Updates are made regularly to bring new features, improve the user experience, and fix bugs. For each item, the change date is provided. Release Summaries are used to communicate planned updates for the given month and may include updates which occurred after the previous update.

Service Maintenance

No maintenance is planned for these changes.

Major Changes

• All Digital Learning Environment Services
  • April 14, 2023: New Phone Support Number – 414-251-5050
• Canvas LMS
  • April 4, 2023: (Administrators Only) New Canvas Admin Analytics
  • April 15, 2023: (New Quizzes) Grade by Question in SpeedGrader
  • April 15, 2023: (New Quizzes) Share Item Banks to Current Course
• Kaltura/My Media
  • April 19, 2023: Video Hotspots Now Available

All Digital Learning Environment Services

April 14, 2023: New Phone Support Number – 414-251-5050

51ÁÔĆć has introduced a new phone number, 414-251-5050, for all Canvas users to contact for phone-based support for any service related to the Digital Learning Environment (DLE).

• Before the change: Canvas users had to call different phone numbers depending on the service they needed help with, such as Canvas, Zoom, or digital textbooks. They also had to choose between calling the toll-free numbers provided by Instructure or the 51ÁÔĆć Help Desk or CETL numbers.
• After the change: Canvas users can call one phone number, 414-251-5050, and follow the prompts to be routed to the correct support office for any service, regardless of Canvas usage. They can also still contact Canvas support, Zoom support, or other services online (by chat, email, etc.) if they prefer.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality-of-life change simplifies the process of getting phone-based support for Canvas and other DLE services, reduces the wait time and transfers for phone-based support, provides a path to phone support for services other than Canvas which are integrated, and enables users to resolve support cases faster.

The change does not affect the existing phone numbers used at 51ÁÔĆć, such as the Help Desk and CETL numbers. Existing phone numbers will continue to work and are not changing at this time. Instructors and support officers should list 414-251-5050 as the phone number for support for their Canvas courses.

The change does not affect users who are used to calling the toll-free phone numbers provided by Instructure. They can still call them if they wish, but they may benefit from switching to 414-251-5050 because it offers more comprehensive phone support.

See “” for additional information about 5050.

Canvas LMS

April 4, 2023: (Administrators Only) New Canvas Admin Analytics

Canvas Admin Analytics is a new feature preview that allows Canvas administrators to view, filter, and download data about Canvas usage, course success, and student engagement in three new dashboards: Overview, Course, and Student.

• Before the change: Canvas administrators had limited access to data about Canvas adoption and engagement across courses and students. They had to rely on manual or third-party tools to analyze and visualize the data.
• After the change: Canvas administrators can access interactive and customizable dashboards that show data about Canvas adoption, course engagement, and student outcomes at the institution-wide or sub-account level. They can also drill down to see or export details and link to courses within Canvas.
• How this affects teaching and learning: The change can help Canvas administrators to: Identify areas where additional training or support is needed to drive adoption and success, learn from best practices of courses that effectively use Canvas features, evaluate student engagement and performance across courses, and target interventions for students or courses based on data to promote student success.

The change is part of a feature preview that is in active development. To provide direct feedback about this feature, . Sub-account admins need both Grades – View all Grades and Analytics View Pages permissions enabled to view Admin Analytics data for their sub-account(s). The feature is not yet available in the mobile app or the beta environment.

April 15, 2023: (New Quizzes) Grade by Question in SpeedGrader

Important: Instructors are encouraged to always use Classic Quizzes unless New Quizzes offers a feature that is critical for a course. for further guidance.

Grade by Question is a feature option that allows instructors to grade one question at a time for New Quizzes in SpeedGrader. To enable this feature, click the settings icon and select Options from the drop-down menu in SpeedGrader.

• Before the change: Instructors had to scroll through all the questions and answers for each student submission in SpeedGrader. Instructors had to navigate to the bottom of the page to update the score or switch to another student. Instructors had no easy way to see which questions required manual grading or jump to a specific question.
• After the change: Instructors can use the question navigation bar to move between questions or click on a question number to focus on that question. Instructors can see a summary box that shows which questions need to be reviewed, then click on a hyperlink to go directly to Instructors can use the previous and next student buttons and the update score button within each question box.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This change reduces extra steps and scrolling for instructors when grading quizzes, saving them time and effort. It also enhances accessibility for keyboard-only and screen reader users, making grading more inclusive and user-friendly.

To learn more about this feature, review and review . Note that .

April 15, 2023: (New Quizzes) Share Item Banks to Current Course

Important: Instructors are encouraged to always use Classic Quizzes unless New Quizzes offers a feature that is critical for a course. for further guidance.

The “Share with course” checkbox in New Quizzes allows instructors to share an item bank with the current course when creating a new item bank in the New Quizzes Build page. This feature simplifies the process of sharing item banks and saves instructors time and clicks.

• the change: When creating a New Quiz Item Bank, instructors had to create an item bank first, then go to the Item Banks page and click the share icon next to the item bank name, then type in the course name and select the access level.
• After the change: Instructors can create an item bank and share it with the current course in one step, by selecting a checkbox when naming the item bank. Instructors can still share an item bank with other courses or users from the Item Banks page.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This change makes it easier for instructors to create and share item banks with their courses, which can facilitate quiz creation and collaboration. It also allows support staff to better assist instructors when creating assessments using New Quizzes.

Instructors are strongly encouraged to click this checkbox when creating new item banks. By default, question banks in New Quizzes are “owned” by the instructor, not the course. By clicking this checkbox, instructors ensure their question banks are available to other teachers in the course, as well as administrators and support staff who may need to assist with the course.

Kaltura/My Media

April 19, 2023: Video Hotspots Now Available

ability to add hotspots has been enabled in Kaltura which is integrated into Canvas as My Media. This new feature empowers instructors to incorporate clickable links at specific points in their videos, enhancing interactivity and engagement for viewers.

• Before the change: Video owners were unable to add clickable links within their videos. Interactivity and engagement in videos were limited, and viewers had a passive viewing experience without interactive elements.
• After the change: Video owners can add clickable links, known as hotspots, to their videos. Hotspots enable interactive elements within videos, allowing viewers to access additional resources, websites, or related content by clicking on specific points in the video. Hotspots can also jump users to different time indexes in the video.
• How this affects teaching and learning: The Hotspots feature offers a more immersive and interactive learning experience by providing additional resources and context within the video itself, as well as the ability to jump through videos to create a kind of interactive story.

To utilize the Hotspots feature, video owners need to edit their videos and add hotspots at designated points using the Kaltura Video Editing Tools. Instructors are encouraged to review the Kaltura guides on and the for detailed instructions on incorporating hotspots into their videos.

Additional Changes

• Canvas LMS
  • April 12, 2023: In the Gradebook, instructors can sort individual assignment columns and rows by excused submissions and unposted grades.
  • April 12, 2023: In the Rich Content Editor Equation Editor, an Equilibrium button has been added.
  • April 26, 2023: The Rich Content Editor toolbar slides to expand when using a narrow browser window.
  • April 26, 2023: When users in a group receive an announcement notification via email, a warning displays that email replies posted to the announcement are seen by everyone in the group.
• Canvas Mobile Apps
  • April 20, 2023: (Android Student and Teacher Apps): In the Inbox, users can swipe to mark messages as read and unread. Additionally, users can bulk archive, mark as read or unread, favorite and delete.
  • April 20, 2023: (Android Student App): The Assignment Details page includes a drop-down menu to view multiple submission attempts.
  • April 27, 2023: (iOS Student and Teacher Apps): In settings, tap “About” to view app details.
• Zoom Desktop and Mobile Clients
  • April 17, 2023: (Windows, MacOS) Users may customize the color of caption text.
  • April 17, 2023: (Windows, MacOS, Linux) Interpreters may choose to unmute. themselves even when muting of participants is enforced by the host.
• Zoom Whiteboard
  • April 23, 2023: A mini-map has been added to help participants find content on
  • April 23, 2023: Objects can be snapped to a grid.
  • April 23, 2023: Callout shapes for diagramming, flowcharting and idea mapping have been added.
  • April 23, 2023: (Meetings) Hosts automatically own created whiteboards.
  • April 23, 2023: Timers can be set to give participants a gauge of activity time remaining. Timers set outside meetings are not visible in meetings. Timers in meetings only appear to participants in the meeting.
  • April 23, 2023: Whiteboards can now be exported as CSV files for analysis.

