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 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 Canvas Features, Canvas Updates

Performance and Usability Upgrades for SpeedGrader are Here!

We have now enabled Performance and Usability Upgrades for SpeedGrader, as mentioned in our blog post from June 16.

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.

Please review Using SpeedGrader for guidance that includes these changes.

Questions? Email canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.

Kate Rojas Canvas Features, Canvas Updates

Performance and Usability Upgrades for SpeedGrader are Coming on July 2!

Performance and Usability Upgrades for SpeedGrader will be enabled at Penn on July 2.

Most of the changes are minor, with minimal tweaks to grading workflow and the look and feel of the feature.

These enhancements include:

  • Updated drop down menu for sections
  • Refreshed states for “No Submission” and “Empty Course”
  • The grade status selector will match recent design patterns
  • Rubrics in SpeedGrader will always display in the enhanced traditional grid view for consistency
  • Improved comment attachment workflow (easier updates, clearer delete icon)

On July 2, our Using SpeedGrader guide will be updated. For more details, please read the vendor’s documentation. We will post again when the feature goes live.

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

eleanortf Bugs & Maintenance, Canvas Features

RESOLVED -Turnitin Similarity Reports Not Generating (5/4/26)

UPDATE 5/4/26 at 7pm: This issue has been resolved. Please note that Canvas will resubmit the affected submissions; it is worth noting that this may take a while to complete. Please direct any continuing issues to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu

Users may encounter errors accessing or generating reports in Turnitin for newly submitted assignments

Reports for previously submitted assignments do not appear to be affected and are still accessible.

For updates please see the vendor’s status page.

Canvas and all other integrated tools are available and working normally.

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

eleanortf Bugs & Maintenance, Canvas Features

RESOLVED – Speedgrader Bug – 4/22

UPDATE 4/23/26 – This bug has been fixed. Please contact canvas@pobox.upenn.edu if you encounter any ongoing issues.

The Courseware Team has received multiple reports of a Speedgrader bug where a student’s submission only displays in a small strip at the top, making it difficult for instructors to grade and provide feedback.

We have put in a ticket with the vendor, and we will provide an update once the issue is solved.

As a workaround, drag the little grey triangle to the bottom of the page to resize the window. Arrow copy.png

All other Canvas tools are available and working normally. 

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 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.