eleanortf Canvas Updates

Canvas Production Release Notes: March 21, 2026

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 Canvas Info @ 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 21, 2026 Production Release Highlights

New Quizzes Updates

  • Survey Results Visibility In New Quizzes Survey Reports, instructors can click the response count to view a list of students who selected a specific answer. For anonymous surveys, student identities are masked as Student 1, Student 2, and so on to ensure privacy.
  • Export Survey Responses Instructors can export survey responses to a CSV file. For details, please see the release notes.

New Quizzes is currently an opt-in feature. Contact canvas@pobox.upenn.edu if you’re interested in enabling it.

For a complete production release update, please see:

Canvas Production Release Notes: March 21, 2026.

eleanortf Bugs & Maintenance, Third Party Tools (LTIs)

Panopto Maintenance – 3/22

Panopto will be unavailable on Sunday, March 22 from 12:30am-3:30am Eastern due to scheduled maintenance by the vendor. During this downtime, media content in Panopto and the “Class Recordings” or “Panopto Recordings” area of Canvas sites will be unavailable. 

Canvas and all other integrated tools will be available and unaffected by this maintenance.

Please direct any questions or concerns to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.

eleanortf Bugs & Maintenance, Third Party Tools (LTIs)

Turnitin & Gradescope Maintenance – 3/7

On Saturday, March 7 from 11am-3pm Eastern:

  • Turnitin may be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance by the vendor.
    • Only assignments using the Turnitin originality checking settings (“Plagiarism Review”)  will be affected.
    • To avoid issues, instructors are encouraged to set due dates for Turnitin assignments outside of the scheduled maintenance window.
    • Students are encouraged to submit Turnitin assignments in advance of affected due dates.
  • Some Gradescope features (Exporting submissions & submitting files for Code Similarity Reports) will be unavailable. All other components of Gradescope will be operational.

Canvas and all other integrated tools will be available and unaffected by this maintenance.

Please direct any questions or concerns to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.

eleanortf Canvas Features, Canvas Updates

New Course Request Form LIVE

We are pleased to announce that the new Course Request Form mentioned in our blog post from Feb. 18 is now live! It can be accessed at the same URL: https://courserequest.library.upenn.edu/.

The new form includes improved syncing with University data sources, a streamlined user experience, and new features like a preview for custom course titles and PennKey validation for additional enrollments. Updated instructions are available for how to request a course using the new form.

Please report any issues to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu 

eleanortf Canvas Updates

Canvas Production Release Notes: February 21, 2026

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 Canvas Info @ 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.

February 21, 2026 Production Release Highlights

Feature Options

  • Delayed Until 2/25 Course Accessibility Checker This feature provides a course-level interface that gives instructors and administrators an overview of accessibility issues and guided tools for quick remediation. It initially supports scanning Canvas Pages and Assignments, enabling faster, more effective fixes. For details, please see the release notes.

The course accessibility checker is currently an opt-in feature. Local Service Providers (LSPs) should contact canvas@pobox.upenn.edu to enable it. Instructors should contact their LSP to see if the feature is available for their courses.

New Quizzes Updates

  • Delayed Until 3/21 Survey Results Visibility In New Quizzes Survey Reports, instructors can click the response count to view a list of students who selected a specific answer. For anonymous surveys, student identities are masked as Student 1, Student 2, and so on to ensure privacy.
  • Delayed Until 3/21 Export Survey Responses Instructors can export survey responses to a CSV file. For details, please see the release notes.

For a complete production release update, please see:

Canvas Production Release Notes: February 21, 2026.

eleanortf Bugs & Maintenance, Canvas Features

New Course Request Form & Form Downtime – 2/25

We’re excited to announce that a new Course Request Form will launch on February 25!

As part of the launch, the Library Course Request Form will be unavailable on Wednesday, February 25 from 9am-9:30am Eastern while we make the transition. Once this downtime is complete, the current URL will direct users to the New Form, so any existing links or bookmarks will continue to work. Instructions on how to use the new Course Request Form will be published on Canvas Info@Penn after the transition is complete.

While we do have contingencies for any site requests made after business hours on February 24, we would advise users to place any site requests before 5pm on February 24 or to wait until after the New Course Form is live on February 25.

Please direct any questions or concerns to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.

eleanortf Bugs & Maintenance, Third Party Tools (LTIs)

Resolved – Zoom Bug for Automatic Meeting Recording

The issue with automatic Zoom meeting recording through the Canvas integration has been resolved by the vendor. Zoom meetings created through the Canvas integration and set to auto-record to the cloud should now automatically record as expected.

If you encounter any ongoing issues with automatic Zoom recording through the Canvas integration, please email canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.

eleanortf Bugs & Maintenance, Third Party Tools (LTIs)

Turnitin & Gradescope Maintenance – 2/7

On Saturday, February 7 from 11am-5pm Eastern:

  • Turnitin will be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance by the vendor.
    • Only assignments using the Turnitin originality checking settings (“Plagiarism Review”)  will be affected.
    • To avoid issues, instructors are encouraged to set due dates for Turnitin assignments outside of the scheduled maintenance window.
    • Students are encouraged to submit Turnitin assignments in advance of affected due dates.
  • Some Gradescope features (Exporting Submissions & Code Similarity Reports) will be unavailable. All other components of Gradescope will be operational.

Canvas and all other integrated tools will be available and unaffected by this maintenance.

Please direct any questions or concerns to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.

eleanortf Bugs & Maintenance, Third Party Tools (LTIs)

Zoom Bug for Automatic Meeting Recording

When a series of Zoom meetings is created through the Canvas integration and set to auto-record to the cloud, that setting gets turned off if a user with a non-student role clicks the Zoom tab. This issue has been reported to the vendor and they are working to resolve it as soon as possible. We recommend that instructors verify that Zoom meetings are recording once they start.

If you have any questions, please email canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.

eleanortf Bugs & Maintenance, Canvas Features

New Quizzes Maintenance – 2/1

On Sunday, February 1,from 6:02am to 9:02am Eastern New Quizzes may be unavailable in Penn Canvas and Open Canvas due to scheduled maintenance by the vendor.

This maintenance will only impact assessments created in New Quizzes.

  • To avoid issues, instructors are encouraged to set due dates for New Quizzes outside of the scheduled maintenance window.
  • Students are encouraged to submit New Quizzes in advance of affected due dates.

Canvas and all other integrated tools (including Classic Quizzes) will be available and unaffected by this maintenance.

Please direct any questions or concerns to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.