Canvas Release Notes (2020-01-18)

[#1]

Upcoming Canvas Changes
2020-02-18
End-of-Life functionality related to New Quizzes (Live Events)
                                        
2020-03-21
End-of-Life functionality for existing course and user analytics
Enforcement of New Course and User Analytics
                                        
For more information, please see Upcoming Canvas Changes.
                                              

In this Canvas release (January 18), admins can allow users to associate their user profiles with pronouns. The New Gradebook, Course Card Images, Rubric Criterion Range, and Student Context Card feature options will be turned on for all institutions and will no longer be optional in Canvas. These changes were previously included in Upcoming Canvas Changes.

In the New Gradebook, the Student Name column includes additional sorting options. Additionally, for assignments with a manual posting policy, comments can be posted without a grade.

Feature Options

• The Direct Share feature option allows users to copy individual course items to another course and share individual items with other users.
• The Responsive Layout feature option enables institutions to confirm any of their custom code in Canvas with recent default layout changes. This feature option will be turned on for all institutions in the 2020-02-15 Canvas release.
• The Rich Content Editor feature option enables institutions to allow the New Rich Content Editor in Canvas courses. The current Rich Content Editor is deprecated.

Beta Environment Feature Options

• The Assignment Enhancements - Student feature option enables institutions to explore student enhancements in Canvas course assignments.

External Tools (LTI)

• For institutions using New Quizzes, the New Quizzes Settings menu allows answers to be shuffled for each student in supported quizzes, and users can search course outcomes within New Quizzes.
• For institutions using the Attendance tool, instructors can choose to omit the Attendance assignment from the course final grade directly in the Attendance Settings menu.

• New Features
• Assignments
• Direct Share
• Student Enhancements
• Updated Features
• Attendance
• Do Not Count Toward Final Grade Settings Checkbox
• Course Settings
• Dashboard Course Card Feature Option Enforcement
• New Gradebook
• New Gradebook Feature Option Enforcement
• Postable Submission Comments
• Sort Options
• New Quizzes
• Answer Shuffling
• Outcomes Search
• People
• Student Context Card Feature Option Enforcement
• Rich Content Editor
• Rich Content Editor Interface Enhancements
• Rubrics
• Rubric Criterion Range Feature Option Enforcement
• Users
• Personal Pronouns
• Platform/Integration
• Theme Editor
• Responsive Layout

Release Notes Change Log

New Features

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Assignments

Direct Share

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.
                                        

Location to Enable Feature	Account Settings
Configuration Details	Direct Share Feature Option
Affected Canvas Areas	User Navigation, Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, Pages
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors
Feature Enhancement Ideas	Existing Direct Share feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	direct_share
Feature Video

Summary

Instructors can copy individual course items to another course and share individual items with other users.

Change Benefit

This change allows instructors to copy and share content directly in Canvas without having to use a secondary repository like Commons. 

Additional Details

For full details about Direct Share, please see the Canvas Release: Direct Share document.

Student Enhancements

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.
                                        

Environment Availability	Beta environment only
Location to Enable Feature	Account Settings
Configuration Details	Assignment Enhancements - Student Feature Option
Affected Canvas Areas	Assignments
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Students
Feature Enhancement Ideas	View existing Assignments feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	assignments

Summary

Supported student assignments display an improved interface and submission workflow.

Change Benefit

This change improves the student experience in completing and submitting assignments, viewing rubrics, and locating instructor feedback.

Additional Details

For full details about student assignment enhancements, please see the Canvas Release: Student Assignment Enhancements document.

 

Updated Features

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Attendance

Do Not Count Toward Final Grade Settings Checkbox

Location to Enable Feature	Attendance
Configuration Details	Attendance LTI
Affected Canvas Areas	Attendance, Assignments, Gradebook
Beta/Test Environment Support	No
Environment Limitations	Unlike other LTI tools in Canvas, updates to the Attendance tool may not be available with the initial notes for a release and may be added at any time.
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors
Feature Enhancement Ideas	View existing Attendance feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	attendance

Summary

The Settings menu includes the option to not count the Attendance assignment toward the final grade.

Change Benefit

This change allows instructors to not count attendance toward the final grade without having to edit the assignment.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Instructors

If instructors want to omit the Attendance assignment from the students’ final grade, they can open the Settings menu directly in the Attendance tool and select the checkbox to remove attendance from the final grade.