Learn More

To learn more about updates, and to see how the changes may affect instructors’ and students’ work, refer to the release note links. Remember that some features may not be enabled for 51ÁÔĆć or the UW System.

• Canvas

Editor’s note: ChatGPT and Bing Chat were used to draft this article. Additionally, text from Canvas Release and Deploy notes, and Zoom Release Notes were re-used with permission.

The post April 2023 Release Summary appeared first on Canvas.

Updates are made regularly to bring new features, improve the user experience, and fix bugs. For each item, the change date is provided. Release Summaries are used to communicate planned updates for the given month and may include updates which occurred after the previous update.

Service Maintenance

No maintenance is planned for these changes.

Major Changes

• Canvas LMS
  • March 16, 2023: Instructure-Provided Training Portal No Longer Available
  • March 19, 2023: Submit on Behalf of Students

Canvas LMS

March 16, 2023: Instructure-Provided Training Portal No Longer Available

The link to the Canvas Training Service Portal was removed from the Help menu by UW System Administration. The existing agreement with Instructure, the maker of Canvas, no longer includes on-demand training led by Instructure. As such, the link to the Canvas Training Service Portal was no longer required.

• Before the change: Users had access to the Canvas Training Service Portal, which provided on-demand training led by Instructure.
• After the change: The Canvas Training Service Portal link was removed from the Canvas Help menu. Consequently, users no longer have direct access to this particular training resource within the Canvas platform.
• Impact on teaching and learning: While removal of the link may impact some, 51ÁÔĆć has well-established alternatives for student and instructor training. For students, online training and video tutorials are available. Instructors can receive in-person, virtual, and on-demand training from the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL). This change is unlikely to have a significant long-term impact.

Instructure-led training was originally negotiated as part of the UW System contract with Instructure to support instructors during the transition from D2L Brightspace to Canvas.

March 19, 2023: Submit on Behalf of Students

The “Submit on Behalf of Student” feature allows instructors to submit a file upload assignment on behalf of a student in the Gradebook. This is helpful for supporting students in situations that need an alternative means of submission. The submission will include the timestamp and who submitted the assignment.

• Before the change: instructors did not have the option to submit assignments on behalf of students in the Gradebook. This limited instructors’ ability to support students who required alternative means of submission, such as those facing technical difficulties or needing to submit evidence captured in a live setting through file uploads.
• After the change: Instructors can now submit file upload assignments on behalf of their students. This feature records the timestamp and the person who submitted the assignment, providing transparency and accountability for both instructors and students.
• How this change affects teaching and learning: Instructors can better support students who need alternative means of submission or face technical issues that prevent them from submitting their assignments on time. By allowing instructors to submit on behalf of students in specific situations, it encourages students to communicate with their instructors and take responsibility for their learning and submissions.

The timestamp and the person who submitted the assignment on behalf of the student will be displayed when viewing Grade Details, SpeedGrader, and Assignment Details for students. Note: this feature is only available when the File Upload submission type is allowed.

Additional Changes

• Canvas Commons
  • January 23, 2023: Unsplash is removed as a source for images when posting or editing assets.
• Canvas LMS
  • February 15, 2023: In the Rich Content Editor, the keyboard shortcuts information box has a new keyboard icon, and is designed to be easier to read.
  • March 21, 2023: (Administrators Only) Submit on Behalf of Student is enabled for Canvas Institutional Admins. If your business role requires this permission, contact canvas-admins-group@uwm.edu.
  • March 29, 2023: When uploading multiple files to a course, filenames are included in the notification summary.
  • March 29, 2023: (New Quizzes, Outcomes) When a quiz question is attached to an outcome, the Outcome Report generated in the quiz Build > Reports tab can be exported as a CSV.
  • March 29, 2023: (Administrators Only) A new Analytics dashboard preview is available for some sub-accounts. For more information or to gain access, contact canvas-admins-group@uwm.edu.
• Canvas Mobile Apps
  • February 8, 2023: (iOS Student and Teacher Apps) On first use, or when the Acceptable Use Policy changes, a pop-up is presented prompting users to accept the Acceptable Use Policy.
  • February 8, 2023: (iOS Student and Teacher Apps) The apps have different names. The student app is changed to “Canvas Student”. The teacher app is changed to “Canvas Teacher”.
  • February 8, 2023: (iOS Student and Teacher Apps) Light mode/dark mode toggle is added.
• Zoom
  • March 20, 2023: (Windows, macOS, Linux) When meeting invites are declined, the invitee can leave a message to appear in chat.
  • March 20, 2023: (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS) Out-of-office is available as a status.
  • March 20, 2023: (Windows, macOS, Linux) Meeting attendants can change their accessibility settings to enable captions. Once enabled, joining the meeting will auto-start the display of captions if available. Additionally, Size, color and font style of captions are adjustable.
  • March 20, 2023: (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS) When a meeting participant raises their hand, a notification is shown to the host. The notification has a button to open the Participants p
  • March 20, 2023: (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS) Hosts can configure cloud recordings to capture sign language interpreters in a separate video file.
  • March 20, 2023: (Android, iOS) Human avatars can be created on mobile devices, along with animal avatars.
  • March 20, 2023: (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS) Names are included when viewing in Immersive View.
  • March 20, 2023: (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS) Immersive View re-arranges itself to accommodate for screen sharing.
  • March 20, 2023: (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS) Whiteboards can be encrypted to protect information. NOTE: this feature has not been reviewed for use in storing FERPA or HIPAA-protected information.
  • March 20, 2023: Zoom Apps for Android is now available.

Learn More

To learn more about updates, and to see how the changes may affect instructors’ and students’ work, refer to the release note links. Remember that some features may not be enabled for 51ÁÔĆć or the UW System.

• Canvas

Editor’s note: ChatGPT was used to draft portions of this article.

The post February/March 2023 Release Summary appeared first on Canvas.

Updates are made regularly to bring new features, improve the user experience, and fix bugs. For each item, the change date is provided. Release Summaries are used to communicate planned updates for the given month and may include updates which occurred after the previous update.

Service Maintenance

No maintenance is planned for these changes.

Major Changes

• Canvas LMS
  • January 23, 2023: New Canvas Training Portal
• External Tools
  • December 15, 2023-January 20: Introducing Atomic Search

Canvas LMS
January 23, 2023: New Canvas Training Portal

NOTE: Information provided in the Canvas Training Portal is generalized for all Canvas users. Information may be presented which is not applicable or otherwise unavailable in the UW System Digital Learning Environment. Contact CETL for the latest information on .

A new Canvas Training Portal will be accessible in the Help menu of all Canvas instances. The new portal is built entirely on Canvas itself and relies on existing Canvas technologies to facilitate a better training experience. The training portal provides Instructure-led on-demand and live webinars.

External Tools

December 15, 2023-January 20: Introducing Atomic Search

Atomic Search is a Canvas tool that is available in all courses (For-Credit/SIS, Continuing Education, Training and Development) that will allow any user to search the modules, syllabus, pages, discussions and files of a Canvas course that they have access to in order to find the information they are seeking. Think of it like Google, but specifically for Canvas. Search can be limited to specific courses, or all courses that individuals have access to can be searched.

