Kate Rojas Canvas Features, Canvas Updates, Start/End of Term

What’s New in Canvas Fall 2026?

The following information will introduce you to notable changes in Canvas for Fall 2026. If you haven’t used Canvas in the past year, we recommend reviewing What’s New in Canvas Spring 2026.

Assignments & Grading

  • Enhanced rubrics – The new enhancements bring an updated user interface that allows for easier creation, streamlined management across courses, and new display options for Instructors. See our blog post for more information.
  • Performance and usability upgrades for SpeedGrader – The new enhancements include an updated drop down menu for sections, refreshed states for “No Submission” and “Empty Course,” alignment with the grade status selector, consistency with rubric display, and improved comment attachment workflow. See our blog post for more information.
  • Scheduled feedback – In the Gradebook, instructors can manage the visibility of grades and feedback for individual assignments. For details, see the release notes.

Want to learn more about Assignments and Grading in Canvas? See our upcoming Canvas Workshops in September.

New Quizzes Updates

  • Survey support – New Quizzes supports Survey-type quizzes, allowing instructors to collect anonymous or non-anonymous feedback, with graded or ungraded options. Instructors can view survey data in the Reports tab. For details, please see the release notes.
  • 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. For details, see the release notes.
  • 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.

Other Canvas Changes

  • New Course Request Form – 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.
  • Removal of NameCoach on August 31, 2026 from Penn Canvas – To compensate for this, we’ve enabled the native Canvas name pronunciation tool for all users to be able to type out their name phonetically. For guidance on adding a pronunciation, please visit the profile guide.

Third Party Tools

  • Gradescope LTI 1.3 – Penn has completed our upgrade to Gradescope LTI 1.3. This integration improves assignment linking, provides easier access to Gradescope in Canvas, and has improved authentication and security protocols. The Gradescope for Instructors page now includes updated directions for using the new version of the tool in Canvas. We recommend starting from Canvas when creating assignments.

Questions?

For additional help and support, please email canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.

Kate Rojas Start/End of Term

Fall 2026 Virtual Course Shopping Period in Canvas

What is it?

Penn has developed a virtual shopping period in Canvas so that students can “visit” different courses as they finalize their course selections. Fall 2026 Course Shopping will run from Tues, Aug. 25 to Tues, Sept. 8.

Students will be able to access the visible courses through Path@Penn via a link available on the course listing. When students are visiting a course’s Canvas site, it is not the same as being registered for the course. Students accessing a course through this process will not appear on the Canvas course roster and they will not be able to participate in the course discussions or submit assignments. Students who access a course’s Canvas site while not enrolled in the course will need to ask the instructor for permission to attend any class sessions.

The default visibility setting for Canvas course sites is “Course” so that only enrolled students have access. During the virtual shopping period, the visibility setting will be changed to “Institution”. After the virtual shopping period, visibility settings will be reverted back to “Course”.

Read more about which courses the shopping period applies to, how students can access them, and how instructors can opt out for their courses on the Course Shopping page.

Who should I contact with questions?

Please contact canvas@pobox.upenn.edu with any questions.

Kate Rojas Support

Canvas Workshops in September 2026 (On Zoom!)

Register using the links below the flyer. Workshops will be recorded and sent to all registered participants.

Canvas 101 for Faculty & Staff

Tuesday, September 1 from 12:00-12:45 PM Eastern – Register

This workshop will introduce basic Canvas functions that will allow participants to do the following: set profile and notifications; navigate the Canvas interface; create content for a Canvas site; and post files, images, and videos.

Assignment & Quiz Basics

Tuesday, September 8 from 12:00-12:45 PM Eastern – Register

This workshop will focus on using Assignments and Quizzes in Canvas. Topics covered include creating assignments with various submission types, creating quizzes with multiple question types, configuring quiz and assignment settings, and using Assignment Groups.

Setting Up Your Gradebook

Thursday, September 10 from 12:00-12:45 PM Eastern – Register

This workshop will provide step-by-step guidance on how to set up the Canvas Gradebook. Faculty and staff will learn how to configure a grade posting policy, select late policies, apply a grading scheme, and weigh their gradebook by points or by percentages using Assignment Groups.

What’s New in Canvas for Fall 2026

Monday, September 21 from 12:00-12:45 PM Eastern – Register
A new semester means new tools, features, and updates in Canvas. This workshop will introduce and explore the notable changes in Canvas for Fall 2026.

