2025-01-18 Release Updates

[ArohiDesai]

We’re excited to announce new features in the Canvas LMS January Release. With the updates to the 2024 release schedule, we remain focused on ensuring that you are fully informed and equipped with the tools you need to succeed and support learners at your institution.

As of today, here’s what will be coming to production environments on January 18, 2025:

• New Features
  • Discussions: The Discussion Checkpoints feature allows instructors to set multiple due dates for graded discussions, supporting different stages like initial posts and follow-up replies. 
  • Grades: On the Account Level Grading page, admins can set an account or sub-account default grading scheme.
• Other Updates:
  • Analytics: New Analytics migration to Data Access Platform (DAP)
• Feature Options
  
  • Discussions: Multiple Due Dates for Discussions 
  • New Quizzes: Student Analysis Report Available 
  • New Quizzes: Question Bank Migration on Course Copy 
  • User Interface: Full-Screen Access
• Change Log Updates
  • Enhanced Rubrics: Rubric Assessments Imports and Exports Feature Option
  • Assignment Enhancements: Submission Sticker Feature Option 

For full details on each update, please review the 2025-01-18 Release Notes. 

If you have any questions or need further clarification, we encourage you to visit the Release Q&A, where you can engage with other customers and Instructure employees. Your feedback and collaboration are crucial to shaping the future of Canvas, and we deeply appreciate your continued support and insights.

[hesspe]

Two questions about the Student Analysis Report:

- The notes say it will be a feature option, but in Beta it isn't listed on the feature options page, though it is available on the Reports page in New Quizzes.  Will that change when it is released to production?

- Is the feature retroactive?  If so, does it go back to the beginning of New Quizzes or is there a later cut-off date?

[Pete5484]

We are very much looking forward to the availability of the Student Analysis Report, but would like to understand the caveat in the release notes, ie that it will, initially, exclude identifier information.

Note: To prevent data exposure, SIS Data (such as SISID and Section SISIDs) is not displayed, as permission handling is still in development. This functionality will be addressed in an update early next year.

---

We currently utilise the similar report from Classic Quizzes to provide detailed student feedback on questions. (We have students with identical or very similar names and we also use sections extensively. 

Could you please clarify there will be any mechanism to conclusively link a student in the report back to a Canvas user prior to the permissions functionality being implemented?

Also FYI, the image of the example student analysis report in the release notes does show it containing ID, SSID, SectionIDs and SectionSSIDs

[annalindsay]

Hi @hesspe - happy new year! 

To follow up on your questions from the end of the year, the reason why the Release Notes categorize the new Student Analysis report under "feature options" is because New Quizzes as a whole is configured under Feature Options. I can confirm the new Student Analysis report will be automatically available, as long as "New Quizzes" is available within the account and/or course. 

As far as your second question, yes, the Student Analysis report can be generated on any New Quiz, regardless of its date and submission date. 

[annalindsay]

Hi @Pete5484 thanks for your patience! To clarify, the 'ID' field in the report is Canvas User IDs. This allows you to easily match users within Canvas by searching for this ID number (e.g., in the 'People' tab of a course).

Regarding the full SIS permissions enhancement, engineers are working on this currently, and expect to have that work completed in the next month or so. We'll be sure to post updates as they're available. 🙂

[Ash_Ow]

Hi! The feature [Account Level Default Grading Scheme] has undergone frequent delays since first being made known in October 2024, with the latest delay being from January 18th to now February 15th, 2025.

As there is little information why the feature is being delayed, could we please get some clarity on this?

[dbrace]

Hi @James1Evans,

Your comment should be posted in the Jobs Board - Instructure Community section of the Community.

-Doug