature options are addressed in this release:

  • Account: Microsoft Immersive Reader - Free Trial (Wiki Pages)
  • Course: New Gradebook, RCE Enhancements

Canvas release summary by user roleCanvas New Release ScreencastCanvas Release Collaborative ChatCanvas API Change Log


Release Notes Change Log

Updated Features

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Account Settings

Help Menu Training Services Portal Link

 

Location to Enable Feature

N/A

Configuration Details

N/A

Affected Canvas Areas

Help Menu

Beta/Test Environment Support

No

Affects User Interface

Yes

Affected User Roles

Admins, Instructors, Designers

Feature Enhancement Ideas

View existing Help Menu feature ideas 

Specified Tag for Feature Ideas

Help Menu

Region Availability

North America

Change Type

Deprecation; see Upcoming Canvas Changes

 

Summary

The Help Menu includes a new training portal link for admin-, instructor-, and designer-based roles in North America. This new training portal contains complimentary self-paced training resources and provides one-click registration for Subscription Training Webinars. The Training Services Portal is hosted in Bridge, a tool built and administered by Instructure.

Change Benefit

This change provides quick access to training materials and resources directly in Canvas.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Admins

By default, the Training Services Portal will be added to the Canvas Help Menu for all accounts hosted in North America. No action is required by Canvas admins to enable this link. 

The portal link displays by default but can be hidden by a Canvas admin in Account Settings.

Admins, Instructors, Designers

Users with supported roles can access the Training Services Portal in the Canvas Help Menu, unless otherwise hidden. The portal authenticates via the user's Canvas account; no additional login is required.

Note: Users with no role assigned will also be able to view the training portal link.

For additional details about the Training Services Portal, please see Guide: Canvas Training Services Portal 2.0.

Global Navigation Training Services Portal available for North America customers

Dashboard

Course Card Unfavorite Option

 

Location to Enable Feature

N/A

Configuration Details

N/A

Affected Canvas Areas

Card View Dashboard

Affects User Interface

Yes

Affected User Roles

All Users

Feature Enhancement Ideas

Existing Dashboard feature ideas

Specified Tag for Feature Ideas

Dashboard

Summary

In the Course Card Dashboard, courses can be removed as favorites from the course card Options menu.

 

Change Benefit

This change allows users to quickly remove a course as a favorite without having to access the Courses page.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

All Users

In the Course Card Dashboard, users can open the Options menu for a course card, click the Move tab, and select the Unfavorite option. Unfavoriting a course requires a confirmation before the course is removed from the Dashboard.

Courses can be re-added as a favorite in the Courses page, which can be accessed from the Courses link in the Global Navigation Menu.

Dashboard functionality to unfavorite a course through the course card Move menu

New Gradebook

Plagiarism Icons [DELAYED]

This feature is used in conjunction with an existing feature option in Canvas. Please view the content below for additional details. For more information about feature options, please see the Canvas Release Notes FAQ.

Location to Enable Feature

New Gradebook

Configuration Details

New Gradebook Feature Option

Affected Canvas Areas

New Gradebook

Affects User Interface

Yes

Affected User Roles

Instructors

Feature Enhancement Ideas

Existing New Gradebook feature ideas

Specified Tag for Feature Ideas

gradebook_new

 

Summary

For plagiarism tools, plagiarism reports display in the New Gradebook.

 

Change Benefit

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.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Instructors

When a plagiarism tool is enabled for a course, plagiarism reports display for each student submission.

The New Gradebook displays icons that more accurately portray the plagiarism result by shape. Previously, results were only indicated by color.

New Gradebook old vs new plagiarism icon comparison

The plagiarism result displays directly in the Gradebook cell for each submission.

Report types are indicated by the following icons:

  • Error icon: the submission could not be submitted to the plagiarism service; resubmit from SpeedGrader
  • Clock icon: the submission is being processed by the plagiarism service
  • Green circle checkmark icon: the similarity score is between 0% and 20%
  • Red half-filled circle icon: the similarity score is between 20% and 60%
  • Solid red circle icon: the similarity score is higher than 60%

New Gradebook new plagiarism icons

The Grade Detail Tray also includes the indicated plagiarism icon. For originality reports, the actual percentage can be viewed in the Grade Detail Tray.

New Gradebook Grade Detail Tray shows plagiarism score

If an assignment includes multiple submission files, the Gradebook displays the highest originality score. The Grade Detail Tray indicates that the submission includes plagiarism data for multiple attachments, which can be viewed in SpeedGrader. SpeedGrader displays each individual file and the originality report for each file.

New Gradebook Grade Detail Tray showing more than one submission; SpeedGrader sidebar shows multiple plagiarism data

New Quizzes

In-Process Quiz Manual Submission

This feature is used in conjunction with an external tool (LTI) in Canvas. Please view the content below for additional details. For more information about LTI tools, please see the Canvas Release Notes FAQ.

Location to Enable Feature

N/A

Configuration Details

New Quizzes LTI

Affected Canvas Areas

Quiz Moderate Page

Beta Environment Support

Yes

Affects User Interface

Yes

Affected User Roles

Instructors

Feature Enhancement Ideas

Existing New Quizzes feature ideas

Specified Tag for Feature Ideas

New quizzes

Summary

Instructors can manually submit student in-process quiz attempts.

 

Change Benefit

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.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Instructors

If a student forgets to submit a quiz submission, or a quiz submission is otherwise displayed as in progress when a quiz needs to be graded, an instructor can open the Moderate page and view the number of attempts in progress. The attempts link can be viewed to display the name(s) of student(s) with in-progress submissions. 

Moderate page showing attempts in progress

By default, all student names are selected. The instructor can manually submit attempts for all selected students, or the instructor can individually deselect attempts that should not be submitted.

Attempts in Progress window with options to remove student submissions from being manually submitted

Pages

Microsoft Immersive Reader

This feature can be enabled in Canvas through a feature option in Account Settings. Please view the content below for additional details. For more information about feature options, please see the Canvas Release Notes FAQ.

Feature State

Production-ready

Location to Enable Feature

Account Settings, Feature Options

Configuration Details

Microsoft Immersive Reader - Free Trial (Wiki Pages) Feature Option

Affected Canvas Areas

Pages

Beta/Test Environment Support

Yes

Affects User Interface

Yes

Affected User Roles

All Users

Feature Enhancement Ideas

View existing pages feature ideas 

Specified Tag for Feature Ideas

Immersive reader

Summary

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.

Change Benefit

This feature creates a reading experience that adds accessibility and comprehension for learners of all ages and abilities.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

If enabled for an account, every Canvas page within a course displays an Immersive Reader button. 

Canvas page with immersive reader button

Users can click the button to view the page using the immersive reader, which offers advanced learning features.

Page with immersive authoring functionality

Release Notes Change Log

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Date
2019-11-06

Removed—Updated Features

  • New Gradebook: feature delayed from the production release
  • Rich Content Editor: feature delayed from the production release & removed from notes (see feature details in Canvas Release Notes (2019-10-19) 
2019-10-21Release Notes Published

Change Log

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