Canvas Production Release Notes: March 20, 2021

Canvas operates on a monthly 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.

March 20, 2021 Production Release Highlights

Webcam Submissions: For File Upload assignments, students have the option to use their webcam for file uploads from their web browser. The first time they use the feature, they will need to give permission to Canvas to access their computer webcam.
New Quizzes Support: When adding a quiz item to a module, the Create Quiz option displays both the New Quizzes and Classic Quizzes quiz engines. New Quizzes is the default, but instructors can switch to Classic Quizzes. Existing quizzes in the module are identified as a classic quiz if created with the Classic Quizzes quiz engine.
Course Availability Date Enhancements: The Participation menu includes an option to select course dates by term or course start and end dates. New courses default to term dates. Changing the course dates override term dates; however, section dates that exist in the course override course dates.
File Preview Enhancements: Files linked in the Rich Content Editor can be previewed in an overlay or inline. Previously all file previews opened in a new browser tab.
Submission Reassignments: For online assignments with a due date, instructors can ask a student to redo their submission using the Reassign button in SpeedGrader. Feedback must first be provided to enable the button and multiple submissions must be enabled. The reassignment does not change the original due date for the student.