We’re excited to share that SpeedGrader is getting a significant upgrade! These changes are designed to make your grading process even smoother, faster, and more reliable.
What’s New? (Beta Release on October 21st, Full Release in January)
Starting on the 21st of October, Canvas institutions will have access to the newly modernized SpeedGrader in their beta environments, with a full release planned for January. This update focuses on improving the performance and stability of SpeedGrader while keeping the interface familiar and easy to use. You’ll still recognize the grading workflow you’ve come to rely on, but with some key enhancements under the hood.
Why Modernize SpeedGrader?
Grading is at the heart of every educator's workflow, and with large classes and data-heavy tasks, it can sometimes slow you down. The goal of the SpeedGrader modernization is to optimize performance for a faster, more seamless experience, especially for those working with larger courses or complex assignments. By upgrading the backend technology, we’ve ensured that SpeedGrader can handle high-demand tasks more efficiently and with greater reliability.
Key Improvements You’ll See:
- Faster Load Times
With the infrastructure improvements, SpeedGrader now loads grades, submissions, and data more quickly, even for larger classes, with notably faster initial page loads and quicker transitions between students. - Increased Stability
We’ve made the system more resilient to handle heavy grading periods, minimizing errors and ensuring a more reliable experience across the board.
UI Updates: Familiar Yet Enhanced
While most of the updates focus on improving performance, we’ve also introduced a few tweaks to the user interface to enhance clarity and usability:
- Sections Selector: The section selector now uses a streamlined interface, making it easier to navigate between different class sections.
- “No Submission” Alerts: The alert for assignments without submissions has been updated to be more prominent and visually clear.
- Empty Course View: A fresh, cleaner interface for courses without content provides a better user experience
- Grade Status Selector: We’ve redesigned this feature to make managing grade statuses even easier.
- Rubrics: Rubrics are now always displayed in the new traditional (grid) view, even if Enhanced Rubrics is disabled. If the Enhanced Rubrics feature is enabled, instructors can also choose vertical or horizontal views; this only affects grading in SpeedGrader.
- Media Attachments: Uploading and managing media attachments in submission comments is now more intuitive with an improved dialog and deletion process.
What’s Next?
The modernized SpeedGrader will be available in the Canvas beta environment in October for institutions to test and provide feedback. By January, this improved version will be available in all production environments, meaning every educator using Canvas will be able to benefit from these enhancements.
The enhanced SpeedGrader will remain available via a course or account feature flag, allowing users to toggle between versions until we’ve ensured everyone has had sufficient opportunity to experience the new functionality and offer feedback for continued improvements
We’re also working on additional updates, including support for Anonymous Grading, Moderated Grading, and a more robust Rich Content Editor for submission feedback, so stay tuned for even more improvements coming soon!
How to Get Involved:
As we roll out these improvements, we encourage you to explore the beta version of SpeedGrader in October and share your thoughts. Your feedback is vital in ensuring we continue to deliver the best possible grading experience for educators across the world.
The enhanced SpeedGrader will remain available via a course or account feature flag, allowing users to toggle between versions until we’ve ensured everyone has had sufficient opportunity to experience the new functionality and offer feedback for continued improvements
With this modernization, SpeedGrader is entering a new era—offering the same powerful grading tool, now more reliable and faster than ever before. We’re excited to see how this upgrade will make your grading process even smoother. Stay tuned for more updates as we approach the full release in January!
