October 27 Canvas Release

Posted on November 2, 2018 | Leave a comment

Canvas is updated every third Saturday with new features and fixes. The Macomb CTL will post highlights from the production release notes and related content to our blog at ctl.emacomb.com.  Please contact us at ctlsupport@macomb.edu if you have any questions about Canvas releases. 

October 27 Release

Please see the New Feature Screencast for a video demonstration of the updates in this release.

Analytics Beta LTI
  • The Analytics Beta LTI tool will eventually replace the existing Course Analytics tool
  • Compare average and individual student grades across various assignment types
  • Interactive tables and graphs facilitate powerful data analysis
  • Activate Analytics Beta through Settings > Nagivation
  • Complete documentation on features
  • User Guide for Analytics Beta

 

Submission Status of Google Drive and Office 365 Uploads
  • The status of assignment uploads from Google Drive and Office 365 LTIs are now visible to both students and instructors

  • Exclamation point indicates upload failed, up arrow indicates a submission is queued for upload but has not finished

  • Instructors may view the same icons in the Gradebook
  • Icons also visible in SpeedGrader

 

HTML5 Option for Recording Media

Recording with the Rich Content Editor will no longer require Flash functionality.

 

Full production release notes for the October 27 release are available on the Canvas LMS Community.

The next Canvas release will be deployed on Saturday, November 17, with release notes available Monday, November 5.

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October 6 Canvas Release

Posted on October 10, 2018 | Leave a comment

Canvas is updated every third Saturday with new features and fixes. The Macomb CTL will post highlights from the production release notes and related content to our blog at ctl.emacomb.com.  Please contact us at ctlsupport@macomb.edu if you have any questions about Canvas releases. 

October 6 Release

Please see the New Feature Screencast for a video demonstration of the updates in this release.

 

Anonymous Annotation
  • Instructors may now add anonymous annotations to student submissions. This feature must be activated on the course level in the Feature Options tab of the Course Settings page:

Allow anonymous annotations in Course Settings page.

  • On the Edit Assignment page, you’ll now see a checkbox to anonymize the annotations for that assignment.

  • When students view their submissions in DocViewer, the instructor’s name will show as “Grader” on the annotations.

 

Rotate Documents in DocViewer
  • DocViewer now offers the capability to rotate pages within a document. See the new Rotate button in the Toolbar:

DocViewer document rotation

  • Instructors and students can rotate on a page-by-page basis to quickly fix documents with incorrect orientation.

 

Mark element in Rich Content Editor
  • The Mark HTML element, better known as highlighting, is now supported by the Rich Content Editor:

  • To use Mark highlighting, enter the HTML editor from the Edit Page screen and enclose the desired text with a <mark> highlighted text here </mark> tag:

 

Full production release notes for the October 6 release are available on the Canvas LMS Community.

The next Canvas release will be deployed on Saturday, October 27, with release notes available Monday, October 15.

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September 15 Canvas Release

Posted on September 19, 2018 | Leave a comment

Canvas is updated every third Saturday with new features and fixes. The Macomb CTL will post highlights from the production release notes and related content to our blog at ctl.emacomb.com.  Please contact us at ctlsupport@macomb.edu if you have any questions about Canvas releases. 

September 15 Release

Please view the New Feature Screencast for a video demonstration of the updates in this release.

Bulk Accept for Moderated Grading
  • This change affects only courses using the New Gradebook with Moderated Grading
  • The moderator can choose to accept all grades by a grader for all assignments in which that grader is the only grader for the student
  • Students with submissions graded by more than one grader will still need to be individually approved by Moderator

Moderated grading bulk accept

 

Last Date Attended in Student Profile
  • Instructors may now note the final date of attendance in a student’s Profile page
  • The date cannot be deleted once added
  • Allows instructors to easily see the last date of on-ground attendance from each student’s Profile page

Last date attended

 

Export All SpeedGrader Comments as PDF

  • Click the Download Submission Comments link in the SpeedGrader sidebar to generate a PDF containing all comments for the submission
  • Allows easy exporting, sharing, and printing of comments
  • Not available for muted assignments

 

Full production release notes for the September 15 release are available on the Canvas LMS Community. 

