Canvas Updates

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Production Release Notes for Saturday, September 19, 2015
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Production Release notes for Saturday, April 23, 2016.<br>
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In this Canvas release (April 23), instructors can better manage inactive enrollments in the Gradebook and the People page and access the Course Navigation Menu from the Gradebook. .
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In this release (September 19), instructors benefit from added productivity tools in the classroom and students no longer see groups after a course has concluded.
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<h1>New Features</h1>
<h1>New Features</h1>
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<h2>Calendar</h2>
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<h2>Grades</h2>
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<h3>Recurring Events</h3> This feature is not currently on within the UF instance of Canvas, but is under consideration.
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<h3>Inactive Enrollments Setting</h3>
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When creating a new calendar event for a course, instructors can choose to create multiple copies of the event every day, week, or month. Once created, recurring events are not linked together and are independent events. Therefore, if users need to modify an event, each event has to be modified individually.
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<p>When a student is deactivated in a course, instructors can view inactive enrollments through the Gradebook Settings menu. Similar to the behavior of concluded enrollments, this feature allows instructors to filter inactive students from the Gradebook. When enabled, the Settings menu displays a checkmark next to the option to show inactive enrollments.</p>
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<p><em>This feature was originally suggested by the Canvas Community.</em></p>
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Recurring Calendar Events is a course-level feature option. This feature must be enabled at the account level before it can be used for individual courses.
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<h3>Enrollment Labels</h3>
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<p>When displaying inactive or concluded students, Gradebook includes a label next to the name of the student indicating the student’s enrollment status. Grade fields for both enrollments types are grayed out, but inactive enrollment grades can still be edited.</p>
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When a course has enabled recurring (repeating) calendar events, an instructor can add the event details, select the course, then click the More Options button.
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The repeat button appears as part of the new calendar event. By default, events are repeated every week.
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Weekly events are replicated on the day of the week of the first event. For instance, if an event is created on a Monday and repeats weekly, the next instance of the event will appear on the following Monday, regardless of the actual date.
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Monthly events are replicated on the day of the month of the first event. For instance, if an event is created on July 6 and repeats monthly, the next instance of the event will appear on August 6.
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Users can also choose to select the Count option, which adds a number to the end of each event title (e.g. Event 1, Event 2, etc.)
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This feature was originally suggested by the Canvas community.
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<h2>Conferences</h2>
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<h3>Polling</h3>
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Presenters can create polls for participants to use during a conference. Polls can be created ahead of time, such as during a presentation, or created as part of an informal discussion.
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Because of a distributed rollout for this feature, many institutions may already be able to see polling in their production environment. However, the beta environment should always be used to test new features if admins or instructors are uncertain about functionality or performance.
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Presenters can create a poll at the bottom of the presentation window. Polls can be Yes/No, True/False, or letter responses up to six answer choices (A through F).
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Presenters can also create a custom poll where they can specify their answer choices.
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Polls can also be created automatically from a presentation slide. Conferences is able to read the slide and automatically include polling options that match the polling options.
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For the conference participants, the polling options appear on the page automatically.
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Once a poll is started, presenters can see the participant responses as they are made in real time.
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Presenters can also see if one or more participants in the conference have not responded. However, polls are always anonymous and voting is not required.
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Presenters can publish poll results to appear for all conference participants at any time. They do not have to wait for all participants to vote.
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<h2>Groups</h2>
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<h3>Conclude Groups at Course Conclusion</h3>
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When a course concludes in Canvas, groups in the course also conclude. Concluded groups do not appear in the Courses &amp; Groups menu. Users can still access their previous and current groups in the Groups page.
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<em><strong>Note:</strong> Currently groups still appear on the Courses page and will be addressed in a future release.</em>
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This feature was originally suggested by the Canvas community.
