Release notes comments are managed differently to provide a better experience for everyone. For details, please see the Release Resources section, or the Canvas tl;dr blog.
In this Canvas release (April 17), the Course Settings Participation menu includes an option to select course dates by term or course. Term start and end dates are displayed in the page. Additionally, admins can manage whether or not instructors can modify course participation dates.
New Quizzes
- For institutions using New Quizzes, the New Quizzes Multiple Attempts menu includes an option to retain the first score for grading when multiple submission attempts are allowed.
- Updated Features
- Course Settings
- Course Availability Date Enhancements Enforcement
- Participation Restrictions and Term Visibility
- New Quizzes
- Multiple Attempts First Score Option
- Change Log
- Release Resources
Course Settings
Course Availability Date Enhancements Enforcement
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Feature Functionality Details |
N/A |
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Affected Canvas Areas |
Course Settings |
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Beta/Test Environment Support |
Yes |
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Affects User Interface |
Yes |
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Affected User Roles |
Instructors |
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Feature Video |
Course Settings: Course Availability Date Enhancements (2021-03-20 Canvas Release) |
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Feature Q&A |
Summary
The Participation menu includes an option to select course dates by term or course.
Change Benefit
This change offers clarification for how student participation is managed for a course.
Affected User Roles
Instructors
When an instructor views the Participation section in the Course Settings page, the Participation section displays a menu that defaults to Term dates for new courses. This option sets student course participation to the start and end dates defined for the term.
If preferred, instructors can change course participation to the Course option, where course participation is limited to the course start and end dates, which can be added in the course. Course dates override term dates; however, section dates that exist in the course override course dates.
Course dates default to midnight. If the course is set to end at midnight, the page displays a warning icon.
The Participation option is retained when the Course Settings page is updated.
Notes:
- The options to restrict students from viewing the course after the end date and before the start date have not been affected.
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Existing courses will be set by existing dates. If a course includes custom course dates and the participation checkbox is selected, the new Participation checkbox will be set to the Course option. However, if the participation checkbox in the old interface was not selected to override term dates—even if custom start and end dates were included—the new Participation checkbox will be set to the Term option.
Participation Restrictions and Term Visibility
Instructors can view term dates within the Courses page. In addition, admins are able to disable the course Participation menu for instructors at the account level. Explore these feature additions in the Canvas Deploy Notes (2021-04-14).
New Quizzes
Multiple Attempts First Score Option
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.
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Location to Enable Feature |
Quizzes |
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Feature Functionality Details |
|
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Affected Canvas Areas |
New Quizzes |
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Beta Environment Support |
Available on April 5 |
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Affects User Interface |
Yes |
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Affected User Roles |
Instructors |
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Related Idea Conversations |
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|
Feature Video |
|
|
Feature Q&A |
Summary
The Multiple Attempts menu includes an option to retain the first score for grading when multiple submission attempts are allowed.
Change Benefit
This change allows instructors to allow students to retake a quiz but retain the first attempt score for grading.
Affected User Roles
Instructors
When instructors create a quiz using the New Quizzes engine, the Score to Keep menu includes a First option. Selecting this option retains the first score for a quiz, even if the quiz is retaken at a later time.
Students
When students view a quiz and are allowed to take multiple attempts, the quiz details show which attempt will be kept as part of their attempt history. This change helps students prepare for a quiz and know that the first attempt will be the score retained for their grade. However, students can still retake the quiz for a per-determined higher percentage or score (such as for a module prerequisite) or for later practice.
The Quiz Results page also indicates that the first score was kept for the quiz.
| Date | |
|---|---|
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2021-04-05 |
Updated Features
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2021-04-02 |
Updated Features
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2021-03-22 |
Release Notes Published |
Release Q&A
To discuss a feature in this release, visit the Feature Q&A link listed in the table for the relevant feature in this document.
User Summaries
Release features are summarized for individual roles in the User Summaries page.
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, view the 2021-04-17 Community tag.
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.