All users will only be able to search courses, or for materials they are authorized to access. If a file is un-published, for example, a student will be unable to access the file. Likewise, if a course is in the “Archive” list of their courses page, the materials in that course will be unsearchable. Students and instructors can only search materials they are enrolled in, which are browsable at the time of search.

• Before the change: Students and instructors searching for a specific document, artifact, or resource need to manually search all available courses.
• After the change: Students and instructor searching for a specific document, artifact, or resource can use a Search option to search through all or a subset of available information in Canvas, based on their access rights.
• How this affects teaching and learning: Having a viable search option across courses in Canvas increases the ability to access information in courses. Some studies show that 10% of users prefer search over structured navigation. By exposing both past and current information to students, students have more opportunities to build relationships between past and current topics.

To use Atomic Search, click the “Search” link in a course to search materials for just that course. To search all accessible courses , click the “Search” magnifying glass icon in the left-hand Canvas navigation.

Instructors gained access to Atomic Search on December 14, 2022. Students will have access to Atonic Search on or after January 20, 2023.

Atomic Search is being implemented in response to student feedback received during the Digital Learning Environment (DLE) Student Usability Study conducted by UW System Administration just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For additional information on the capabilities of Atomic Search, refer to this 51ÁÔĆć KB article: .

Additional Changes

• Canvas LMS
  • January 4, 2023: Some of the Rich Content Editor buttons are single-click, rather than displaying two different functions based on where the user clicks the button. The following buttons have changed: Superscript, Links, Images, Record/Upload Media, Documents, and
  • January 4, 2023: When students print their Grades page, any comments are formatted below the grade item.

Learn More

To learn more about updates, and to see how the changes may affect instructors’ and students’ work, refer to the release note links. Remember that some features may not be enabled for 51ÁÔĆć or the UW System.

• Canvas

The post January 2023 Release Summary appeared first on Canvas.

Updates are made regularly to bring new features, improve the user experience, and fix bugs. For each item, the change date is provided. Release Summaries are used to communicate planned updates for the given month and may include updates which occurred after the previous update.

Service Maintenance

No maintenance is planned for these changes.

Major Changes

• Canvas LMS
  • December 17, 2022: Student Grades Page Updates
  • December 17, 2022: (New Quizzes) Partial Rich Content Editor Implementation
  • December 17, 2022: (New Quizzes) Clear Multiple Choice Question Answers
  • December 17, 2022: (New Quizzes) Word Bank “Fill In The Blank” Changes
  • December 17, 2022: Scheduled Page Publication

Canvas LMS

December 17, 2022: Student Grades Page Updates

The students Grades page has been re-organized to provide access to assignments, comments, and to better indicate the final grade for the assignment. Grades are now shown as a fraction (points earned vs. total points). Clickable icons are displayed as buttons. The feedback icon displays the number of comments left. Both the assignment and feedback icons display “Unread” dots to indicate that the student has not viewed the information.

• Before the change: The Students Grade Page shows grade values in different columns, and provides minimal feedback information. Students are unable to access assignments from the grade.
• After the change: Columns are reorganized to better indicate grades for assignments, feedback indicators note the number of comments left, and whether new feedback is available.
• How this impacts teaching and learning: This quality-of-life improvement for students increases the usability of the Grades page. Students receive a better perspective over their progress, can easily view their assignments, and can also easily view feedback.

December 17, 2022: (New Quizzes) Partial Rich Content Editor Implementation

Note: At this time, instructors should consider using Classic Quizzes unless .

Some features from the Canvas Rich Content Editor are integrated with New Quizzes, replacing a less-capable HTML editor.

• Before the change: The non-standard Rich Content Editor is used in all areas of New Quizzes
• After the change: The Canvas Rich Content Editor with a subset of functionality is implemented for New Quizzes.
• How this impacts teaching and learning: This systemic change improves both the student and instructor experience when using New Quizzes by offering much of the same functionality.

Instructure is implementing the Rich Content Editor in phases as they work towards eventually replacing Classic Quizzes with New Quizzes. The implementation plan for the Rich Content Editor in New Quizzes is as follows:

• Phase 1 (Complete): HTML view, accessibility checker, word count, record media, math editor.
• Phase 2 (Complete): Insert images, insert recorded media (from Canvas, not from My Media), insert links, insert documents.
• Phase 3: External Tool support (for example, My Media).
• Phase 4: Changes to how content is stored.

Lastly, it is important to note that while New Quizzes will someday replace Classic Quizzes, there is no scheduled retirement date.

December 17, 2022: (New Quizzes) Clear Multiple Choice Question Answers

Note: At this time, instructors should consider using Classic Quizzes unless .

When building a quiz, instructors can enable “Allow Clearing Selection (Multiple Choice)” which allows students to deselect a multiple choice option.

• Before the change: No functionality exists for students to de-select a multiple choice answer.
• After the change: Instructors may choose to enable the display of a link which allows students to deselect multiple choice options.
• How this impacts teaching and learning: This usability change gives instructors the option to allow students to reverse their multiple choice answer, effectively giving students the ability to accept no penalty if they do not know the answer.

When instructors create multiple choice questions in New Quizzes, wrong answers may be given negative scores.

• If a student takes the quiz, and second guesses their answer with this feature disabled, they must randomly pick an answer and risk receiving a negative score.
• With the feature enabled, the student can choose to submit the quiz without answering the question, saving them from receiving a penalty from an incorrect answer.

December 17, 2022: (New Quizzes) Word Bank “Fill In The Blank” Changes

Note: At this time, instructors should consider using Classic Quizzes unless .

Word banks can be re-used in “Fill In The Blank” questions for multiple blanks. Additionally, the interface for entering answers and distractors is changed so distractors are entered in a distinct location.

• Before the change: Word banks are displayed interspersed below the question, and a word can only be used once.
• After the change: Word banks are displayed as dropdown menus for each blank, and the same answer can be used more than once for-credit.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This systemic change increases the flexibility of “Fill In The Blank” questions for New Quizzes, which means the question serves more teaching use cases.

Word banks allow instructors to make “Fill In The Blank“ questions in New Quizzes that draw possible answers from a selection of words. Instructors enter both correct answers, and distractor words. When students view the question, they see one or more blanks with a menu to select the appropriate word from. For more information, see: Fill in the Blank question in New Quizzes? F

Note: Instructure has documented the question type as “Fill In The Blank”, without hyphens.

December 17, 2022: Scheduled Page Publication

Instructors may set a “Publish At” date for pages to pre-configure their availability in a course.

• Before the change: Pages are either unpublished, or published, and the only way to control access to the page is through Module restrictions (which do not control access to the page itself).
• After the change: Pages may be published at a specific date.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality of life change allows instructors to pre-schedule the publishing of pages, which can provide a more fluid course experience depending on the course design.

To schedule a date for publishing, enter a date and time in the “Publish At” field while creating or editing a page, then click the “Save” button. Clicking “Save & Publish” overrides the publish date. If students attempt to access a published module item linking to an unpublished page, the student will see a message indicating that the page is not published.