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This change resolves a fixed bug in Canvas:
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<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> Users were not able to be removed from a course group unless an admin or instructor manually removed the student from the group. This behavior occurred because groups were not associated with the course status. Canvas code has been updated to show courses groups as concluded in the Groups page and remove associated groups from the Group favorites list.</em>
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&nbsp;
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<h1>Updated Features</h1>
<h1>Updated Features</h1>
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<h2>Courses</h2>
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<h3>Courses Page Updates</h3>
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<p>The Courses page design has been redesigned to incorporate the styles used in the Dashboard. The page displays all course details in a column format for easier readability. This change mostly affects the new Canvas UI; the legacy UI design only adds page headings to show each column type. Contrast ratios for the favorites star icon have also been increased for accessibility.</p>
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<h2>People</h2>
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<h3>User Details Inactive Status</h3>
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<p>Users who have permission to view the user details page in a course can view an inactive label for inactive enrollments. This change helps clarify a user’s enrollment status when the user has multiple enrollments within a course.</p>
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<h1>Other Updates</h1>
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<h2>Assignments</h2>
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<h3>Turnitin Icon Contrast</h3>
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<p>Turnitin icon colors in the assignment submission details page, Gradebook, and SpeedGrader display with higher contrast ratios.</p>
<h2>Gradebook</h2>
<h2>Gradebook</h2>
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<h3>Muted Assignments</h3>
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<h3>Performance Updates</h3>
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When an instructor mutes an assignment, scores are muted from the student’s Total score, but not the instructor’s Gradebook. When an instructor mutes an assignment in the Gradebook, the Total column will display a warning indicating that the total score is different than shown to students.
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<p>Gradebook content is loaded incrementally for improved performance. Some Gradebook features such as column sorting may not be available in larger courses until all students have been loaded on the page.</p>
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<h2>Notifications</h2>
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<em><strong>Note:</strong> To better associate warning messages, in the next release the warning icon will be changed to the mute icon.</em>
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<h3>Communication Channel Update</h3>
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<h2>SpeedGrader</h2>
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<p>If a user tries to reply to a message in an unconfirmed communication channel, the error delivery message includes information about how to confirm the communication channel so replies can be sent back through Canvas. Previously the message only mentioned that the reply could not be delivered, and the majority of users were unsure how to update or confirm a communication channel.</p>
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<h3>Manual Quiz Question Grading</h3>
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<p><em>This feature resolves a fixed bug in Canvas</em></p>
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In a manually graded quiz question, instructors no longer have to remove the dashes in the point field. Once an instructor starts typing a score, the dashes are removed automatically. However, if no value is entered and dashes are still present, the question is still considered ungraded.
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user’s communication channel is an alias of their address on their mail server, and the user replies to a message, the user receives a delivery notification that the message cannot be delivered. Replies cannot be made through external notifications if the sending address cannot be identified with a confirmed communication channel in Canvas. Canvas code has been updated to include information about how users can update their communication channels.</em></p>
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This feature was originally submitted by the Canvas community.
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This change resolves a fixed bug in Canvas:
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<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> When an instructor opened a manually graded quiz in SpeedGrader and clicked the dashes in the points field, any scores typed in the field were inserted around the dashes instead of remove them completely. This behavior occurred because the points field was not focusing correctly on the dashes. Canvas code has been updated to remove the dashes when points are entered in the field.</em>
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<h3>Hiding Names in Anonymous Surveys</h3>
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When grading an anonymous survey (quiz) in SpeedGrader, instructors can view the Hide Student Names checkbox in SpeedGrader settings, but the checkbox cannot be disabled. Anonymous surveys require names to be hidden.