 

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Canvas Production Releases: August 25 and August 4

Posted on August 24, 2018 | Leave a comment

Canvas is updated every third Saturday with new features and fixes. The Macomb CTL will post highlights from the production release notes and related content to our blog at ctl.emacomb.com.  Please contact us at ctlsupport@macomb.edu if you have any questions about Canvas releases. 

August 25 Release

Please view the New Feature Screencast for a video demonstration of the updates in this release.

Dashboard List View and Mark as Done Module Requirements
  • Existing feature: Instructors can require the student to click “Mark as done” on a page
  • Change: The Mark as Done requirement now synchronizes with the recently-implemented Dashboard List View
  • When the student marks a page as done, the checkbox in Dashboard List View will be automatically checked.
Mark page as done

When the student marks the page as done, the checkbox in Dashboard List View will automatically be checked.

 

SpeedGrader: Anonymous Assignment Hidden Submission Details
  • SpeedGrader will hide submission details if an assignment is muted.
  • Upon unmuting the assignment, all details will show in SpeedGrader, including student names and submission time.

 

Student Learning Mastery Gradebook Outcome Icons
  • Only available in the New Gradebook
  • Clicking on the “i” icon allows students to quickly view information on their progress towards outcome mastery
  • Promotes the alignment of assessments with learning outcomes

 

Full production release notes for the August 25 release are available on the Canvas LMS Community. 

 

August 4 Release

Please see the New Feature Screencast for a video demonstration of the updates in this release.

Student To Do List View
  • The Student Dashboard now offers a List view for to-do items in each course.
  • Toggle List view by clicking the three dots near the top right of the Dashboard.
  • Students can add list items of their choice, and instructors can add graded and ungraded assignments to students’ to-do lists.

dashboard list view

Instructors can directly add modules, assignments, quizzes, or discussions to students’ to-do lists when creating or editing the page:

add to student to do

 

Google Docs and Office 365 Assignment Submission Processing Notification
  • Upload process for Google Docs and Office 365 submissions has been improved
  • Students can browse away or close the page without affecting the submission

Office 365 processing

 

DocViewer Comment Stacking
  • In DocViewer, related comment threads are now represented by stacking.
  • Initially shows the number of replies.
  • Click the comment box to expand all replies to the original comment

Docviewer Comments

Full production release notes for the August 4 release are available on the Canvas LMS Community. 

Future Updates

The next production release is scheduled for Saturday, September 15. Please see the Canvas Releases page for Production Release Notes, available on September 4.

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Canvas Production Release: July 14

Posted on July 17, 2018 | Leave a comment

Canvas is updated every third Saturday with new features and fixes. The Macomb CTL will post highlights from the production release notes and related content to our blog at ctl.emacomb.com.  Please contact us at ctlsupport@macomb.edu if you have any questions about Canvas releases. 

July 14 Release

Please view the New Feature Screencast for a video demonstration of the updates in this release.

 

Anonymous Moderated Grading
  • Requires enabling by Canvas admin  – contact CTL if interested
  • Anonymous Grading – graders are unable to view students’ names
  • Moderated Grading – instructor can set assignment submissions to be reviewed by one or more graders, and which grade should be made final
  • Please see the official Canvas documentation of this feature for complete details and discussion
Anonymous Moderated Grading

Instructor sees anonymous students and graders, with option to choose final grade

Anonymous and moderated

Assignment submissions can be moderated, anonymous, or both.

 

Non-Scoring Rubrics
  • Must be enabled by a Canvas admin – contact CTL if interested
  • Create a rubric without point values to promote learner engagement and interaction with ungraded activities
  • See the official feature documentation for further details
Non scoring rubric in Speedgrader

Example of instructor view of non-scoring rubric within SpeedGrader. Points column is used for verbal feedback.

 

Self-registered Courses: Pair Students with Observers
  • Observer does not need to know student’s username or password
  • Student can click Pair with Observer button to generate a six-digit code to share with their intended Observer (most often a parent, mentor, or guest) who enters the code in their own User Settings.
  • Please see the official Canvas document on the Observer role for more information on its permissions and restrictions.

Pairing code button

 

Full production release notes for the July 14 release are available on the Canvas LMS Community. 

 

Future Updates

The next production release is scheduled for Saturday, August 4. Please see the Canvas Releases page for Production Release Notes, available on Monday, July 23.

