Canvas Release Notes (2020-11-21)

[#1]

In this Canvas release (November 21), the Admin Grade Change Activity log supports multi-parameter search fields.

For all users, newly recorded media and uploaded media via the Upload/Record Media link is stored in the Course, Groups, or User Files folder, respectively. [DELAYED]

For all resources and feedback information related to this release, see the Release Resources section at the end of this document.

Related Links

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• Deprecations and end-of-life announcements related to Canvas Platform Services (APIs, GraphQL, Canvas Data) are located in the Change Log.
• Other questions? View the Canvas Release Notes FAQ.

• Updated Features
• Admin Tools
• Grade Change Activity Search Field Enhancements
• New Rich Content Editor
• Uploaded Media File Placement
• Change Log
• Release Resources

Updated Features

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Admin Tools

Grade Change Activity Search Field Enhancements

Affected Canvas Areas	Admin Tools
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Permissions	Grades - View Change Logs, Grades - Edit
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Admins
Feature Video	Admin Tools: Grade Change Activity Search Field Enhancements

Summary

The Grade Change Activity log supports multi-parameter search fields.

Change Benefit

This change allows for more granular search functionality. Previously the search results only returned results from the first search field.

Affected User Roles

Admins

In the Logging tab, the Grade Change Activity log supports multi-parameter search. Admins can search by grader, student, course ID, and assignment ID. The log displays results for all entered search fields.

Note: For Canvas Open Source users, multi-parameter search is only supported for accounts using ActiveRecord auditors. Otherwise, only search results based on the first criterion will continue to be returned.

New Rich Content Editor

Uploaded Media File Placement

Production Feature Availability	DELAYED TO 2020-12-19
Affected Canvas Areas	New Rich Content Editor
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	All Users
Related Idea Conversations	Canvas Media Recordings
Feature Video	New Rich Content Editor: Uploaded Media File Placement

Summary

Newly recorded media and uploaded media via the Upload/Record Media link is stored in the Course, Groups, or User Files folder, respectively.

Change Benefit

This change ensures users can reuse media uploaded or recorded as media content. Previously, newly recorded and uploaded media could not be repurposed without being exported as part of course content.

Affected User Roles

All Users

When users record media or upload media using the Upload/Record Media link, the media file is stored in the Files folder for the media location (course or group). For students who record or upload media for an assignment submission, the media file is stored in the User Files folder.

These media files can be downloaded and shared like all other files in the Files page. Media files default to an unpublished state.

Notes:

• This change does not affect institutions who are using their own media tool and have disabled the Upload/Record Media link.
• This change only applies to media files created or uploaded after November 21.

Storage Quotas

This change to newly recorded or uploaded media via the Upload/Record Media link does not affect Canvas file quotas. However, media files uploaded via any other method (such as the Upload Files link) do affect the course, group, or user files quota, respectively. To learn more about available options for using media files in Canvas, view the Canvas Media Comparison PDF.

Change Log

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2020-11-19	Delayed release for New Rich Content Editor: Uploaded Media File Placement
2020-11-12	Clarified Functionality for New Rich Content Editor: Uploaded Media File Placement
2020-10-26	Added Feature Videos
2020-10-19	Published Release Notes

Release Resources

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User Summaries

Release features are summarized for individual roles in the User Summaries page.

Canvas Chat

Want to chat with other customers about any of these features? Sign up to view and join our Collaborative Release Chats in the CanvasLIVE Calendar. Chats take place ten days after these notes are published. 

New Feature Screencast

View a screencast of all the updates included in this release in the New Feature Screencast page.

tl;dr Podcast & Blogs

Features in this release may be included in product blogs and our product podcast, the Canvas tl;dr. For related links, check the Canvas Release Archive for this release date.

Feature Enhancements

The release notes indicate available functionality for a feature. If you want to see any future development planned for any features included in these notes, please visit the Roadmap. Have an idea you don't see prioritized in the next three months? Visit the Idea Conversations page.

