Ready Release Notes (2020-03-28)
Ready Releases introduce new and updated features or adjusted user functionality that will be available in the production environment on Saturday. All features are opt-in feature options unless otherwise indicated.
The following features will be available in the production environment on 2020-03-28:
Blueprint Courses: Courses associated with a Blueprint course can be published as part of the initial Blueprint sync.
- User Role: Admin
- Opt-in: Yes
Courses: New Instructor Canvas tutorials have been updated with revised content and links.
- User Role: Instructor
- Opt-in: Yes
User Navigation: Students can use a QR code to log in to the Canvas Student App.
- User Role: Students
- Opt-in: No (Opt-in functionality is not available for web features directly associated with the Canvas mobile apps)
Release notes describe upcoming Canvas functionality and are subject to change.
|
- Updated Features
- Blueprint Courses
- Blueprint Association Course Publishing
- Courses
- New Instructor Tutorials Content Update
- User Navigation
- Mobile App Login QR Code
Updated Features |
Blueprint Courses
Blueprint Association Course Publishing
Location to Enable Feature | Blueprint Associations |
Configuration Details | |
Affected Canvas Areas | Blueprint Courses, Associated Courses |
Beta/Test Environment Support | Yes |
Affects User Interface | Yes |
Affected User Roles | Admins |
Feature Enhancement Ideas | |
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas | Blueprint |
Summary
Courses associated with a Blueprint course can be published as part of the initial Blueprint sync.
Change Benefit
This change allows admins to choose if they want to publish all associated courses as part of the sync process.
Affected User Roles & Behaviors
Admins
Courses associated with Blueprint courses may be taught by instructors who are not the creator of the course content. When admins associate courses with a Blueprint Course, admins may choose to ensure that courses are published as part of the association sync by selecting the Publish Upon Association checkbox. However, admins can choose to disregard this checkbox and publish courses using another method.
Courses
New Instructor Tutorials Content Update
Location to Enable Feature | N/A |
Configuration Details | |
Affected Canvas Areas | Announcements, Assignments, Collaborations, Conferences, Discussions, Files, Grades, Course Home Page, Course Import, Modules, Pages, People, Quizzes, Settings, Syllabus |
Beta/Test Environment Support | Yes |
Affects User Interface | Yes |
Affected User Roles | Instructors |
Feature Enhancement Ideas | |
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas | tutorial |
Summary
New Instructor Canvas tutorials have been updated with revised content and links.
Change Benefit
This change assists instructors using Canvas for the first time and helps them become familiar with Canvas.
Affected User Roles
Instructors
When enabled for an account, New Instructor Tutorials display for instructors in newly created courses. These tutorials can be accessed by an icon at the top of the page and explain the purpose of the page and what to do next.
The course setup tutorial is shown to new Canvas instructors in new courses. New instructors are defined as users with instructor roles created in an account after the new tutorial feature has been enabled. The course setup tutorial can be collapsed from view and is persistent across Canvas pages, so if the tutorial is collapsed in one page, it will stay collapsed until expanded again.
Note: When the New Instructor Tutorials feature option is turned on, it replaces the traditional Course Setup Checklist.
Instructors can end the tutorial series in any page using the Don’t Show Again button. However, ending the tutorial in one course applies to all other courses. Instructors can view the tutorial in new courses again at any time by accessing their User Settings page and enabling the Course Setup Tutorial user feature option.
This user feature option only displays for users enrolled as instructors. For instance, a user enrolled as an admin wouldn’t see the feature option unless the user were enrolled in a course with an instructor enrollment.
User Feature Option & Existing User Access
Once the New User Tutorial feature option is enabled for an account, the Course Setup Tutorial feature option displays in each instructor's User Settings page. Existing instructors can view the tutorials in new courses by enabling this user feature option at any time. User feature options cannot be managed by admins.
