Canvas Production Release: October 27, 2018

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.

10/27/18 Production Release Highlights

List View Dashboard Calendar Event View: In the List View Dashboard, the link for an event displays a summary window that includes the event date, location, and event details. This change allows students to quickly view details for an event without having to view the event directly in the Calendar.
List View Dashboard Grades Link Update: In the Grades menu, the course link directs to the Grades page instead of the home page. This change allows students to directly access the Grades page for the course.
Student Dashboard Sidebar Updates: In the Card View and Recent Activity Dashboard sidebars and the Course Home Page sidebar, the Coming Up section has been removed for students. The To Do list displays up to seven items instead of five, and items may be included that are due more than two weeks in advance. This change aligns consistency with content display in the List View Dashboard and the Calendar.
Gradebook History Anonymity: Student names do not display in the Gradebook History if an assignment was graded anonymously. This change helps mask anonymity in the Gradebook History page.
HTML5 Media Recorder: For video recordings in the Rich Content Editor, HTML5 can be used instead of flash in Firefox and Chrome browsers. This change allows recorded media without requiring flash within the Firefox and Chrome browsers. Internet Explorer and Safari are not supported. If there is interest in enabling this feature, please let us know.
Dashboard Pages Icon Update: The Pages icon has been updated in the List View Dashboard and the To Do List sidebar in the Card View and Recent Activity Dashboards. This change aligns the Pages icon with other areas in Canvas.
Profile Initials in Student Context Cards: Student Context Cards displays profile initials for students without profile pictures. Initials are based on the first name and last name of the student’s display name. This change upgrades the current interface functionality of non-profile-picture user accounts. Previously student images without profile pictures displayed a gray profile outline.
Other Updates:
- Analytics Beta LTI will be added to all production environments on Monday, October 29 2018. For more information: Analytics Beta (Course Grade).