Canvas Office Hours

Visit our LibCal calendar to register for a 30-minute session.

Kate Rojas Canvas Features, Canvas Updates

Enhanced Rubrics are Coming on August 17!

Starting on August 17, 2026, you will notice a change to the layout and capabilities of the Rubrics area in Canvas as we upgrade to Enhanced Rubrics. Current rubrics for your courses will appear in this new layout with no additional action on your part. The classic version of Rubrics will no longer be available.

Enhanced Rubrics bring an updated user interface that allows for easier creation, streamlined management across courses, and new display options for Instructors. The view and experience will remain essentially unchanged for students.

Easier Rubric creation with new features:

  • Drag and Drop reordering of rubric criteria.
  • Customizable ordering of rating scales (low to high or high to low).
  • Duplicate criteria and entire rubrics.
  • Create rubrics via import of a CSV file if you prefer to create rubrics outside of Canvas. 

Streamlined Rubric Management:

  • See what rubrics are connected to which assignments via the Rubrics menu.
  • Ability to use rubrics in multiple courses.
  • Ability to search for rubrics.
  • Archive old rubrics that you would like to reference.

Grading with Rubrics:

  • Additional rubric display options in Speedgrader: Traditional, Vertical, and Horizontal.
  • Bulk download of rubric assessments.
  • Canvas Outcomes are now easy to access and align in rubrics.

Important Items to note:

  • The +Rubric button has changed to a Create New Rubric button.
  • To preview a rubric, select its name. A tray will appear displaying the rubric. 
  • To edit, duplicate, copy to, archive, or delete a rubric, select the 3 vertical dots (options) button.
  • Continue to Create rubrics via the Rubrics Course Navigation button or at the individual assignment or discussion level. If building at the assignment or discussion level, be sure to check the “Use this rubric for assignment grading” box so scores are calculated automatically.
  • Rubrics can only be added to graded assignments or discussions. Canvas will alert you if you attempt to edit a rubric that is currently in use or if you build a rubric that does not add up to the point value assigned to that assignment.

Please see Rubric Management to view a step-by-step video on the new features as well as how to create an enhanced rubric from scratch.

For assistance with enhanced rubrics, contact your Local Support Provider or submit a request to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.

Kate Rojas Support

Canvas Workshops in August 2026 (On Zoom!)

Register using the links below the flyer. Workshops will be recorded and sent to all registered participants.

Canvas 101 for Faculty & Staff

Friday, August 14 from 12:00-12:45 PM Eastern – Register
Thursday, August 20 from 12:00-12:45 PM Eastern – Register
Monday, August 24 from 12:00-12:45 PM Eastern – Register

This workshop will introduce basic Canvas functions that will allow participants to do the following: set profile and notifications; navigate the Canvas interface; create content for a Canvas site; and post files, images, and videos.

Canvas Office Hours

Visit our LibCal calendar to register for a 30-minute session.

Kate Rojas Canvas Updates

Canvas Production Release Notes: July 18, 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 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.

July 18, 2026 Production Release Highlights

Feature Options

Notebook- Student With this feature option enabled, students can highlight text on Pages directly within their course content. They can mark content as Unclear or Important, add notes, and manage their entries from a dedicated Notebook page in Course Navigation. Notes will only be accessible to the student as long as they have access to the course, and they cannot be exported. The feature is only available on Pages and will not work on embedded content such as PDFs or Word documents.

For more details, please see the release notes. This feature will be enforced for all users on August 15, 2026.

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

For a complete production release update, please see:

Canvas Production Release Notes: July 18, 2026

Kate Rojas Bugs & Maintenance

RESOLVED: Roll Call Attendance (7/14/26)

UPDATE: Roll Call is accessible again. Please report any continuing issues to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.

Canvas users may be receiving a message that the “Instructure Attendance Tool is currently down for maintenance” when trying to access the Roll Call Attendance tool.

Instructure has identified the issue, and a fix is being implemented. We will provide an update once the issue is resolved.

Canvas and all other integrated tools are unaffected by this bug.

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

Kate Rojas Bugs & Maintenance

Turnitin, Gradescope, and iThenticate Maintenance – 7/18

All Turnitin products will be having scheduled maintenance on Saturday, July 18, from 11am-5pm Eastern. During this time, Turnitin, Gradescope, and iThenticate may experience intermittent availability.

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

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.