Additional Changes

• Canvas Catalog
  • December 13, 2022: Course listings can have a . This allows listings to be pre-staged.
• Canvas LMS
  • August 24, 2022: Instructors may choose to enable the if a feature is present which may benefit their course. The feature is off by-default but can be . IMPORTANT: The feature preview does not offer all the same features as the current Canvas Discussions and Announcements tool. If you use this redesign in your course, please provide feedback to Instructure through the , or by contacting CETL.
  • September 14, 2022: The start and end dates in the calendar can be set in 5-minute intervals.
  • September 17, 2022: (New Quizzes) changes can be synced via Blueprint courses. Item Bank references work across courses.
  • October 10, 2022: Instructors can make Files available to the public, or to the institution from a course, based on course settings. More information on .
  • November 9, 2022: Rich Content Editor icons match link colors where appropriate.
  • November 9, 2022: New Quizzes outcome data is available in mastery gradebooks, and in the Outcomes tool.
  • December 7, 2022: The Rich Content Editor displays a word count. Clicking the word count displays the number of words and characters used in the editor, and in any highlighted selection.
  • December 20, 2022: When copying between two Blueprint courses, checking “Import Blueprint Course settings” copies Blueprint-specific course settings.
• Canvas Mobile Apps
  • September 21, 2022: (Teacher App for Android) Files can be attached to submission comments using the Attach icon.
  • September 21-December 5, 2022: (Student and Teacher App for Android) Email notifications can be managed from the app.
  • December 5, 2022: (Teacher App for iOS) On the Dashboard, use the cog icon to change the Dashboard layout.
  • December 14, 2022: (Student App for Android) Assignments can be filtered. Late, missing, graded, upcoming, and all assignments can be viewed.
  • December 14, 2022: The app offers a light and dark mode toggle.
  • December 14, 2022: (Student App for Android) Calendar entries can be synced to Google Calendar.
  • December 14, 2022: (Student App for Android) Calendar items can be filtered by course, or to only show personal calendar entries.
  • December 14, 2022: (Student App for Android) The Notification icons have a badge indicating how many notifications are waiting.
  • September 21-December 14, 2022: The last login page used is saved when opening the app. Students can choose to change institutions before visiting their Canvas Dashboard.
• Zoom
  Note: it can take some time for features to become available. If you are missing a feature, before contacting support.
  • September 18, 2022: Hosts can broadcast their voice to breakout rooms.
  • September 18, 2022: Participants can be assigned as sign-language interpreters
  • December 19, 2022: Support for iOS 10 and Android has
  • December 27, 2022: Human avatars may be used in meetings.

Learn More

To learn more about updates, and to see how the changes may affect instructors’ and students’ work, refer to the release note links. Remember that some features may not be enabled for 51ÁÔĆć or the UW System.

• Canvas

The post September-December 2022 Release Summary appeared first on Canvas.

Updates are made regularly to bring new features, improve the user experience, and fix bugs. For each item, the change date is provided. Release Summaries are used to communicate planned updates for the given month and may include updates which occurred after the previous update.

Service Maintenance

No maintenance is planned for these changes.

Major Changes

No changes of significant impact are expected.

Additional Changes

• Canvas Catalog
  • May 23, 2022: After registering for a course or program, the confirmation language is changed to direct students to their Catalog Dashboard to begin their course.
  • August 8, 2022: (Catalog Admins only) Bulk enrollments can be disabled by course or by catalog.
• Canvas LMS
  • June 17, 2022: (Continuing Education and Training and Development instances of Canvas only) Student file storage quotas were increased to 200MB to be consistent with student file quotas on the Instructional instance of Canvas.
  • June 21, 2022: (Institution Admins on the Continuing Education and Training and Development instances of Canvas only) The ability to moderate discussions has been enabled.
  • June 22, 2022: Students are shown an availability duration when an assignment’s due date is shorter than 24 hours.
  • June 22, 2022: (New Quizzes) A unique icon is displayed when a student has a New Quizzes attempt which is not yet graded.
  • June 22, 2022: If a calendar event title is too long, a tooltip is displayed by hovering the mouse over event title.
  • July 6, 2022: Assignment due dates for specific students take precedence over due dates for the section or group they are a member of.
  • July 6, 2022: (New Quizzes) The Item Bank icon is a folder, changed from a piggybank.
  • July 7, 2022: SilverCloud is removed from the Canvas help menu as the UW System agreement for the service has ended.
  • July 16, 2022: People using the Observer role to monitor student progress can .
  • July 20, 2022: You@51ÁÔĆć has been added as an optional Course Navigation link.
  • July 26, 2022: (Administrators, Support Staff Only) Course Templates are enabled, which allow departments the ability to define starting content for a small number of courses upon creation. Additional information will be shared with relevant stakeholders in the coming days.
  • July 26, 2022: Support Administrators may no longer delete courses.
  • August 3, 2022: If instructors leave SpeedGrader before saving rubric scoring, a warning is displayed.
  • August 17, 2022: Alignment Options in the Rich Content Editor have text labels (e.g., “Left Align”, “Center Align”, “Right Align”).
• Canvas Mobile Apps
  • June 23-July 5, 2022: (Teacher and Student apps for iOS and Android) Dark mode is supported.
  • June 23-July 5, 2022: (Teacher and Student apps for iOS and Android) Annotation markers can be dragged to adjust position.
  • July 25, 2022: (Teacher and Student app for Android) it is possible to add alternate text to images.
  • July 25, 2022: (Teacher app for Android) Course invitations and global announcements appear at the top of the mobile app Dashboard.
  • July 25, 2022: (Teacher app for Android) When a new message is received, a notification appears over the Inbo icon.
• External Tools
  • August 4, 2022: Respondus LockDown Browser is deployed to College of Nursing courses offered by 51ÁÔĆć and UW-Parkside to address college-specific in-person proctoring needs. LockDown Browser does not replace Proctorio and is not supported by CETL or the 51ÁÔĆć Help Desk. Gaining access to LockDown Browser is by special request only after cost sharing is negotiated with the College of Nursing. Additional information is available regarding .
  • August 8, 2022: PackBack is available for for-credit or supplemental courses. Support for PackBack is provided by the vendor and licenses must be purchased by students, or through tuition. To get PackBack, instructors may . Additional information is available regarding .
  • August 8, 2022: Wilo Labs is implemented to support 51ÁÔĆć’s Inclusive Access pilot. This supporting technology enables instructors to automatically add textbook materials to their courses for students who have chosen to automatically adopt textbook materials.
  • August 9, 2022: OneNote Class Notebook is available for for-credit or supplemental courses. Support for OneNote is offered by Microsoft, with ancillary support provided by the 51ÁÔĆć Help Desk. To get OneNote Class Notebook, instructors may . Additional information Is available regarding .
• Zoom (Note: availability dates are approximate and may require updating the Zoom client for your computer or mobile device.)
  • May 21, 2022: (iPad/iPhone) the ability to share the screen is included in the Zoom client.
  • May 21, 2022: CSV and PDF poll exports for meetings can be exported in a format that mirrors the in-meeting poll report. Additionally, CSV formatting is changed for readability.
  • July 18, 2022: Downloaded transcripts include the speaker’s name and timestamps.
  • July 18, 2022: Meeting hosts can change who can begin .
  • July 18, 2022: Whiteboards can be panned during meetings.

Learn More

To learn more about updates, and to see how the changes may affect instructors’ and students’ work, refer to the release note links. Remember that some features may not be enabled for 51ÁÔĆć or the UW System.

• Canvas

The post May-August 2022 Release Summary appeared first on Canvas.

Updates are made regularly to bring new features, improve the user experience, and fix bugs. For each item, the change date is provided. Release Summaries are used to communicate planned updates for the given month and may include updates which occurred after the previous update.

Service Maintenance

No maintenance is planned for these changes.

Major Changes

• Canvas LMS
  • March 25, 2022: Enhanced Gradebook Filters
  • April 16, 2022: Apply a Score to All Ungraded Assignments
• Zoom
  • March 21, 2022: Avatars Based on Facial Recognition
  • April 18, 2022: Gesture Recognition via Webcam
  • April 18, 2022: Whiteboard Redesign
  • April 18, 2022: View Breakout Room Activity

Canvas

March 25, 2022: Enhanced Gradebook Filters

This feature replaces the original gradebook filtering system which offered several fixed options. This feature enables instructors to create their own customized filters.