Course Settings

Dashboard Course Card Feature Option Enforcement

Location to Enable Feature	Course Settings
Configuration Details	N/A
Affected Canvas Areas	Course Settings, Dashboard
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Related API	Courses API, Users API
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors, Students
Feature Enhancement Ideas	Existing Course Settings feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	Course settings
Original Feature Introduction	2016-08-27

Summary

Course cards in the Dashboard can contain an image as uploaded through Course Settings. 

Affected User Roles

Instructors

The Course Settings menu includes an option to add an image to course cards. Images can be dragged and dropped into the browser window or uploaded from a computer. Accepted images include JPG, JPEG, GIF, and PNG files. Larger images may take a few seconds to process. Images can also be added from Unsplash. Once the Course Details page is saved, the Dashboard image displays in the course card behind the course color. The image also displays for instructors in their Card View Dashboard.

Students

Students can view the course card image in their Card View Dashboard. As with all courses shown in the Dashboard and Calendar, instructors cannot control the course color. Colors are automatically assigned by Canvas, though students can change the course color at any time.

New Gradebook

New Gradebook Feature Option Enforcement

Location to Enable Feature	N/A
Configuration Details	N/A
Affected Canvas Areas	New Gradebook
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors
Feature Enhancement Ideas	Existing New Gradebook feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	gradebook_new
Original Feature Introduction	2017-11-18

Summary

The New Gradebook includes an improved user experience with additional filtering and sorting options, late and missing policies, and assignment posting policies.

Change Benefit

This change brings an enhanced version of the Gradebook to all instructors.

Additional Details

For full details about the New Gradebook, please see the New Gradebook Resources list in the Canvas Community.

Postable Submission Comments

Location to Enable Feature	N/A
Configuration Details	N/A
Affected Canvas Areas	New Gradebook, SpeedGrader
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors, Students
Feature Enhancement Ideas	Existing New Gradebook feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	gradebook_new
Feature Video

Summary

For assignments with a manual posting policy, comments can be posted without requiring a grade.

Change Benefit

This change allows students to view feedback from instructors before they receive a grade for an assignment.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Instructors

In manual posting policy assignments, instructors can create comments in New Gradebook or SpeedGrader for a student submission and make them visible to students. 

Once a comment is submitted, the Post Grades button can be used to post comments the same way as posting grades. The New Gradebook displays all submissions that will have grades and/or comments displayed to students, per the updated wording next to each posting option. 

If the option to hide grades is selected for the assignment later on (for when the instructor is working on actual grading), comments will also be hidden until grades are reposted.

Note: For manual posting policy assignments, the hidden label displays at the top of the page to indicate the assignment is hidden when a grade is entered. However, when a comment is added in the Gradebook context tray and SpeedGrader, respectively, the page must be refreshed before the hidden label will display.

Students

If a student’s submission has been posted by an instructor in the New Gradebook or SpeedGrader, the student can view the comment in the Grades page. 

If the option to hide grades is selected for the assignment later on (for when the instructor is working on actual grading), comments will also be hidden until grades are reposted.

Sort Options 

Feature Availability	2020-01-20
Location to Enable Feature	N/A
Configuration Details	N/A
Affected Canvas Areas	New Gradebook
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors
Feature Enhancement Ideas	Existing New Gradebook feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	gradebook_new
Feature Idea Contributions	https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/7982  https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/14023-new-gradebook-sort-by-secondary-id  https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/3297-view-sis-user-id-in-gradebook
Feature Video

Summary

The Student Name column includes additional sorting options.

Change Benefit

This change allows users to sort the New Gradebook by student name, SIS ID, Integration ID, and Login ID in ascending or descending order.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Instructors

As part of sorting the Student Name column, instructors can select the Sort By option and not only sort by student name, but also by SIS ID, Integration ID, or Login ID. Each option can be ordered in ascending or descending order.

New Quizzes

Answer Shuffling

Location to Enable Feature	Assignments
Configuration Details	New Quizzes LTI
Affected Canvas Areas	Assignments
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
Feature Video

Summary

The New Quizzes Settings menu allows answers to be shuffled for each student in supported quizzes.