Feature Support

All items listed in the release notes are immediately available for testing in the Canvas beta environment, unless otherwise indicated. If functionality in the beta environment does not match the functionality shown in the release notes, please submit a support case through your institution's preferred method as shown in your Global Navigation Help Menu. The Canvas Support Team can help escalate behaviors that may need to be resolved before they are deployed to the production environment, which takes place on the date of these release notes. When submitting a case, please indicate that the behavior is occurring in the beta environment.

[amber92]

Is there any way to delete the previous recorded media in the Course Files? It seems like those files are only accessible from the New RCE, so would that be the only place to get rid of them too? 

[cvolpe1]

Good morning!  I am concerned with the media now being stored in a course or stored within a user acct (student assignments excluded).  The idea of having the file within the course is great but how will you provision course and user quotas for this?  My guess is there will be an increase in fee as well.  

Thanks!

Courtney Volpe

[adehart]

I have similar concerns as @cvolpe1 in regards to the media being stored in the course and user files areas and counting towards their storage.  As the default user storage quota is set at 50 MB, there will be a substantial amount of issues for students that need to upload a video for an assignment.  

Thanks!

[cvolpe1]

@adehart I have been told by our CSM that assignments are not included in this for students.  However, we know students use this tool in other places like discussions or pages.  We are building our Spring courses soon and need the templates set.  Do you have a new quota you are thinking of for courses and users?

Court

[Hildi_Pardo]

Yes, please.  We really need to know how these Recordings affect course space quota. 

[adehart]

@cvolpe1 , glad to hear about assignments, but definitely still a concern in regards to discussions, etc.  We do not have any new quotas in mind.  We have been bumping up our course sites to 2GB from the default 500 MB due to Covid, so will stick with this number for courses as a starting point.

[cvolpe1]

Thank you @adehart .   We have been increasing course storage as needed.  At this point, we will need to do it across the board.  Have you been told if there is an additional fee that you will be responsible for because of this?

Best,

Court

[erinhmcmillan]

@amber92 The files display in your Files page and they can be managed like any other file in Canvas. Recommendations for large files in Canvas haven't changed; if you want to use a lot of videos, we recommend hosting them in YouTube or somewhere like that to help manage the course quota size.

Please see the Canvas File Quotas PDF in Resource Documents - Canvas Community.

Thanks,

Erin

[Hildi_Pardo]

Hi Erin, This is very concerning.   So any time teachers read their pages aloud for young students or for students with accommodations, this will count against their file quota?

Our K-8 students are blocked from YouTube.  And if they are hosted on Streams or Google, they have to jump through hoops to authenticate and view, especially when they are on iPads.

Is there a way to Opt Out of this???

I think our teachers are fine hosting Video Lessons elsewhere, but have a lot of use of the Media Recorder for other things, like read aloud.

Also -- what happens when students submit a Video Response to any Assessment? (Discussions, Essays on Quizzes, Media Assignments)

Or what happens with Feedback on Quiz Answers or Feedback on Assignments using the Media Recorder.

I'm about to have a Panic Attack....

[cvolpe1]

Hi @erinhmcmillan ,

With files now be included in Course Files or User files and thus require institutions to increase storage for users and courses, will this result in a fee increase?  That is the concern.

Thank you!

Court

[erinhmcmillan]

@cvolpe1 again, it determines how you decide to use videos in your course. But really, nothing significant has changed with this feature change, which is why quota is not called out as part of this update. Videos were already being counted in Canvas quotas—our teams have just made them more available to you so you can reuse them and access them more easily.

Thanks,

Erin

[cvolpe1]

Hi @erinhmcmillan,

It was my understanding that when users recorded a video using the video recorder, it does not count towards the course quota since the files are not stored in the course.  

If this change has no effect on cost, then increasing storage for this update is not a problem.  

Lecture and such are of course not recorded via this tool but other short video messages are (2-3) minutes.  

To be clear, we can globally increase course and user quota, and that not be associated with an increase in charge.