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Canvas Production Release: June 23

Posted on June 21, 2018 | Leave a comment

Canvas is updated every third Saturday with new features and fixes. The Macomb CTL will post highlights from the production release notes and related content to our blog at ctl.emacomb.com.  Please contact us at ctlsupport@macomb.edu if you have any questions about Canvas releases. 

June 23 Release

Please view the New Feature Screencast for a video demonstration of the updates in this release.

 

Duplicate Modules
  • Copy a module (and all contained items) within a course with two clicks: Settings > Duplicate
  • Duplicated modules and items will be unpublished by default. Be sure to publish as needed.
  • Caution: at this time, you are not able to copy modules that contain classic quizzes. You may only copy modules containing no quizzes or Quizzes.Next quizzes (new Canvas quiz engine, available for testing after June 28, FAQ here) Please move any classic quizzes out of the module to activate the Duplicate feature.
Duplicate feature in module settings.

Duplicate feature in module settings.

Cannot duplicate modules that have classic quizzes

Duplicate module not available in modules that have classic quizzes

 

New Gradebook Updates

You are now able to view the Grade Detail Tray for students with concluded enrollments, and for submissions from closed grading periods. This feature is only available in the New Gradebook.

New Gradebook concluded enrollment

 

Calendar Event Duplication

The Recurring Events Calendar option has been renamed to Duplicate. You may access this feature through the More Options button in the Edit Event box:

Canvas Calendar Duplicate Event

From here, you may specify the number and interval of recurrences, or opt to display a count number to identify events in a series.

Full production release notes are available on the Canvas LMS Community. 

Future Updates

The next production release  is scheduled for Saturday, July 14. See the Canvas Releases page for Beta Release Notes on Monday, July 2 and Production Release Notes on Monday, July 9.

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Canvas Production Releases: June 2 and May 12

Posted on June 6, 2018 | Leave a comment

Canvas is updated every third Saturday with new features and fixes. The Macomb CTL will post highlights from the production release notes and related content to our blog at ctl.emacomb.com.  Please contact us at ctlsupport@macomb.edu if you have any questions about Canvas releases. 

June 2 Release

Please view the New Feature Screencast for a video demonstration of the updates in this Canvas release.

DocViewer Annotations and Commenting experience
  • Instructors can delete comments or annotations for any user – useful for incorrect or inappropriate posts
  • Can add annotations to JPG, PNG, TIFF and other popular image formats
  • Comments are now truncated to five lines instead of one. Click the comment to show the full text.
  • Large images are automatically scaled down to avoid scrolling
  • Users can now comment on annotations even if they are not the original author of the annotation
Truncated Comments

Comments truncated after five lines.

Full production release notes are available on the Canvas LMS Community. 

 

May 12 Release

The New Feature Screencast presents a useful walkthrough of the changes in this release:

Announcements

The “Allow users to comment” checkbox allowing students to comment on course announcements is now persistent, meaning you will not have to check this box on every announcement – Canvas will remember what you selected for the previous announcement.

Assignments

The submission details sidebar now will show the term “submitted,” where previously “turned in” was used. This improves consistency of terminology throughout Canvas.

Student assignment page wording update

Files

In the Files area, the settings for each file is now represented by a three-dot Options icon:

Permissions

It is now possible to enable students and observers in a course to search for users by primary email address. Previously, only Canvas administrators, instructors, and TAs could search by primary email address.

Detailed release notes are available on Canvas Community.

Future Updates

Stay tuned for the next production release on Saturday, June 23. See the Canvas Releases page for Beta Release Notes on Monday, June 11 and Production Release Notes on Monday, June 18.

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Canvas Updates April 2018

Posted on April 11, 2018 | Leave a comment

Let’s get caught up with some of the recent Canvas updates and take a look at what’s to come. The most recent Canvas production release was March 31 and contains several small updates:

  • DocViewer now allows users to comment on annotations, even if they are not the author of the annotation. This is useful for students adding questions to specific comments by instructors.

  • DocViewer offers three options for line thickness for Free Draw annotations:

  • If you are using TurnItIn, you may edit the language of the Similarity Pledge seen by students, or to adjust when the students see their originality score: immediately, after grading, after the due date, or never:

Please see the New Feature Screencast video below, or the Production Release Notes, for additional information.