• Before the change: Instructors have the option to filter their gradebook by using the View > Filters menu option, as well as, by using search boxes.
• After the change: In addition to the search boxes, the Filter “funnel” icon opens a panel where instructors can create their own filters. Filters created can refine the view of the gradebook well beyond what was previously possible.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This instructor productivity improvement enables instructors to simplify the view of their gradebook in new and unique ways that were previously not possible.

Note: At the time of publishing, filters cannot be copied between courses and must be recreated in new courses.

The Enhanced Gradebook Filter feature is currently under development. Instructors are encouraged to leave feedback regarding the functionality of the tool in the .

For more information:

• including how to use the feature, create filters, and edit filters.

April 16, 2022: Apply a Score to All Ungraded Assignments

A zero score can be applied to all ungraded items in a grade category or the total points column. Clicking the three-dot ‘kabob’ icon allows instructors to “Apply Score to Ungraded”.

• Before the change: Assigning a score to ungraded assignments is only possible for individual grade items.
• After the change: Ungraded, past-due assignments can be set to zero (or any other score) based on assignment group, or for the total score.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This instructor productivity improvement can significantly reduce the turn-around time for releasing final grades to students. This change can also help to minimize the risk of miscalculated final grades.

Zoom

March 21, 2022: Avatars Based on Facial Recognition

The avatars feature allows users to replace their physical appearance with a 3D animated character. The avatar mirrors facial expressions and head movement.

• Before the change: Meeting participants participate with either a webcam enabled, or not.
• After the change: Participants may use animated, 3D avatars which mirror their expressions and body language that are added to their webcam video.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This new feature has wide applications. Making the feature can be a fun activity for a light-hearted ice breaker event. It can also provide an opportunity for participants who are uncomfortable sharing their appearance to project a representation of themselves in a less revealing, and more comfortable way. The functionality may be useful for some roleplaying course activities. In any use case, the feature has the potential to increase inclusivity when used sensibly in the context of a course lesson.

To use this feature in courses, instructors must and .

April 18, 2022: Gesture Recognition via Webcam

Users can enable gesture recognition in Zoom which translates select real-world gestures into pre-existing reactions in Zoom. Gestures captured by Zoom show in the participant list.

• Before the change: Reactions from users are inserted to the meeting using the reaction button.
• After the change: Reactions can be enabled by users so their gestures made in a webcam will generate the equivalent reaction.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality-of-life feature improves participants’ ability to non-verbally communicate in meetings. As a result, users can more naturally react and express their sentiment to the meeting.

Users must in their Zoom client.

April 18, 2022: Whiteboard Redesign

The Zoom whiteboard tool has been redesigned to be cross-platform, nearly infinite in space, and sharable. They can also be persistent.

• Before the change: The Zoom whiteboard is a client-based tool where screen sharing was necessary to use the Whiteboard. Basic image and line drawing functionality exists.
• After the change: The Zoom Whiteboard is a persistent workspace that is attached to users or meetings. The Whiteboard is a digital canvas of nearly infinite size that works independently of screen sharing. It also includes additional shape editing and note taking functionality. Whiteboards can be shared for others to view or edit.
• How this affects teaching and learning: The Zoom Whiteboard offers a high fidelity, persistent whiteboard that can be flexibly used for group work, longer-term brainstorming and collaboration among groups and class cohorts. Many of the tools in Zoom Whiteboard can facilitate project planning and numerous STEM-focused applications. Zoom Whiteboard also has necessary functionality to collaboratively develop mind maps.

, or in users can also .

April 18, 2022: View Breakout Room Activity

Zoom hosts and co-hosts can see the activity of breakout rooms. At a glance, hosts can see whether audio, cameras and screensharing are used from the room list.

• Before the change: Hosts/co-hosts need to enter breakout rooms to gauge activity.
• After the change: Hosts/co-hosts can at-a-glance view the tools in-use in a room to
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality-of-life change lets hosts and co-hosts better understand how their breakout rooms are being utilized. It can help them assess whether a room needs to be visited to assess activity.

For additional information refer to .

Additional Changes

• Canvas LMS
  • February 28, 2022: (For administrators of uws-ce and uws-td courses) Institutional Admins (those who lead comprehensive support for their areas) may edit student grades, use SpeedGrader, and add comments. This change makes the Institutional Admin role behave consistently across the three 51ÁÔĆć Canvas accounts. Changes are only made by administrators in courses where consent is granted in-writing or in-person by the course instructor. All changes are auditable.
  • March 16, 2022: When setting Release Options for modules, New Quizzes assignments are listed under the “Quizzes” group along with Classic Quizzes assignments.
  • March 16, 2022: “Friendly Description” values can be set by importing an Outcomes CSV file. These descriptions can also be exported using a CSV.
  • March 19, 2022: (New Quizzes) Language when browsing Item Banks is changed. The “All My Banks” label is replaced with “All Banks”. The “All My Course Banks” label is replaced with “Banks Shared to Course”.
  • March 30, 2022: When editing assignment dates in the Assignments tool, a time may be chosen. Before the change, the time defaulted to 11:59 pm.
  • March 30, 2022: When the Gradebook loads, a throbber—specifically a spinning icon—is shown to indicate that work is underway to show grades.
  • April 13, 2022: In Moderated assignments, SpeedGrader displays whether a student is inactive or concluded just before the assignment submission preview.
  • April 16, 2022: (School/College Support only) The default assignment time is configurable as-needed via a sub-account’s Settings page. The default time is 11:59 pm. School/college support should contact CETL before adjusting this setting.
  • April 16, 2022: (New Quizzes) Item Bank questions can be filtered to “This Course” in addition to “All Banks”, “Institution Banks”, and “Banks Shared to Course”.
  • April 16, 2022: Select emoji can be inserted in submission comments via the .
  • April 27, 2022: The Feature Options lists for courses, users, and accounts can be filtered for enabled or disabled features.
  • April 27, 2022: Instructors can see the local and course time zone (the home time zone of the UW System Canvas instances) in course Settings, by the course start and end dates.
  • April 27, 2022: When importing shared content, all modules are shown from the destination course, rather than the first 10.
• Canvas Catalog
  • April 25, 2022: Users can view “Purchases & Enrollments” to see courses they’ve registered, when they registered, and any cost that was associated with the enrollment.
• Canvas Data Reporting
  • February 18, 2022: (Enterprise and School/College Support) A new dataset representing courses which are using New Quizzes is available to 51ÁÔĆć Canvas Institutional Admins. To gain access to this report, contact 51ÁÔĆć Canvas Administrators in CETL.
• Canvas Mobile Apps
  • February 24-April 13, 2022: (Android and iOS Student and Teacher App) The Dashboard can be customized to show one or multiple columns.
  • February 24, 2022: (iOS Student and Teacher App) The “Edit” and “All Courses” options are replaced with “Edit Dashboard”.
  • February 9-24, 2022: (Android and iOS Teacher App) The SpeedGrader Comment library is available while grading. Entries will automatically appear once typing a comment starts.
  • April 13, 2022: (Android Student App) File uploads can be scanned for submission using the “Scanner” icon.
  • April 13, 2022: (Android Student and Teacher App) Anonymous Discussions are opened in a web browser.
  • April 13, 2022: (Android Teacher App) Push notifications can be adjusted from inside the app.
• org and H5P.com
  • March 29, 2022: Memory Game supports scoring.
• Proctorio
  • February 27, 2022: Signatures for attestation can be typed to be more accessible.
• Zoom
  • March 15, 2022: Users can to change text, logos, and add videos.

Learn More

To learn more about updates, and to see how the changes may affect instructors’ and students’ work, refer to the release note links. Remember that some features may not be enabled for 51ÁÔĆć or the UW System.

• Canvas

The post March/April 2022 Release Summary appeared first on Canvas.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Canvas users were receiving errors and long load times in speedgrader.

