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

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

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

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.
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.
Canvas Production Releases: June 2 and May 12
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
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.
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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Tagged annotations, Canvas, Canvas production release, Canvas updates, comments, DocViewer, permissions