The previous Canvas release (March 10) allows students to comment on course Announcements. When editing your Announcement, please check the checkbox if you would like students to be able to comment. Comments are off by default.

More information on the March 10 release can be found in the Production Release Notes and the New Feature Screencast.

As always, please contact the Macomb Center for Teaching and Learning at 586-226-4774 or ctlsupport@macomb.edu if you have any questions about improving learner engagement and interaction in your courses, or if you would like to schedule a one-on-one professional development session on any of a number of topics related to online learning.

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Canvas Updates January 2018

Posted on January 10, 2018 | Leave a comment

Welcome back to a new year and a new term. The Macomb CTL is here to support you in developing productive and rewarding courses for your students.

Let’s take a look at the Canvas releases of January 6 and February 3.

The New Gradebook

The major change is that the New Gradebook is now available for instructors to turn on in your courses. This can be done from the Settings page in the left-side course navigation menu. Then click on the Feature Options tab to see the New Gradebook toggle switch (see image below).

Some of the differences in the new gradebook include:

  • New menus for more settings and sorting options.
  • Late and missing flags with automatic deduction policies.
  • More filtering options.

new gradebook

Do be aware that if you turn the New Gradebook on and then turn on automatic grading for late or missing assignments, you will not be able to return to the “old” Gradebook unless you deactivate the late/missing automatic grading policies.

We invite you to test out the New Gradebook and familiarize yourself with its look and feel before it permanently replaces the current gradebook. We’ll continue to update you well in advance of the launch date as we get more information from Canvas. The New Gradebook will officially launch in the second quarter of 2018. At this point, the old (current) Gradebook will be retired.

More information about the New Gradebook can be found at:

Additional January 6 Updates

Please see the New Feature Screencast for a video demonstration of the updates in the January 6 release:

The Release Notes contain a complete documentation of the release.

One notable update is the ability to add extra credit points to your rubric criteria in SpeedGrader.

Rubric extra points

You may find this method useful for adding extra credit to assignments that use rubrics.

Additional January 27 Updates (delayed to Feb 3)

See the screencast of new features below, and also see the full documentation in the Production Release Notes. 

 

There’s also a change in the DocViewer mode of SpeedGrader. Now you can make free-floating annotations anywhere on the page, with either a white or transparent background.

Docviewer Free Text

The next Canvas release after February 3 will be February 17, and it can be previewed on the beta server starting February 5.

We wish you the best for the Winter semester. Please contact us at 586-226-4774 with any questions you may have, and don’t forget to look over the CTL Winter 2018 Professional Development booklet for any workshops that may interest you.

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Canvas Update December 9

Posted on December 12, 2017 | Leave a comment

Canvas was updated to a new version on Saturday, December 9. Here we’ll highlight some of the noticeable changes.

First, you’ll see a new Move Contents menu item under the Assignment Group Settings menu:

New Move Contents option for the assignment group Settings menu

Selecting this option will bring up a sidebar menu where you may specify the Assignment Group where you’d like the assignments moved.

Move Content option with drop-down placement menus

This is analogous to the Move Contents function which was recently added to the Module Settings Menu:

Module settings menu

You can still use the dots on the leftmost side of the module item or assignment to drag and drop individual items within and between modules.

Another update is that the student Groups page will now show the “inactive” label for any inactive students.

Groups inactive status

Previously, you would have to view the People page to identify inactive students. Students can be inactive for a variety of reasons such as no show, drop, or unpaid tuition, and typically are set as inactive at the SIS level (Datatel/Colleague.) With the inactive status now viewable on the Groups page, you can more quickly identify and remove inactive students from Groups.

This change only affects instructor view – student view does not show inactive students.

Watch the New Feature Screencast for a walkthrough of these changes:

Full release notes are available on the Canvas site. The next beta release will be available on December 18 (see Macomb Canvas beta server), and the next official production release will be on January 6.

The Center for Teaching and Learning has also released the Winter 2018 Professional Development Brochure. We have a full lineup of workshops, courses, and Lunch & Learns prepared for the new semester, so please look over the booklet to see what interests you. Printed copies should be available in early January.

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