eleanortf Bugs & Maintenance, Canvas Updates

Update on Canvas Disruption

The Courseware Team is resharing the message below from Russ Composto, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Kelly Jordan-Sciutto, Vice Provost for Graduate Education:

“As of this morning, access to Canvas was restored for the Penn community. We ask that all instructors consider the following:

  • For any courses with final exams or assignments due between Thursday, May 7 at 4:00pm through end of day Friday, May 8, we ask instructors to be flexible as needed. In addition to the flexibility that is always available to instructors, please consider these options due to the Canvas disruption:
    • Approving students to take make-up exams during the University’s postponed exam period
      • Postponed exam dates for graduating seniors only are Wednesday, May 13th through Thursday, May 14th, 2026
      • Postponed examinations for all other students will be Tuesday, August 25th, 2026 through Monday, August 31st, 2026
    • Extending deadlines for take-home exams and assignments
    • Offering alternate forms of assessment
  • If you use Canvas for grading, download a copy of the grades now so you have access to it in the event of any further disruptions. Grades should be stored in a secure location such as PennBox.
  • Have backup copies of any materials in Canvas so that they can be shared with students outside of Canvas if needed through a cloud sharing tool like PennBox.
  • The grading deadline currently remains 12pm EST on Friday, May 15, to ensure that grades are submitted in time for commencement.

Instructors are encouraged to be proactive in communicating with their students about any impacts of the Canvas disruption on their courses and contact their schools with any questions.”

Kate Rojas Bugs & Maintenance, Canvas Updates

RESOLVED Outage – Canvas Down (5/7/26)

UPDATE: As of 8am Penn Canvas is accessible again. Please report any continuing issues to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu

UPDATE: As of 7:14 am Penn Canvas is still inaccessible this morning due to problems with authentication. We are working with ISC and Instructure to resolve this as soon as soon as possible. 

UPDATE – This issue is still ongoing as of 12am on Friday May 8. We will provide an update once service is restored.

Canvas is currently down across many institutions. This issue is not limited to Penn.

Our team has notified the Canvas vendor, Instructure, and they are working to restore functionality.

Please visit CETLI’s Resources for Teaching During a Canvas Disruption for solutions to continue teaching during this time.

We will let you know once service is restored, and we apologize for the inconvenience. To check for updates, visit https://status.instructure.com/.

eleanortf Canvas Updates

Canvas Production Release Notes: April 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 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.

April 18, 2026 Production Release Highlights

Feature Options

  • Enhanced Accessibility Reporting – Admin, Instructor (Course Accessibility Checker) An Account-level accessibility dashboard is available in the account navigation, and the course-level accessibility report includes additional features:
    • At the course level, the report includes Announcements, Syllabi, and Discussions.A close remediation feature allows users to mark a resource as complete, removing any remaining issues from the total counts and statistics.

    For more details, please see the release notes.

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.

Other Notes

For a complete production release update, please see:

Canvas Production Release Notes: April 18, 2026

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 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 Canvas Features, Canvas Updates, Start/End of Term

What’s New in Canvas Spring 2026?

Assignments & Grading

  • 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 January and February.

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.

    Please note – CSV export of results/reporting is not available for New Quizzes surveys yet. This feature is estimated to release in early 2026. If you will need a downloadable Excel file of student responses, we recommend creating a Classic Quizzes survey for now.

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

Other Canvas Changes

Third Party Tools

  • Panopto (Class Recordings) has a new and improved course copy process that makes it easier to transfer recordings between semesters. Recordings can still be copied using the old process if you prefer.
  • Perusall has gotten an upgrade. Instructors can find information about the new version of Perusall, and how to copy over previous semester Perusall content in the transition guide.
    • In addition to the new version of Perusall, this tool has a new look and improved features.
      • These include: clarity in multi-part assignments for students, new language options, more efficient scoring templates and rubric application, flexible grouping, and a new “gated assignments” feature. For details, please see the “What’s New in Perusall” blog post.

Questions?

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

eleanortf Canvas Updates

Canvas Production Release Notes: December 13, 2025

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.

December 13, 2025 Production Release Highlights

New Features

  • Scheduled Feedback In the Gradebook, instructors can manage the visibility of grades and feedback for individual assignments. For details, see the release notes.

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.

    Please note – CSV export of results/reporting is not available for New Quizzes surveys yet. This feature is estimated to release in early 2026. If you will need a downloadable Excel file of student responses, we recommend creating a Classic Quizzes survey for now.

Other Changes

For a complete production release update, please see:

Canvas Production Release Notes: December 13, 2025.