Change Benefit

This change allows instructors to predetermine if students should get shuffled answers while taking the quiz.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Admin, Instructors

Instructors can select the option to shuffle answers in the Settings menu. This option is a global setting that applies to multiple choice, multiple answer, and matching quiz questions.

Note: Shuffling answers does not guarantee the order is displayed differently to every student. Some students will receive the same answer order, depending on the number of answers for each question.

Outcomes Search

Location to Enable Feature	Assignments
Configuration Details	New Quizzes LTI
Affected Canvas Areas	Assignments
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
Feature Video

Summary

Users can search course outcomes within New Quizzes. 

Change Benefit

This change allows users to search course outcomes when aligning outcomes to a new quiz or to individual quiz questions.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Admin, Instructors

In New Quizzes and Item Banks, users can align quizzes and questions to outcomes with the Align Institution outcomes to this quiz or Align Institution outcomes to this question buttons.

Within the alignment page, users can enter a search term into the search box in order to find specific outcomes. The search term will search and return results with the designated term included in the name and/or description of the outcome.

People

Student Context Card Feature Option Enforcement

Location to Enable Feature	N/A
Configuration Details	N/A
Affected Canvas Areas	Any course location with a link to a student’s name
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors
Feature Enhancement Ideas	Existing People feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	People
Original Feature Introduction	2017-02-18

Summary

For instructor (and admin) roles, links for users with student roles display a summary of student progress in the course.

Change Benefit

This change allows instructors to view quick insights and context about a student from anywhere in Canvas.

Affected User Roles

Instructors

When viewing anywhere in a course, instructors can click the name of a student and view a sidebar that shows quick insights and context about the student.

Context cards are meant to be a simplified overview of a student’s progress. The context is generated from grades in the Gradebook and standard page view and participation activity in course analytics. Mobile data is not included unless a user accesses Canvas directly through a mobile browser, or if a user accesses content within the mobile app that redirects to a mobile browser.

Context Card Users

Context cards are not supported for user names where the user is not a student (e.g. observer, TA, or other instructor). Clicking links for these user roles will always direct to the user’s details page or profile page (if the institution has enabled the Profiles feature).

Student context cards do not display for inactive students or students with pending course invitations. The pending status displays in the People page, while the inactive status can be displayed in Discussions, Announcements, the Gradebook, and SpeedGrader.

Context Card Details

Context cards can display the following details:

• Profile picture (if applicable)
• Act as User: act as the student (link only available to users with the Users - Act As permission)
• Student name or email: view the student’s user profile page
• Mail icon: send a message directly to the student from the page
• Course name and section: view the name of the course and section (section name only included for courses with multiple sections)
• Last login: view the last login date (does not display if the student has never logged in); the card only displays the time when the login is on the current date, the day of the week when the login was within the current week, and the full date for any later logins
• Grades: access the student’s grades page
• Analytics: access the student’s analytics page (button only available to users with permission to view analytics)
  • If New Course and User Analytics is enabled, the button displays as New Analytics and directs to New Analytics data
• Current grade: view current grade as displayed in the Gradebook (according to grading scheme)
  • For courses using Multiple Grading Periods, the context card only displays the grade for the current grading period; the card does not match the grade shown in any prior or future grading periods even if another grading period is selected in the Gradebook.
• Number of missing assignments: view the total of missing assignments based on student analytics data, which generates data for both online and no-submission assignments in Canvas
  • For submissions not submitted online, assignment calculations may not be entirely accurate as they are attempted based on the assignment’s grade and when the assignment was graded
• Number of late assignments: view the total of late assignments based on assignment due date
• Number of last graded items in the course: view a maximum of the last 10 recently graded assignments with the assignment’s grade (shows according to grading scheme, but grades default to points if the grading scheme does not fit)
• Participation activity compared to class: view the standard deviation of the student’s participation in the course compared to other students (none, low, moderate, or high)
• Page views compared to class: view the standard deviation of the student’s page views in the course compared to other students (none, low, moderate, or high)

Context Card Link Locations

Context cards are supported anywhere in a Canvas course that displays a link to a student’s name. (They do not apply outside a course, such as in the Conversations Inbox.) No extra permissions are required for this feature; context cards are inherent specifically to instructor and admin roles.