WHAT ARE WE DOING ABOUT IT?

Our teams were able to identify the cause. Load times have returned to normal. Page errors have been resolved.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

We will continue to monitor the situation.

The post Resolved: Canvas – Docview Errors affecting speedgrader, files and submissions. appeared first on Canvas.

Updates are made regularly to bring new features, improve the user experience, and fix bugs. For each item, the change date is provided. Release Summaries are used to communicate planned updates for the given month and may include updates which occurred after the previous update.

Service Maintenance

No maintenance is planned for these changes.

Major Changes

• Canvas
  • January 15, 2022: “Sticky” Menu Collapsing by Course and User
  • January 15, 2022: Missing Status Removed on Grade Entry
  • January 15, 2022: “Sticky” Load in New Tab by Course and User
  • January 15, 2022: Unsaved Comment Warning for Graders
  • January 15, 2022: (New Quizzes) Partial Credit for Matching Questions

Canvas

January 15, 2022: “Sticky” Menu Collapsing by Course and User

When you click the Menu icon in a course, the state of the menu persists through the course.

• Before the change: If you click the menu icon to hide the menu, leave the page, then return, the menu would need to be clicked again to re-hide it.
• After the change: The hidden menu continues to be hidden regardless of the course page, until the person chooses to un-hide the menu.
• How this affects teaching and learning: this quality-of-life change provides a more consistent experience to all Canvas users.

If a teacher changes the menu, the change only applies to the teacher who made the change. The gradebook hides the menu by default, and it ignores the menu state in other pages of the course.

January 15, 2022: Missing Status Removed on Grade Entry

If a teacher or grader enters a grade for manual submissions in the Gradebook or SpeedGrader, the Missing color and message are removed from the Gradebook.

• Before the change: If a grade is entered for a manual submission which is missing, the course instructor or grader needs to manually remove the “missing” indicator (flag).
• After the change: Manual submission grades automatically turn-off the missing flag, and the Gradebook is updated.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality-of-life change reduces the number of steps instructors need to take to maintain manually entered grades. In-turn, this results in clearer communication to students, and it reduces the risk of errors in grade presentation.

If a manually entered assignment grade is removed, the missing indicator Is not restored. Additionally, the missing indicator will not appear if a late policy has been applied to the assignment.

January 15, 2022: “Sticky” Load in New Tab by Course and User

If an instructor adds an External Tool or External URL to a course module, and they click the “Load in a new tab” checkbox, the box will remain checked when adding additional external items. If the instructor later un-checks the box, the box will remain un-checked.

• Before the change: The “Load in a new tab” box needs to be re-checked for every External URL or External Tool Module item.
• After the change: The “Load in a new tab” checkbox remains (un-)checked for the addition of each External URL or External Tool.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality-of-life change reduces the number of clicks an instructor must make when they are developing/managing a course.

When using an External Tool (a.k.a. LTI tool), refer to the tool’s documentation to determine if you should check the “Load in a new tab” box.

Opening in a new tab can introduce un-intended challenges for people who use assistive technologies or mobile devices. Consider minimizing the use of “Load in a new tab” unless it is necessary.

January 15, 2022: Unsaved Comment Warning for Graders

When an instructor or grader adds a comment in SpeedGrader, but doesn’t save the comment, a warning is displayed.

• Before the change: Instructors received no warning when navigating in SpeedGrader before saving a comment.
• After the change: A warning is presented if the instructor navigates away from a student’s assignment without saving.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This usability change resolves a common issue where feedback is mistakenly discarded by instructors. This in-turn means that instructors will overall spend less time gradingand recovering from mistakes.

The warning box can be dismissed on an assignment-by-assignment basis by checking “Do not show again for this assignment.” If the grader switches browsers, the box will re-appear for the given assignment.

January 15, 2022: (New Quizzes) Partial Credit for Matching Questions

Note: CETL and school/college support do not currently recommend using New Quizzes unless it is needed for specific question types or capabilities.  for additional information; and continue using Classic Quizzes whenever possible.

Matching Questions in New Quizzes support partial points, which is set by default.

• Before the change: Matching Questions in New Quizzes does not support partial credit.
• After the change: Matching Questions in New Quizzes are configured by default to offer partial credit. The grade type can be changed while editing the question by changing the “Grading” option.
• How this affects teaching and learning: New Quizzes will one day replace the Classic Quizzes tool. This functionality is necessary to facilitate the eventual transition. For instructors who must use New Quizzes, this change increases the versatility of a new quiz.

Clearly communicating the use of partial credit questions is a good strategy to incentivize students to answer as completely as possible. The mixed experience of getting some aspects of a question correct, combined with the ability to review quiz results can make the iterative process of knowledge acquisition more practical in New Quizzes.

Existing Matching questions default to “Exact match,” rather than “Partial credit.”

Additional Changes

• Badgr
  • February 10, 2022: Badges can be .
  • February 10, 2022: (“assertions”) can be edited after awarding.
• Canvas LMS
  • January 19, 2022: (Administrators) the default theme colors for school/college and department areas are updated to reflect increased contrast. This change also affects all mobile web users where the default theme is used.
  • January 19, 2022: When the Equation Editor is used, images which are created use absolute web paths to prevent breakage during content or course copies.
  • February 2, 2022: Roles aside from the original Student, Teacher, TA, and Observer roles are listed by name in many places in Canvas. Previously, roles were listed based on the generic role they were based on.
  • February 2, 2022: (Accessibility) In the Rich Content Editor, the accessibility badge (indicator on-top of the Accessibility Checker icon) has been adjusted to indicate information vs. indicating a warning condition.
  • February 16, 2022: (Accessibility) The High Contrast color scheme is updated for courses to improve readability.
• Canvas Mobile Apps:
  • February 2, 2022: Mobile app sessions in Canvas can last up to 48 hours, up from 20 minutes.
  • February 9, 2022: (Canvas Teacher App for Android) the SpeedGrader comment library is automatically shown when an instructor is grading an assignment.
• H5P
  • February 14, 2022: (Accessibility) Drag the Word exercise correctness messages have descriptions which help screen readers identify text context.
• Proctorio
  • January 15, 2022: Audio encoding uses less bandwidth through the use of a new audio codec.
• Zoom
  • December 28, 2021: Users may now join multiple meetings simultaneously.
  • January 23, 2022: Audio files can be recorded for individuals in a meeting. This setting can be changed by Zoom users in the web portal.

Learn More

To learn more about updates, and to see how the changes may affect instructors’ and students’ work, refer to the release note links. Remember that some features may not be enabled for 51ÁÔĆć or the UW System.

• Canvas

The post January/February 2022 Release Summary appeared first on Canvas.

Updates are made regularly to bring new features, improve the user experience, and fix bugs. For each item, the change date is provided. Release Summaries are used to communicate planned updates for the given month and may include updates which occurred after the previous update.

Service Maintenance

No maintenance is planned for these changes.

Major Changes

• Canvas
  • November 10, 2021: New Quizzes – New Menu Link to Build in Assignments and Quizzes
  • November 20, 2021: New Comment Indicator for Student Assignments
  • November 20, 2021: Join Online Meetings from the Dashboard in List View
  • November 20, 2021: New Quizzes – Change the Location of Related Questions for Stimulus Questions
  • November 24-December 8, 2021: Student and Teacher Apps for Android and iOS – Support for Annotation Submission Type
  • December 15, 2021: New Analytics – Online Attendance Dashboard and Tracking
• Kaltura (My Media, Classroom)
  • December 1, 2021: Automatic Machine Captioning of Video
• Zoom
  • November 9, 2021: Advanced Polling

Canvas

November 20, 2021: New Quizzes – New Menu Link to Build in Assignments and Quizzes

Note: CETL and school/college support do not currently recommend using New Quizzes unless it is needed for specific question types or capabilities.  for additional information; and continue using Classic Quizzes whenever possible.

