Canvas operates on a three-week release cycle through which features are added or updated. Courseware Support posts highlights from Canvas’s production release notes, a link to these notes, and other relevant content to the Canvas at Penn blog a few days before the production release, which usually occurs on Saturdays. Please contact Courseware Support at canvas@pobox.upenn.edu if you have any questions about an upcoming production release.
8/8/15 Production Release Highlights:
- New Canvas User Interface: This feature is used in conjunction with the New UI Feature Option, which can be enabled by any Canvas admin in Account Settings. Enabling the New UI affects the user interface for the entire Canvas account. Adjustments to the New UI will be made throughout the upcoming year. The new Canvas UI is an updated interface structure designed for easier navigation and an enhanced responsive user experience across several components.
We have elected to NOT enable this UI change for Fall 2015. Please follow the Canvas at Penn Blog and Twitter (@CanvasPenn) to stay informed about when this change will take place.
- Student Interactions Report: Instructors who access the “People” page in their course have a corresponding button to the Student Interactions Report. The Student Interactions Report shows an overview of the last interaction with each student in their course, in addition to the student’s current score, final score, and any ungraded assignments.
- Gradebook Link: For consistency in all user roles, the instructor Gradebook link in Course Navigation has been changed to Grades. However, the link behavior has not changed and still opens to the Gradebook.
- Excuse an Assignment in Individual View: In the Gradebook Individual View, instructors can excuse an assignment for a student. After an instructor selects the student and the assignment from the drop-down menus, instructors can excuse the assignment by clicking the “Excuse an Assignment” check-box.
- Total Column Decimals: In the Gradebook, if the “Total Grade” column is shown as a percentage, the percentage is rounded to two decimal places. The student “Grades” page also now shows the percentage rounded to two decimal places.This change also retains two decimals in student view when an instructor uses percentage-weighted assignment groups in the Gradebook.
- Rich Content Editor Default Icons: The default Rich Content Editor icons have been updated for consistency and style. Updated icons include link to URL, embed image, insert math equation, and record/upload media. Icons added from LTI tools are not affected.
- Term-concluded Courses & Unpublished Modules: Instructors in term-concluded courses can view unpublished modules.
Other Canvas Changes:
Canvas no longer supports Etherpad as a collaboration tool. All existing Etherpad collaborations that are hosted by Canvas will be permanently deleted.As a product alternative, users can create Google Docs collaborations in Canvas
For information on using Google Docs for Collaborations, please see: How do I create a Google Docs Collaboration?
For a complete production release update, please see:
August 8, 2015 Canvas Production Release Notes
Last Updated: 5 Aug 2015