In addition to the People page (course roster), frequent areas where student names display in courses include announcement and discussion replies, the Gradebook, and the Moderate page for moderated assignments. 

Note: Context cards do not display for links that direct to group context (such as clicking the name of a group leader) and student links in Course Analytics pages, as they link to a student’s individual analytics page.

Rich Content Editor

Rich Content Editor Interface Enhancements

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	Course Settings - Feature Options tab
Configuration Details	Rich Content Editor Feature Option
Feature Option Enforcement	2020-06-20
Affected Canvas Areas	Rich Content Editor
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	All Users
Feature Enhancement Ideas	View existing Rich Content Editor feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	Rich Content Editor
Change Type	Deprecation; see Upcoming Canvas Changes
Feature Video

Summary

The New Rich Content Editor includes an improved user experience across Canvas courses. The existing Rich Content Editor is deprecated. Additionally, the New Rich Content Editor includes several updated features since it was first introduced in the beta environment in the 2019-10-19 release notes.

Change Benefit

This change allows institutions to enable the New Rich Content Editor for courses in the production environment before it is enabled by default for all institutions on 20 June 2020.

Additional Details

For more information about Rich Content Editor Enhancements, please see the Canvas Release: Rich Content Editor Enhancements document.

Rubrics

Rubric Criterion Range Feature Option Enforcement

Location to Enable Feature	Rubrics
Configuration Details	N/A
Affected Canvas Areas	Rubrics, Assignments, SpeedGrader
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Permissions	Rubrics - add / edit / delete, Course Content - view
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Admins, Instructors
Feature Enhancement Ideas	View existing Rubrics feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	Rubrics
Original Feature Introduction	2017-10-07

Summary

Rubrics include a Range checkbox to create a point range for a criterion.

Change Benefit

This change allows rubric criteria can include a point range instead of just an individual point value.

Affected User Roles

Admins, Instructors

When the Range checkbox is allowed and selected, each rating displays a maximum and minimum point value. Ranges are managed the same way as non-range rubrics. Ratings can be divided, edited, and removed individually, and total point value changes automatically adjust for all rating values.

When a rubric is added to an assignment, range options are not displayed if the free-form comment option is selected.

In SpeedGrader, rubric values can be selected by an entire range. Students can also view the ranges in the assignment details page and when viewing the rubric in the Grades page. The first value in the range is assigned for the point value.

Users

Personal Pronouns

Affected Canvas Areas	All Canvas areas that display user names
Configuration Details	Account Settings
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Permissions	Account-level settings - manage
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	All Users
Feature Enhancement Ideas	Existing Users feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	Users
Community Idea Contribution	https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/5500-add-a-field-for-pronouns-to-the-profile-page
Feature Video

Summary

If allowed by a Canvas admin, users can associate their user profiles with pronouns. If a user selects a pronoun, the pronoun displays after the user’s name.

Change Benefit

This change allows users to select a pronoun that represents themselves for a course. Selected pronouns apply for the user in any course where the user is enrolled.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Admins

Admins can choose to enable pronouns for their institution in Account Settings. When the pronouns checkbox is selected, the page displays three default options: She/Her, He/Him, They/Them. The admin can keep or edit these defaults, as well as add additional pronoun options.

All Users

If user pronouns have been enabled by a Canvas admin, users can visit their User Settings page, edit their settings, and select from the list of pronouns. Only pronouns set by the Canvas admin can be selected; users cannot manually add their own pronouns. Additionally, this feature is not associated with any account-level settings, so all users can set a pronoun by editing their user settings.

Once a pronoun is selected by a user, the pronoun currently displays in the majority of Canvas course and user areas (as visible for each applicable role):

• Account People page (admin)
• Act as User page (admin)
• Course Sections list (instructor)
• Student Context Card (instructor)
• SpeedGrader (instructor)
• Assignment creation menu (instructor)
• Assignment peer review page (instructor)
• User Navigation Menu
• User Settings page/User profile page
• Inbox
• Discussions
• Course People page
• Groups People page
• Comment Fields

Note: LTI tools, such as New Quizzes and Analytics, do not currently support pronouns as they need to incorporate this feature in a future release.