Court

[mary_speight]

@erinhmcmillan We were also under the same impression that media created/uploaded in this manner did not count towards the media storage capacity. So if those files are now going to be stored in the Files area, I assume they will now count towards that total. We're only allotted 500MB per FTE, so our institution has 15.5TB of media storage available (4.17TB has already been utilized in less than 3 years). What happens when this change causes us to go over that 15.5TB limit? 

[erinhmcmillan]

@mary_speight videos were already being counted in Canvas quotas—our teams have just made them more available to you so you can reuse them and access them more easily. You shouldn't see much difference.

Erin

[Logan-B]

Hi @Hildi_Pardo ,

The teacher recordings will go into the course file area, so count against the course quota not their personal ones. Short audio recordings shouldn't take up too much space.

This change should help teachers find and re-use those content items, so saving them time and giving them more options. Previously the audio recording would be on the page, but they couldn't easily download it, reuse in a different course, edit it or otherwise share that file.

If students are creating media items for assessments, those won't count against their personal quota. This should also apply for assessment feedback.

It will have an impact where students are creating ungraded content - for example posting "Hi my name is " videos in an ungraded discussion forum. Once their quota is filled up, they'll either need to save this content off Canvas, or delete it. It's a trade-off for giving students and teachers more control over their content - now if they like it, they can keep it, but if they don't, they can delete it. 

I hope this helps, and prevents the panic attack 🙂

- Logan

[crafte]

@grayat  @erinhmcmillan - I am seeing the same invalid set of parameters error message when I click the Change Log link. 

[degensp28]

When attempting to use the Admin Tools to look at the Grade Change activity log, the only combination of filters that seem to work together are "Student" and "Course ID".

Is there any documentation beyond what's here to ensure this is not user error? There were a handful of us together and nobody spotted where I was going wrong.

[erinhmcmillan]

@degensp28 

Were the others able to get the results they were looking for with multiple filters? If it isn't working correctly in beta, please let us know by submitting a support case so Canvas Support can investigate further. Be sure to include steps to reproduce what you were doing, since beta will reset this weekend.

Thanks!

Erin

[kirsten_ryall]

Hi @erinhmcmillan and @degensp28, I really like the idea of the multiple filters. I thought I was also seeing consistencies. For example I can filter with Student and Assignment ID, but not with Student and Course SIS ID. Then I realised I was using Course SIS ID and not Course (URL) ID (sorry not sure of correct terminology on that). When I started using Course (URL) ID it seemed to work as expected. As an Admin, I tend to work more with SIS ID's by default. Not sure if that helps at all.

[b_w_reid]

Hi @erinhmcmillan , Can you confirm whether we are able to play with this feature in beta, as when I upload a media file as a student, and then access this as a tutor, I'm getting an oops message. I know some features aren't always available in beta.

[rmtillman_14]

Hello @erinhmcmillan,

MacOS Big Sur was released and I'm hesitant to update my software in fear that I wouldn't be able to use Canvas or run into compatibility issues.  So my question is, do you think I can continue using Google Chrome, within Big Sur, to access my Canvas course and teach my class without any issues?  

Thanks. 

[julia_m_hopkins]

Just tested uploading an mp4 file to a Discussion as a student in the Beta environment. 

Then looked at the student's User files area. 

Three observations:

1. each uploaded file appears twice in the Uploaded Media folder - one with the original name and one with '-1' after the original name. Creation date is exactly the same. Refreshing the page doesn't make any difference.

2. The progress bar showing the percentage of quota used by the student doesn't increase when files appear in Uploaded Media. In this case the total size of two files added is almost 7MB but Canvas seems to have duplicated the files so it's maybe 14MB. 

3. To delete a file a student has to delete the file from both User Files and the Discussion they posted it in. If they delete it from User Files but don't delete it from the Discussion, the file keeps reappearing in User Files (until it's deleted from the Discussion as well). 

I'm not sure if any of these behaviours are specific to the Beta environment but perhaps worth looking into. 

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, all,

Notes for our December release are now available: Canvas Release Notes (2020-12-19) - Canvas Community

Thanks,

Erin