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.
11/19/16 Production Release Highlights:
- Mastery Paths: The Canvas MasteryPaths feature allows instructors to customize learning experiences to students based on student performance. Instructors and course designers can identify activities for each learning path and decide whether an assignment should be required or optional. They can also allow students to choose their own content and assignments within a specific path. MasteryPaths requires the Mastery Paths feature option in account settings, which can be enabled by any Canvas admin. When allowed at the account level, the feature can be enabled on a course-by-course basis. When enabled for a course, MasteryPaths affects Modules and items in Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, and Pages. For more information, please see: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-8492. If there is interest in enabling this feature, please let us know.
- LTI Add and Edit: The Permissions page includes the LTI Add and Edit permission, which allows admins to decide if users in a specific role can manually install or edit LTI tools. By default, the LTI permission at the account level is enabled for account admin roles, while the LTI permission at the course level is enabled for instructor, TA, and designer roles. When enabled, this permission allows users to install external apps manually as well as through the Canvas app center. However, if the permission is disabled, users can only install approved apps via the Canvas App Center. When users attempt to manually add an app, Canvas displays a message that the action has been restricted. Additionally, for any existing LTIs, users cannot edit the configuration but can still view placements and delete the app.
- Concluded Courses & Analytics: Instructors with analytics permissions can view analytics in concluded courses. The course analytics button displays on the Course Home Page.
- To Do List and Submission Terminology: In the student Dashboard, No Submission or Not Graded assignments with a due date display in the To Do list as Complete the assignment instead of Turn In the assignment.
- Week and Agenda View Updates: The Calendar Week and Agenda Views have been updated to simplify the look and feel. No functionality has been affected. In Week view, the day of the week and the date are more prominent at the top of the page, and the horizontal gridlines have been removed from the background. In Agenda view, assignments and events are displayed in one line, with the event date or assignment due date left aligned in the page.
- Wiki Terminology Update: To help with consistency throughout Canvas, Pages terminology has been changed from wiki to page(s) in the following locations: Course Settings, Modules & Permissions.
For a complete production release update, please see:
Canvas Production Release Notes: November 19, 2016
2016-11-19 New Feature Screencast from Canvas LMS on Vimeo.
Please click here to view the transcript for this video.
Last Updated: 15 Nov 2016