The kabab (“three dots”) menu in Assignments and Quizzes allows instructors to jump directly to the Build page.

• Before the change: Instructors must edit the New Quiz assessment, then click the Build button.
• After the change: The Build option is available from the kabob menu.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality-of-life change makes it easier for instructors to jump to the Build menu, by placing it in what many may find to be a more obvious location.

November 20, 2021: New Comment Indicator for Student Assignments

When students view assignment details, text indicators show when new feedback has been added as an annotation, or in a rubric.

• Before the change: Students need to check assignments and rubrics for comments, or check Grades for feedback.
• After the change: In addition, students can see the assignment details to quickly tell if feedback has been provided by the instructor.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality-of-life change makes it easier for students to determine if feedback has been left by their instructor.

November 20, 2021: Join Online Meetings from the Dashboard in List View

When students or instructors view their Canvas Dashboard in list view (rather than the default Card view), meetings listed in current courses will have a “Join” button. Clicking the button will launch the scheduled Zoom meeting.

• Before the change: Students need to visit a course, click Zoom, then click the Join button for the meeting.
• After the change: Students using Dashboard List view can join scheduled Zoom meetings by clicking the “Join” button.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality-of-life change makes it easier to join video conferences with fewer clicks for the student.

November 20, 2021: New Quizzes – Change the Location of Related Questions for Stimulus Questions

Note: CETL and school/college support do not currently recommend using New Quizzes unless it is needed for specific question types or capabilities.  for additional information; and continue using Classic Quizzes whenever possible.

When adding a Stimulus question type, the associated questions can be adjusted to be placed below, or besides the Stimulus content presented to students.

• Before the change: Questions associated with Stimulus question type appeared below associated content.
• After the change: The instructor can change the Stimulus question to show associated questions to the right of the content.
• How this affects teaching and learning: Depending on the nature of the stimulus/question relationship, instructors have the flexibility to change orientation to better relate the Stimulus content to the associated questions.

November 24-December 8, 2021: Student and Teacher Apps for Android and iOS – Support for Annotation Submission Type

The annotation question type is supported for both students and instructors. Instructors can view annotations, and students can submit annotation assignments using their mobile device.

• Before the change: Annotation assignments were usable using the web interface.
• After the change: Annotation assignments can be submitted by students using mobile devices.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This change can have a significant impact for active learning, by providing students both mobility, and annotation functionality as part of an activity. This change also allows students who do not have access to desktop computers to more fully engage in completing course work using the technology available to them.

December 15, 2021: New Analytics – Online Attendance Dashboard and Tracking

The New Analytics tool Attendance tab is changed to Online Attendance with enhanced functionality that can guide instructors in determining whether a student has attended or participated in a Canvas course. The dashboard can track certain instructor-defined criteria, or instructors can disable the dashboard on a course-by-course basis.

IMPORTANT: Instructors should avoid relying on this tool to definitively determine a student’s participation in a Canvas course. This information can serve as guidance but should not be trusted exclusively to inform financial aid reporting requirements (a.k.a. F-week reporting). and judge how this tool can aid on your overall participation assessment strategy for the course.

• Before the change: Instructors need to manually analyze information through reports and the New Analytics interface.
• After the change: A dashboard presents key data points based on the instructor’s preferences.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality-of-life change makes it easier for instructors to gather information to identify at-risk students, and to make judgement calls on course pacing and intervention activities. Additionally, this adds a tool for instructors to determine a student’s overall participation in a course for financial aid reporting.

Instructors can choose all or some of the following criteria to report on the Online Attendance dashboard:

• Course Access – Student visits any area of a course
• Posts – Student makes a Discussion post, reply or Announcement post
• Assignment – Completing an assignment submission
• Conferences – NOT USED BY THE UW SYSTEM OR 51ÁÔĆć
• Pages – Student creates a page if wiki functionality is enabled for a course
• Quizzes – Student starts taking or submits a classic quiz. New Quizzes is not yet supported.

It may take up to 24 hours for report information to be displayed.

Kaltura (My Media, Classroom)

December 1, 2021: Automatic Machine Captioning of Video

On December 1, UW System Administration enabled automatic captioning in Kaltura (integrated with Canvas as My Media). All videos uploaded to Kaltura (My Media, Kaltura Classroom) from December 1 onwards will be automatically machine captioned.

• Before the change: Instructors need to request machine captioning for each video uploaded.
• After the change: Videos are automatically captioned by machine learning technology, which provides a minimal captioning experience for students, and serves as a starting point for additional caption editing. Captions are visible by clicking the “CC” icon for a video, then clicking “English (autocaption)”.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This change provides a similar student experience to viewing auto-captioned videos on YouTube or other video services. In some cases, the captions can be beneficial to the learning experience by making video content more closely aligned with universal design practices.

On-average, machine captions are 90% accurate. Clear speech using more common English will meet or exceed 90% accuracy. Discipline-specific language, or poor-quality audio is less likely to meet 90% accuracy.

The machine captioning service can only provide English captions at this time.

Video uploaded before the change are not automatically captioned. Instructors can request for un-captioned videos to be automatically captioned.

IMPORTANT: In most cases, machine captioning does not satisfy ADA requirements, and does not make a video WCAG 2.0-compliant. Instructors should assume that machine captioning needs to be edited to be accessible. Instructors can also delete captions if they are unwanted.

For additional information, or if you have questions, students should contact the 51ÁÔĆć Help Desk. Instructors and administrators are welcome to .

Zoom

November 9, 2021: Advanced Polling

Instructors and students using the newest desktop or mobile Zoom clients can interact using advanced poling during a meeting. Instructors can create matching, ranked choice, short answer, long answer, and multiple-choice questions. Instructors can set correct answers or solicit feedback.

• Before the change: Instructors have the option of offering multiple choice questions to meeting participants.
• After the change: Instructors have the option of offering multiple question types and can specific correct answers.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This change increases the opportunities for instructors to solicit student responses during live presentations. Increasing student engagement during a course can have a measurable impact on student success.

To use this feature, presenters and participants must be using a current desktop or mobile Zoom client. Zoom advanced polling does not currently export grades or progress to the Canvas gradebook.

Additional Changes

• Canvas
  • November 20, 2021: (Administrators only) Clicking through Settings tabs updates the browser address, allowing tabs to be bookmarked, accessed through history, and directly entered.
  • November 20, 2021: For text entry assignments, a word count is displayed in SpeedGrader.
  • November 24, 2021: Student Android App – Text entry submissions can be saved as drafts.
  • November 30, 2021: Student iOS App – The workflow for submitting files is changed. Students should open the file, then tap the Share icon. Then, select the Student app.
  • December 1, 2021: Publish and Unpublish buttons are in the Settings menu and appear the same as on the course homepage.
  • December 1, 2021: Gradebook settings are now a side bar panel, rather than a “pop-over” window.
  • December 15, 2021: To-Do items for instructors can open in a new browser tab. Instructors can change this behavior by visiting User Settings > Feature Options.
  • December 15, 2021: Late Policies are exported in course packages and can be imported or copied forward to new courses.
  • December 15, 2021: In the Rich Content Editor, images can be sized by percentages as well as pixels.
  • December 15, 2021: When viewing your Notification settings, a banner is shown indicating when messages will be delivered.
  • December 15, 2021: When importing a course, or copying an item to a new course, message warning of overwriting only show when something will actually be overwritten.
• Kaltura (My Media, Classroom)
  • November 7, 2021: KMS GO for iOS – the video player has been updated to match the web and android interfaces.
• Proctorio
  • November 1, 2021: New Quizzes support is available.
• Zoom
  • November 29, 2021: (Android, iOS) High-definition video up to 720p can be sent when using your devices camera.
  • December 20, 2021: (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS) Presenters can create, rename and remove breakout rooms after a meeting start.
  • December 20, 2021: (Windows, Mac, iOS for iPad) Gallery view layout can be saved and re-used

Learn More

To learn more about updates, and to see how the changes may affect instructors’ and students’ work, refer to the release note links. Remember that some features may not be enabled for 51ÁÔĆć or the UW System.