User Navigation
Mobile App Login QR Code
Location to Enable Feature | N/A |
Configuration Details | N/A; opt-in functionality is not available for web features directly associated with the Canvas mobile apps |
Affected Canvas Areas | User Navigation |
Beta/Test Environment Support | Yes |
Affects User Interface | Yes |
Affected User Roles | Students |
Feature Enhancement Ideas | |
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas | login |
Feature Idea Contributions | https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/14674-login-to-canvas-using-qr-code |
Summary
Students can use a QR code to log in to the Canvas Student App.
Change Benefit
This change helps students more easily log in to the Canvas Student App without having to know their institution’s Canvas URL.
Affected User Roles & Behaviors
Students
When students are in Canvas, their User Navigation Menu includes a QR for Mobile Login link. This link generates a QR code and tells students they can use the code to log in to their account from the Canvas Student app.
Canvas Student App version 6.7 is required to view the QR code, which will be enabled in the app on 2020-03-28.
Date | |
---|---|
2020-03-25 | Release Notes Published |
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Does anyone know whether Blueprint Association Course Publishing will work between a blueprint course in an account and a course in a subaccount (say, the blueprint in a College of Letters & Science and an associated course in English or History?)?
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
How does the "Blueprint Association Course Publishing" feature relate to blueprint associations that are made via CSV/API? I do not believe that there are any changes at How do I format CSV text files for uploading SIS data into a Canvas account?.
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Hi, Douglas,
We didn't make any adjustments to CSV/API files. Perhaps that is something that can be refined in a future release if you can help out our product managers by adding it as an idea in our Ideas space.
Thanks!
Erin
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Hi, Allain,
You can associate courses in the same or lower subaccount than where the blueprint course resides. See https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-11638-4214758989
Thanks,
Erin
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Thank you, erinhallmark.
Personally, I would prefer the CSV/API stay the same and it is good to see that it will.
When the craziness is over, maybe I will consider adding it as an idea.
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Hi Erin,
Thanks for your reply and confirming about the associations. We don't have the feature enabled in our beta yet, and this might be a silly question, but what I was hoping to confirm was whether the Publish on initial sync would work when a blueprint course is associated with a course in a lower subaccount. Thanks so much!
Best,
Allain
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Hi, Allain,
I may not entirely understand what you're asking, but I believe the answer is yes. Eventually that checkbox will be part of the associations page by default.
Thanks!
Erin
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Hi there erinhallmark
With the QR code not being able to be fully tested by institutions until the student app release scheduled for 28/03 - Can you please confirm the student experience in using this code to log into the app?
- Do students scan the code off the web browser when trying to log into the app?
- 2. Will the QR log-in option appear on the first screen when opening the app as an additional button (alongside the find my school etc.)
Is it possible to share the student perspective or students guides for this, so we can communicate to our students that this is coming? Please share the link if already available?
Thanks
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Hi, Jayde,
Yup, the student experience is noted in our mobile release notes posted yesterday:
Canvas Student Release Notes (iOS 6.7)
Canvas Student Release Notes (Android 6.7)
Thanks!
Erin
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Thanks, Erin! We missed that - appreciate the link.
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
This release changes the way we have been successfully associating blueprints ever since they were released a few years ago. We originally had our bps in "Manually Created" subaccount and as long as we fed the correct SISID, the bp was associated without issue across all of our other same level subaccounts (various schools and colleges). Last year we created a "BP only" subaccount at the same level as Manually Created (to cleanup the mess in Manually Created), shifted all BPs into that subaccount and everything still associated just fine. The 3/28 release broke that and our BP is no longer associating. Now what??? BPs are critical for creating a uniform course delivery across the university!
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Hi, sounds like you could benefit from some in-depth review here by our support team. Would you mind submitting a support case so they can get more details on what you've been doing and can help troubleshoot?
Thanks!
Erin
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
With the new update to Blueprints, will this publish courses when they are being created from a blueprint?
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Hi, Jason,
If you select that checkbox as part of the association, yes. If you don't want to publish them at that time, skip the checkbox and you can publish them elsewhere.
Thanks!
Erin
- Mark as Read
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Erin,
We have - unfortunately this release did have this unexpected change to blueprint associations. It's a real issue for us as we use one blueprint for a university-wide template.