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 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.
4/1/17 Production Release Highlights:
- Course Content Export: Canvas supports exporting course content into an HTML format for offline viewing on a computer. This feature supports courses that use complex HTML or dynamic linking to downloaded files. Exports are based on modules, so instructors must allow students to view the Modules page to export course content. Even if a course does not include modules, Course content export packages include all course files, pages, and embedded files as long as the user has permission to view them.
- More Info: Content is exported as a ZIP file and downloaded to the user’s computer. The file is essentially a snapshot of how the course existed at the time of the content export. Users can only interact with course activities when online, such as submitting an assignment, taking a quiz, or replying to a discussion. For more information about this feature, please view the full release notes. This is an account- or subaccount-level setting that applies to an entire account. If there is interest in enabling this feature, please let us know.
- Course End Date and Past Enrollments: In the Courses list, the Past Enrollment section displays courses that include a course end date in Course Settings. This update applies to all user roles and helps resolve past courses that Canvas never considered to be concluded unless they were concluded by term dates or the course override participation checkbox. Now, if a course includes a course end date, the end date applies to course enrollment status regardless of the participation checkbox setting. Therefore, when a course end date is included in Course Settings, the course displays in the Past Enrollments section once the end date has passed. For clarification, the “users can only participate” checkbox restricts users from participating in the course, such as replying to discussions, submitting assignments, etc. If an instructor is using course dates to override term dates and prefers the course be placed in a read-only state after the course has ended, the “users can only participate” checkbox should be selected. Otherwise, students can still participate in the course after the course end date.
- There are also several updates to the following features in Canvas, which we currently do not have enabled for Penn: Multiple Grading Periods, Chat (enabled for Wharton only), and Student Context Cards. If there is any interest in enabling these features, please let us know.
For a complete production release update, please see:
Canvas Production Release Notes: April 1, 2017
2017-04-01 New Feature Screencast from Canvas LMS on Vimeo.
Please click here to view the transcript for this video.
Last Updated: 28 Mar 2017