Platform/Integration

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Theme Editor

Responsive Layout

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.
                                     

Affected Canvas Areas	Canvas Interface
Configuration Details	Responsive Layout Feature Option
Feature Option Enforcement	2020-02-15
Location to Enable Feature	Theme Editor (Upload Tab)
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Admins
Feature Enhancement Ideas	Existing Theme Editor feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	theme

Summary

Canvas provides a more responsive experience for content scrolling according to web accessibility initiative guidelines.

Change Benefit

This change ensures Canvas continues to meet accessibility guidelines for all Canvas users regarding the vertical and horizontal display of course content.

Affected Canvas Users

Admins

Institutions implementing custom JavaScript or CSS through the Theme Editor should review the WAI reflow standards and their current code to ensure no conflicts exist with Canvas pages.

This responsive layout change is enabled by default in the beta environment, but it can also be optionally tested in the production environment until 2020-02-15 with the Responsive Layout feature option in Account Settings. 

On 2020-02-15, the feature option will be enabled for all accounts in the production environment by default.

Release Notes Change Log

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Date
2020-01-18	Changed—Updated Features New Gradebook: Sort Options—production availability changed to Monday, 20 January
2020-01-14	Added—Updated Features Attendance: Do Not Count Toward Final Grade Settings Checkbox
2020-01-07	Added available feature videos (from screencast) to feature sections
2019-12-23	Release Notes Published

[kblack]

Good catch,  @clockett ! This is really cool feature, but you're right; will be be facing the exact same issue, given instructors often teach the same class each term.

[vancej]

May be they present the listing like it is when  faculty go to  Copy a Canvas Course. I am all for consistency.

[kflowers]

Forgive me if this is a silly question, I have not yet had my coffee!

However, does anyone know if the Pronouns will be on by default come the 18th? I can't seem to find reference to the default status anywhere, and in our Beta, it is on by default and is not toggable (I felt the need to use that created word!). 

[clockett]

Hi Kim,

It is a checkbox option for us in our Beta environment.

[kflowers]

Thank you  @claire_lockett ‌! You're amazing. I knew I was missing something obvious. 

[brett_glynn_dal]

Something that did come to mind reading this but I cannot see a situation where someone would want a combination of "she/her/hers/they/them/their"  for example.  The gender-neutral versions are implicit in the gendered version (they, them, their are already common usage in congunction with gendered pronouns), otherwise the two are mutually exclusive.  If someone wants to use gender-neutral language then they are explicitly asking people not to use the gendered versions.

[dbrace]

Hi  @brett_glynn_dal . I will not get into an argument over what pronouns someone decides to use in their signature line or their profile/biography because pronouns are deeply personal. What I will say is that I have connections with individuals that use different platforms and on these platforms these individuals have publicly said that their pronouns are he/they or she/they.  By including they as a pronoun that they use, they are saying that they do not mind being referred to in a gender neutral manner even though they also use either he or she pronouns.

[jenn_stevens]

We have this concern as well!

[b_w_reid]

Yep, I'm not sure our staff could share content without this additional info....

[kmatson]

I was able to finally get the Assignment Enhancements to load in for a file upload but the process is very, very slow and I don't think students will have the patience to wait for the assignment to be loaded. It is also very misleading when they are finally done because you show the same No Content so misleading image. 

Thank you,

Karen Matson

[kmatson]

I can get a text entry assignment to load but the student cannot type in the box. Is there a trick? Yes I am clicking the Start Entry. We are unable to do a Text Entry submission type. 

Thank you,

Karen Matson

[kmatson]

NOTE: If the student comes back to the text entry assignment then they get an Edit button and if they click that the text box opens and they can type. Shouldn't work like that, please fix this. Thank You!

Karen

[brett_glynn_dal]

Douglas

Thanks for that response.  It's actually not something that I have not come across before so I'm always happy to learn more.  

[Jeff_F]

I was hoping to be able to use the Canvas course ID in the search field. While that didn't work, I then tested the SIS ID.  Voila!  This works great.  However.... as configured our Teachers do not see the SIS ID on the Settings page so they would not know what to enter...

Course code alone wouldn't be useful for us as that is the same between all sections of the same course.  e.g. ENGL 123

[adam_engel]

Thanks for some great improvements to look forward to here! One suggestion about the Postable Submission Comments: wouldn't it be less confusing if the "Post Grades" button now said "Post Grades/Comments"? Since the button effectively will post whatever you've entered.