• Canvas
• Kaltura (My Media, Classroom)

The post November/December 2021 Release Summary appeared first on Canvas.

Updates are made regularly to bring new features, improve the user experience, and fix bugs. For each item, the change date is provided. Release Summaries are used to communicate planned updates for the given month and may include updates which occurred after the previous update.

Service Maintenance

No service maintenance is scheduled for these updates.

Major Changes

• Canvas
  • October 16, 2021: SpeedGrader Status Label Edits
  • October 16, 2021: Assignment Search
  • October 27, 2021: Search for Multiple Assignments and Students
  • October 16, 2021: Users Can Change Course Notifications Outside of Courses
  • October 16, 2021: Immersive Reader for Syllabus and Assignments
  • October 29, 2021: UDOIT 3.0 General Availability
• Kaltura
  • September 1, 2021: Kaltura Lecture Capture General Availability

Canvas

October 16, 2021: SpeedGrader Status Label Edits

When grading assignment types using SpeedGrader, a pencil icon allows the grader to change the label for a student submission, which is in-turn viewable in the Gradebook.

• Before the change: Labels could only be set in the Gradebook
• After the change: Label changes made in SpeedGrader actuate changes in the Gradebook
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality-of-life improvement makes it easier for course Teachers, TA’s, and Graders to communicate the status of assignments to students.

The status can’t be set on previous submissions, concluded enrollments (students whose access to a course has ended), inactive enrollments (students who have dropped a course, or were withdrawn), and assignments in a closed grading period (which are not used at 51ÁÔĆć, but may be used at other UW System institutions).

October 16, 2021: Assignment Search

A search box for students and assignments can be used to filter the instructor gradebook to display individual student assignments, a specific assignment, or both.

• Before the change: To filter students or assignments, menu options must be selected.
• After the change: Two search boxes are implemented which allow the instructor to filter users using a more intuitive and familiar search interface.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality-of-life change makes the Gradebook easier for instructors to use and is more flexible.

October 27, 2021: Search for Multiple Assignments and Students

Instructors can use the Assignment and Student Search boxes to display more than one student, and more than one assignment. If two students, and two assignments are searched-for at the same time, both assignments for both students will be shown.

Prior to this change, the feature only allows selecting one assignment, and/or one student at a time.

October 16, 2021: Users Can Change Course Notifications Outside of Courses

Users can visit their Account > Notifications page to change the notification settings for individual course sites.

• Before the change: Users need to change notifications in each course by visiting the course.
• After the change: Users can change course-specific notification in one location
• How this affects teaching and learning: This quality-of-life change enables students to disable notifications for courses which they may no longer have access to due to section, date or enrollment restriction.

October 16, 2021: Immersive Reader for Syllabus and Assignments

The Microsoft Immersive Reader is now available on the course Syllabus page, and course Assignment pages. As such, the accessibility and usability functionality of Immersive Reader are available for more highly trafficked areas of courses.

• Before the change: Immersive Reader was available on course Pages (a.k.a. wiki pages).
• After the change: Immersive Reader is available in the Syllabus, and in Assignments, and on the course Home page in Continuing Education, and Training and Development courses.
• How this affects teaching and learning: This change enables a powerful usability feature

Because Immersive Reader has a wide array of functionality, instructors may wish to consider how having Immersive Reader in the assignment can affect the design of the activity.

If your course code starts with “51ÁÔĆć.C” or “51ÁÔĆć.T”, and your course homepage is a page, Immersive Reader will be usable with this change.

October 29, 2021: UDOIT 3 General Availability

UDOIT is a course accessibility checker which is available to all instructors, in all Canvas courses. UDOIT 3 replaces the previous version 1, and the upgrade signals a .

• Before the change: Instructors click UDOIT Cloud from course navigation to manually scan their course to resolve accessibility issues.
• After the change: Instructors add UDOIT to navigation. Once clicked, UDOIT 3 will automatically begin a scan of the course.
• How this affects teaching and learning: Accessibility checking is easier to conduct, and less technical knowledge is needed on the part of the instructor to resolve issues.

Note: instructors will need to re-add UDOIT to navigation when this change takes place. Search for “Course accessibility checker (UDOIT)” in the desired courses navigation settings.

UW System is offering training to instructors who are both new to the tool, and who are already familiar with UDOIT.

• UDOIT New Users is designed for instructors who are new to the tool
  
  
• UDOIT 3.0 What’s New? is designed for instructors who are current users who wish to become acquainted with changes.
  
  

Kaltura

September 1, 2021: Kaltura Lecture Capture General Availability

51ÁÔĆć Classroom Services has migrated most classrooms to leverage Kaltura Lecture Capture, which relies on computers in-the-classroom to record cameras, audio, and applications. Videos may be recorded on-demand by the instructor, or all class sessions can be scheduled by Classroom Services. Once videos are recorded, they are uploaded to Kaltura (My Media).

Kaltura Lecture Capture is supported by Campus Technology Support (including the 51ÁÔĆć Help Desk, and Classroom Services). Instructors experiencing issues should contact Classroom Services. The 51ÁÔĆć Help Desk, Classroom Services, and CETL can assist in making the recorded video available in your Canvas course.

Additional Changes

• Canvas Catalog
  • August 30, 2021: The registration process for students has been updated. The change was made to help users avoid creating duplicate accounts.
• Canvas LMS
  • September 15, 2021: The Grades page for students is responsive, making it more friendly to view on mobile devices and low-resolution screens.
  • September 29, 2021: Excused assignments in the Gradebook display in SpeedGrader.
  • October 16, 2021: Navigation is now “sticky”—navigation menus in your course now stay positioned and usable on the left even if pages are long.
• External Tools (LTI)
  • September 1, 2021: Great River Learning’s “GRCONTENT” platform is now available as an opt-in tool. Instructors can using “Request an External Tool” in 51ÁÔĆć Canvas Tools.
• Kaltura (My Media, Mediaspace)
  • September 5, 2021: In Kaltura Capture (non-classroom desktop recording), the whiteboard can now be “maximized” (made to fill the whole screen).
• Point Solutions
  • September 3, 2021: TurningPoint has been re-branded as Point Solutions. Canvas links to TurningPoint have been updated to use the new name.
• Proctorio
  • The Chrome extension can now be used in Japanese.
• Zoom
  • August 21, 2021: Meetings can be freely transferred between computers and other devices while in-progress.
  • September 15, 2021: Instructors who must interact with protected health information (PHI) or records protected by HIPAA can safely use Zoom after requesting a change to instructors’ Zoom accounts. Schools and colleges should . Non-academic business units who must use Zoom should contact Classroom Services for further assistance.
  • September 23, 2021: (Windows, MacOS, Linux) Local recordings receive unique file names.
  • September 23, 2021: (Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS) Alternate hosts may be allowed to offer and manage polls.
  • September 23, 2021: (Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS) The chat window supports rich text and message quoting.
  • October 25, 2021: (Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS) Profile photos are displayed in chat. This feature can be enabled in Settings. It may be enabled by default at a later date by UW System Zoom administrators.

Learn More

To learn more about updates, and to see how the changes may affect instructors’ and students’ work, refer to the release note links. Remember that some features may not be enabled for 51ÁÔĆć or the UW System.

• Canvas
• Kaltura (My Media, Mediaspace)

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