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&nbsp;
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<h1>Fixed Bugs</h1>
<h1>Fixed Bugs</h1>
<h2>Accessibility</h2>
<h2>Accessibility</h2>
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<h3>Account Settings</h3>
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<h3>Assignments</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>Keyboard users can access selection menus in the Permissions tab.</li>
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<li>Turnitin icon colors in the assignment submission details page, Gradebook, and SpeedGrader display with higher contrast ratios.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Announcements</h3>
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<h3>Calendar</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>Screen readers can access when an announcement has been successfully deleted.</li>
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<li>Calendar dates are only highlighted if a calendar is visible and includes a calendar event.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Course Navigation</h3>
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<h3>Conversations</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>In the New Canvas User Interface (UI), course navigation links are hidden from keyboard users unless the menu is open.</li>
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<li>The dates and times for all sent messages can be read by screen readers.</li>
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<li>In the Compose a Message field, the To field instructions can be read by screen readers.</li>
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<li>The status of a conversation star icon (read or unread) can be read by screen readers.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Course Settings</h3>
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<h3>Courses</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>In the Navigation tab, the Move option is not read unless it is selected in the settings menu.</li>
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<li>The Courses list favorite icons display a color contrast of 3:1 for the default Canvas interface and 4.5:1 for high contrast profiles.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>Discussions</h3>
<h3>Discussions</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>Screen readers can access when a discussion has been successfully deleted.</li>
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<li>In High Contrast Mode, dragging and dropping a discussion is highlighted with a 2px inset rectangle.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Global Navigation</h3>
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<h3>Files</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>Keyboard users can view lists of courses, accounts, and groups in Global Navigation.</li>
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<li>The Move button is shown as disabled to screen readers until a folder is selected.</li>
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<li>When a user creates a new folder, keyboard focus is retained on the name of the new folder.</li>
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<li>When a keyboard user navigates down the Files page below the currently viewable area, the Files page adjusts focus to the area being viewed.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Pages</h3>
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<h3>Modules</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>The Pages Front Page shows focus on disabled menu items.</li>
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<li>Module buttons for Add Modules and Cancel do not persist for screen readers after closing the modal window.</li>
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<li>The Add Item button reads as aria-disabled=true when the button is visually disabled.</li>
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<li>In the Edit Module window, adding a requirement retains the focus on the newly added requirement. Additionally, the requirement drop-down boxes include aria labels, and the delete requirement icon includes a focus rectangle in Firefox.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Quizzes</h3>
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<h3>Profile</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>Screen readers can access and edit quiz questions and question groups.</li>
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<li>In the Edit Settings dialog, the attribute names are read correctly to screen readers.</li>
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<li>Screen readers can read all links to manage quiz questions.</li>
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<li>The hidden image next to the Save it Now button includes a null ALT attribute.</li>
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</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Rich Content Editor</h3>
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<h3>Quizzes</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>Keyboard users can access Rich Content Editor drop-down fields.</li>
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<li>Essay questions include a link to the HTML editor.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Rubrics</h3>
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<h3>Syllabus</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>Scope has been added to the Rubric creation table.</li>
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<li>The Jump to Today link is focused after the H1 heading.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>SpeedGrader</h3>
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<h2>Accounts</h2>
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<ul>
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<h3>Subaccount SIS Export Reports</h3>
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<li>Screen readers can access the file attachment and media comment buttons in the Add a Comment section.</li>
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<p>To maintain accuracy for subaccount reports, Canvas updates all user account associations weekly.</p>
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</ul>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an admin in a subaccount generated the SIS Export reports, users were only included in the report if the first course where they were enrolled was the subaccount where the report was generated. Even though courses and groups can be created within subaccounts, user data is maintained at the account level. Canvas code has been updated to update all account associations weekly.</em></p>
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<h3>Theme Editor</h3>
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<h2>Analytics</h2>
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The Theme Editor includes multiple additions for accessibility:
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<h3>Group Discussions</h3>
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<ul>
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<p>When a user participates in a group discussion, participation is shown in the user access report and the course activities analytics page.</p>
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<li>Added an alt attribute to preview images</li>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user participated in a group discussion, the user access report and course activities analytics page were not showing any participation in the discussion, although discussion was shown as a page view. Canvas code has been updated to include group page views and participations in course analytics.</em></p>
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<li>Added a heading element for image names</li>
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<h2>Announcements</h2>
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<li>Added aria-hidden attribute to duplicate labels for image upload inputs</li>
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<h3>Announcement Titles</h3>
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<li>Changed accessible label for image upload inputs to include the name of the image</li>
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<p>Long announcement titles do not affect the Announcements Index Page layout.</p>
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<li>Removed duplicate label text (for screen readers) for JS/CSS upload inputs</li>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created an announcement with a long title, the title affected the announcement text and misaligned the announcement container in the Announcements Index Page. Canvas code has been updated to correct announcement titles from affecting the page layout.</em></p>
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<li>Added accessible button label for Reset button for JS/CSS uploads</li>
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<li>Added aria-hidden attributes to icons for JS/CSS uploads</li>
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</ul>
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<h3>User Settings</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>The User Settings displays a color contrast of 3:1 for the default Canvas interface and 4.5:1 for high contrast profiles.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Assignments</h2>
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<h3>Admin Role</h3>
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Admins enrolled as students can submit assignments.