[lezonl2]

I am happy about the Attendance tool option to exclude points from the total right from the roll call settings. I think it will be much easier for our faculty! Is it safe to assume that if we look at Roll Call assignment settings from the Assignments page that the box will also automatically be checked there, too?

[Linkletter]

I was so pleased to see the new Personal Pronouns feature in Canvas. This gives members of our University community a new way to express their identity and be recognized for who they are. We have a large number of fully online courses and it is so helpful to display pronouns with names. Thank you, Instructure, for promoting human dignity and respect by implementing this feature. You are close to something great.

However, at this time the feature has been designed to allow institutions to set their own choices.

Here lies the problem. The community has requested a personal pronouns feature, not an institutional pronouns feature. People should have the ability to state their own pronouns in an open text field. Every other way of implementing this feature is a compromise. 

As others have raised, a drop-down menu isn't ideal for people who use more than one set of pronoun (i.e. he/him or they/them). Even a multiple-select checkbox interface isn't ideal, since you are still asking Canvas administrators to define options and order them in a list. As administrators, we could add choices for every possible combination, but this shouldn't be necessary.

I've read some concern about how an open field that displays next to a user's name could be abused. Some people are immature, or inappropriate, or even hateful. Ask any teacher: this is nothing new. The ability to add an informational link (here is UBC's webpage about Pronouns) would help teachers dispel ignorance and promote tolerance.

If people are afraid of this feature, they can leave it turned off. I'd like to enable it right away, but the current design makes it a more difficult decision than it should be.

[scottdennis]

Hi Ian,

Just to quick note to say I think all your points are valid, well reasoned and well articulated.  At risk of repeating myself, software designers must look at all the needs and desires of all the users, what the technical realities and opportunities are, and what resources they have available when making decisions about how software should function.  Sometimes they hit the mark the first time.  Other times a majority opinion develops that the software should work differently and that it is a top priority compared to other projects.  If you feel that in this case we may be headed for the second scenario I would encourage you to participate in the feature idea submission process as that is the best way to get feedback to the developers (and where the idea for adding pronouns to Canvas began in the first place).  I suggest this rather than commenting in the release notes comments which are more appropriate for clarification around how this specific set of released features operate.  

[marthazumack]

I get the same error - and all our assignments are 'Online' submissions, so I'll have to create some other types in a sandbox to test the feature, I think!

[marthazumack]

I agree, we'd rather have the default be to shuffle answers, and be able to turn it off on a question-by-question basis.

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, Lisa,

Yes, if it's checked in Attendance settings it will automatically be marked within the attendance assignment.

Thanks!

Erin

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, Adam,

Our team can consider that moving forward if the confusion is significant, though we do have a space limitation within each assignment menu in the Gradebook.

Thanks,

Erin

[Linkletter]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your reply, I appreciate the engagement. As  @dbrace ‌ writes earlier in this thread there are significant differences between what was proposed in the Ideas forum and what has been implemented. The request was for a personal pronouns feature, not an institutionally-approved pronouns feature.

There was no indication until this showed up in the release notes that Instructure planned to implement this feature, which was first proposed in 2016. New Canvas features used to show up in Beta for testing and feedback. That didn't take place here and I don't know why. Your suggestion of going back to the Ideas board to re-propose the same idea isn't logical, though I see how process is important.

Is this the new normal, to have no public beta and direct people to the Ideas forum for feedback on new features? I'm scratching my head and will have to report to senior leadership that Instructure has indicated that we're stuck with what we have for now. This feature is a big deal and could be a home run example of how Instructure listens to the community. In this case the feature as implemented is not as requested and that's disappointing to those who care the most.

[chriscas]

Regarding the personal pronouns feature, it's clear from reading the comments here that there are very differing views on how the feature "should" work or how whats being released does or does not meet the needs of the original feature idea.  I will say that for our institution we won't be enabling this feature until it's available in SIS feeds, as we want students to set the information in one place (our SIS) and then have it populate out to all applicable systems.  That being said, we've experienced issues with having a blank box for students to type in (the dispaly name) in the past, so even if SIS sync wasn't a "thing" we'd likely want to have some kind of list of options to pick from (like what Instructure is implementing here), but it's clear others have different ideas about this.  Perhaps having an option for students to enter a "custom" pronoun apart from the institutional list would be a good compromise (letting the institution enable or disable that option though).  For institutions with concerns about custom pronouns, they could define the list and disable the custom entry.  For other institutions they could define some pre-set options but also allow users to have their own custom entry.

