If you’re a blog reader, you likely saw my post a few months back giving a sneak preview of the powerful new functionality coming to Canvas: the ability to assign modules, pages, and ungraded discussions to sections and students. I’m excited to let you know that this functionality is now on beta and will be in production on July 20.
I want to thank each and every one of you who played a role in making this feature become a reality, whether that was through taking surveys, sitting on calls with me, voting on ideas, collectively contributing via user groups, advocating with your CSMs, or any of the other dozens of ways we heard that you wanted this functionality. It was a true partnership every step of the way, with each stage being validated by our incredible Canvas community. From my perspective as a product manager, it’s what makes working on Canvas so special.
Okay, let’s get into the nitty gritty of these features, shall we? And yes, I say features because, as I mentioned in my last update, we’re actually talking about a lot of new stuff with this release.
Updated Assign To User Interface
First off, we gave the entire "Assign To" experience a major facelift, moving all of the existing cards presently found at the bottom of the content item’s edit page into a tray that remains consistent across different content types. All of the content in the trays remains the same, but the new design makes it easier to manage multiple differentiated due dates. You can refer back to my first post to get a better sense of what this looks like.
Introducing another level of view permissions is a big change, so to help orient the user, we’ve added “Inherited from [module name]” to the card at the module item level, so that they'll know why an assignment, for example, is already assigned to a particular learner or section.
Pages
At last, Canvas Pages can be differentiated! Educators will be able to assign pages to students and sections, as well as set availability dates. This unlocks content tailoring during the initial course design or on the fly based on your learners’ particular needs.
Ungraded Discussions
We’ve expanded existing features in ungraded discussions and have added the newly designed “Assign To” tray. This means that educators can not only post to sections, as they can now, but can leverage the full “assign to” functionality and assign to individuals as well (just like for graded discussions). This opens up possibilities for increased collaboration and provides more consistency across learning objects in Canvas.
Modules
And of course, the biggest change is that educators can assign modules!
Since I already gave you an overview in my last post, I thought it’d be nice to focus on a few details that make the experience even better.
First up, you can assign a module item (quizzes, assignments, discussions, pages) directly from the modules page. No more clicking back to edit the content item to make changes.
A “View Assign To” icon is present on the module header, so you know which modules are differentiated when quickly scanning the modules page.
Plus, we’ve reduced the number of clicks to differentiate assignments by adding an “Assign To” button at the top of landing pages and on the index pages for assignments, quizzes, discussions, and pages.
Now that you’ve gotten a preview, go try it for yourself! We want you to test as much as you can ahead of the production release and let us know what you think! We’ve got a handy list of frequently asked questions below that should aid you in your testing.
FAQ:
What permissions do I need to use this feature?
We have honored our commitment to providing more granular permissions so that administrators can make the right decisions based on their unique circumstances.
To change the “assign to” settings for modules and module items, you’ll need the permissions listed below:
- Assigning Modules -> “Course Content - Edit”
- Assigning Assignments -> "Manage Assignments and Quizzes - edit"
- Assigning Quizzes -> "Manage Assignments and Quizzes - edit"
- Assigning Graded Discussions -> "Discussions - moderate" and "Manage Assignments
and Quizzes - edit" - Assigning Ungraded Discussions -> "Discussions - moderate" and either a course
admin enrollment or an enrollment that's not section restricted - Assigning Pages -> “Pages - update”
To open the “assign to” tray from a module item’s create page, you’ll need the following permissions:
- Launch “assign to” tray from the assignments create page -> "Manage Assignments and Quizzes - add"
- Launch “assign to” tray from the quizzes create page -> "Manage Assignments and Quizzes - add"
- Launch “assign to” tray from graded discussions create page -> "Discussions - create" and "Manage Assignments and Quizzes - add"
- Launch “assign to” tray from ungraded discussions create page -> "Discussions - create" and either a course admin enrollment or an enrollment that's not section restricted
- Launch “assign to” try from Pages create page -> “Pages - update”
Will this work with Mastery Paths?
Yes! These features are Mastery Paths compatible.
Will this work with Course Pacing?
Not yet, but we plan to follow up quickly with making these two features compatible to unlock powerful new workflows in Canvas. Stay tuned.
What if I want to just deselect a few learners rather than adding all but a few?
We understand that’s a big pain and plan to follow up quickly with the ability to deselect a few learners to lower the burden on educators for large courses.
What if I have a large course with learners with similar names?
We have added the SIS ID, if available, under the learner’s name so that an educator can quickly differentiate between learners.
Why can’t I set due dates for Pages or ungraded discussions?
Since these aren’t graded items, we felt due dates weren’t necessary and this isn’t something we heard about from customers. Of course, feedback is welcome!
Is this feature available on the mobile apps?
Like all of our new features, this feature is responsive and can be used on mobile devices using the web version of Canvas; however, it is not available on the mobile teacher app at this time. We are actively working with the mobile team on making it available at a future date.