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<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> When an admin was enrolled as a student, admins were unable to submit assignments. This behavior occurred because of a regression in the Assignment submission page. Canvas code has been updated to allow assignment submissions for all student user roles. This fix was deployed to production on September 9.</em>
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<h2>Calendar</h2>
<h2>Calendar</h2>
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<h3>Description Content</h3>
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<h3>Scheduler Appointments and Deleted Student Enrollments</h3>
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The new calendar events window always displays the close icon.
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<p>If a student enrollment is deleted from a course, any future appointments in Scheduler are also deleted.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student was deleted from a course, any future appointments with the student were not removed from the instructor’s calendar. Canvas code has been updated to cancel future appointments when a student is deleted from a course.</em></p>
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<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> If a calendar event’s description had enough lines, when the item was clicked, the content was larger than the window’s height. This behavior occurred when viewed on small screens. Canvas code has been updated to adjust calendar window for smaller screen sizes.</em>
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<h3>Multi-Course Scheduler Appointments</h3>
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<h3>Everyone Due Dates</h3>
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<p>Multi-course Scheduler appointments are shown to instructors in the associated course.</p>
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The Calendar shows due dates for Everyone on the Calendar.
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a Scheduler appointment group for multiple courses, the appointment group in one course showed signups from students in another course. Canvas code has been updated to display student appointments to instructors in their respective courses.</em></p>
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<h3>Multi-Course Scheduler Appointments and Deleted Instructor Enrollments</h3>
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<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> When an assignment included multiple due dates, an Everyone due date was not displaying on the Calendar. This behavior occurred because the Calendar was not associating the correct due date when more than one date was used. Canvas code has been updated to include the original calendar event date unless all sections in a course include a varied due date.</em>
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<p>If an instructor’s course enrollment is deleted from a multi-course Scheduler appointment, the instructor can edit the appointment group.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a Scheduler appointment group for multiple courses, and the instructor’s enrollment was deleted for one of the courses, the instructor was not able to edit the appointment group. The group could only be edited if the instructor were re-enrolled in the additional course. Canvas code has been updated to allow users with the Add, edit, and delete events on the course calendar permission to manage any appointment groups without enrollments in all contexts.</em></p>
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<h2>Conversations</h2>
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<h3>Recipient Search in Large Courses</h3>
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<p>Users can search for recipients when creating a message.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user tried to search for recipients in a large course with multiple groups or use the Address Book icon, the recipient list was unable to load if the request took longer than 60 seconds. Canvas code has been updated to improve recipient search in Conversations.</em></p>
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<h3>Relative Links</h3>
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<p>Conversations messages treat relative URLs as absolute links.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user sent a Conversations message without the full website path (e.g., canvaslms.com), the link was treated as a relative page URL in the user’s Canvas account URL structure. Canvas code has been updated to treat relative URLs in Conversations messages as absolute links with the full website path.</em></p>
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<h3>Help Messages and Group Conversations</h3>
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<p>Messages sent to multiple recipients through the Canvas Help menu are treated as a group conversation.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student opened the Canvas Help menu and sent a message to a course that contained more than one instructor or TA, messages were being sent to each recipient separately. Canvas code has been updated to send the message as a group message so any replies are coordinated appropriately.</em></p>
<h2>Course Imports</h2>
<h2>Course Imports</h2>
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<h3>Deleted Enrollments and Sections</h3>
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<h3>Multiple Course Imports</h3>
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Deleted enrollments also remove any associated sections.
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<p>Canvas only processes one course import at a time.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user imported multiple courses into Canvas, graded discussions and quizzes sometimes created duplicate or incorrectly linked items. Canvas code has been updated to only allow one course to be processed at a time.</em></p>
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<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> When a user used an SIS import to delete a section with enrolled students, the enrollments were left in the course but were no longer enrolled in a section. This behavior occurred because Canvas wasn’t coded to associate deleted sections with enrollments. Canvas code has been updated to mark enrollments as deleted when their associated section is deleted.</em>
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<h3>Allow Liking Option</h3>
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<h2>Course Settings</h2>
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<p>Allow Liking Discussions settings are retained in course imports.</p>
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<h3>Course Reset and Integration IDs</h3>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user imported a Canvas course and the Discussions Allow Liking checkbox was selected, the checkbox option was removed after import. Canvas code has been updated to retain Discussions Allow Liking settings in course imports.</em></p>
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Canvas resets courses correctly when used with an integration ID.