I do agree with some of the comments about the process to go from idea to implementation for this (and other) ideas though.  I know it's a challenge to look at a feature idea (including all of the comments about it) and make it into something that would fit everyone's needs and also work within the design limitations of Canvas.  It seems like the implementation could have been shared in the feature idea thread before being rolled out into production though, as that might have helped to shape everything in a better way rather than just a surprise release that it seems many are unhappy with. Doing things that way could also have probably helped with the grade posting policies released a few months ago, and is something I'd strongly suggest Instructure to consider in the future.

-Chris

[kflowers]

I'd like to second this please. There is already a risk of staff getting their heads around the new posting functionality, so having the ability to clearly state that this option will post either comments or grades (or both) would be appreciated. Or at least some language to reflect the two (given mentioned constraints).

[scottdennis]

Hi Ian,

Pronouns is a system level setting.  That means that in order for it to appear in beta for your institution the admins of that Canvas instance could enable the setting in system settings in beta.

As far as process logic goes, feature development is iterative. Once a feature has been implemented the next logical step is often to submit ideas on how it can be improved or built upon in the future.

[kirsten_ryall]

Great idea Adam. I think making this button 100% clear by a rename would assist in alleviating some confusion.

[cms_hickss]

We are having this same issue and want to know, as it's still in the release notes as of today (tuesday, jan 16th), if this item is still going to be pushed into Production on Saturday?

[Linkletter]

Thank you, Chris.

This is a really well-reasoned post with constructive suggestions for how to improve the new pronouns feature, and I hope Instructure will read it and consider it.

I am puzzled by the direction from Instructure not to post feedback or suggestions about new features in the Release Notes where they are unveiled. I'm disappointed.  @nancy_lachance ‌'s incredible Canvas Release -- Sour Notes‌ post was a valuable lesson for Instructure about the importance of listening to testers and not rushing features to launch. In the Grades fiasco, people were told to submit tickets instead of discussing the issues as a community.

I'm grateful for engagement and I know Instructure is proud of the feature. They should be. It is so close. Now is not the time to give up! I suspect the more the community talks about this, the more support the good employees at Instructure will have to spend more time on a feature senior leadership probably considers shipped and done.

[Stef_retired]

 @Linkletter , have you seen the just-published What's in a Name? Why Pronouns Matter‌? It's the perfect place to continue the conversation and may well alleviate many of your concerns.

[scottdennis]

Hey Ian,

Regarding "direction from Instructure not to post feedback or suggestions about new features in the Release Notes where they are unveiled." -- Its not that we don't value your input or want to hear from you but the comments on a given set of release notes are by nature incredibly eclectic, ranging over many different things in the release.  On the other hand, comments in the feature ideas section, or new incremental improvement ideas, like have been posted there for pronoun improvements are easier for us to keep track of.  The nature of software development is that we consider all the information we can, including the community, and then build a feature.  Then later when we can go back and update or improve it, we try to consider all the comments and improvement suggestions people have made.  Feature ideas make this easier, or maybe make it harder for us to miss your input.

[cunninghama]

I may be a little bit jumping the gun but I went to allow some of these new features and they aren't available (8am CST).  Does anyone know at what time of the day these changes go into effect?

[Linkletter]

Thank you Stefanie. I know this is meaningful to Instructure too and will do whatever I can to advocate for your teams to be able to keep working on it.

[dbrace]

Abby, you probably have the latest release by now but I wanted to share this with you.

What is the Canvas release schedule for beta, production, and test environments? 

Within the Production Environment section there is the following text:

* Production dates are local for all regions

*An exact time that new code will be deployed to the production environment will vary for each institution.

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, Abby,

Our engineers usually enable the features sometime around 9:00 am MT, so you definitely got on online earlier than they did.  

Erin

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, all,

Our February release notes are available for review: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-18353-canvas-release-notes-2020-02-15 

If you previously posted comments that don't feel resolved, please ensure you have noted them in the Ideas‌ space for our product team to consider appropriately.

Thank you!

Erin