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<h3>Course Copy Self-Import</h3>
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<p>Copying a course into itself includes an updated warning message that importing course content into the same course will duplicate content the first time and overwrite duplicates if repeated.</p>
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Explanation: When a course included an integration_id (used in the Courses API), and a user attempted to reset the course, Canvas generated a page error and did not reset. This behavior occurred because Canvas did not recognize the integration ID. Canvas code has been updated to include integration IDs as part of course resets.
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user copied a course into itself, the warning message indicated that the content would be copied, causing users to believe that content would always be duplicated. Content would be copied on the first import but overwrite the existing copy on any additional import. Canvas code has been updated to clarify the warning message for course copies.</em></p>
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<h2>Dashboard</h2>
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<h3>Pre-processing Status</h3>
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<h3>Peer Review Icons</h3>
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<p>The course copy pre-processing status updates automatically when the process is queued.</p>
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Peer Review assignments only display one Peer Review icon in the To Do sidebar.
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user copies a course, the import status updated as pre-processing but was never updated when the import was actually queued and running. Canvas code has been updated to automatically update pre-processing statuses.</em></p>
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<h3>Quiz Re-imports</h3>
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<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> When a student was assigned more than one peer review, additional Peer Review icons appeared in the sidebar To Do list. This behavior occurred because of a misalignment with the peer review element link. Canvas code has been updated to only display one icon per peer review assignment.</em>
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<p>Re-importing a quiz creates a new version of the quiz.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user deleted but later re-imported a quiz, the old quiz was restored along with any previously deleted quiz questions. Canvas code has been updated to create copies of re-imported quizzes without any previously deleted questions.</em></p>
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<h3>Outcomes</h3>
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<p>Outcomes within an outcome group are retained in a course import.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an outcome was created in an outcome group and attached to a rubric in an assignment, copying a module with the assignment was not copying the associated outcome. Canvas code has been updated to copy any outcomes within an outcome group associated with modules content.</em></p>
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<h3>Quiz Images</h3>
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<p>If a quiz includes an embedded image that was deleted from a question, the import error message directs back to the quiz.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user created a quiz question with an embedded image and deleted the image from the course, the course copy status created an error message. However, clicking the error link generated a page error. Canvas code has been updated to direct the error link to the quiz with the missing image.</em></p>
<h2>Discussions</h2>
<h2>Discussions</h2>
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<h3>Deleted Discussions</h3>
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<h3>Locked Discussion Descriptions</h3>
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Students cannot participate in deleted discussions through email notifications.
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<p>When a discussion is locked by accessibility dates, the description is not available for viewing.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a discussion was locked by accessibility dates, the discussion description was still able to be viewed by students. Canvas code has been updated to hide descriptions in locked discussions.</em></p>
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<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> When students received discussions via notifications and replied to discussions, students were able to participate with the discussion even if the discussion had been deleted. This behavior occurred because of a state verification error. Canvas code has been updated to not generate discussion notifications for deleted assignments.</em>
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<h2>Files</h2>
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<h2>ePortfolios</h2>
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<h3>Folder Clicks and Page Load</h3>
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<h3>Uploaded Files and Embedded Images</h3>
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<p>Clicking a folder multiple times does not affect loading the Files page.</p>
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Uploaded files and embedded images appear in downloaded ePortfolio Pages.
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user repeatedly clicked folders in the left panel, the right panel stopped loading for the last selected folder and did not display any files content. This behavior occurred in Chrome and Safari. Canvas code has been updated to remove unnecessary calls to previously selected folders and view files content.</em></p>
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<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> When a file was uploaded to a page in an ePortfolio and later downloaded, the file appeared as a separate file in the ZIP folder but was not appearing in the HTML page. Additionally, the same behavior occurred for embedded images. This behavior occurred because the ePorfolio page was not able to associate the correct files for the page view. Canvas code has been updated to show uploaded and embedded files in downloaded ePortfolio pages.</em>
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<h2>Grades</h2>
<h2>Grades</h2>
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<h3>Invalid Characters and Graded State</h3>
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<h3>Excused Assignments and Grade Calculations</h3>
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Entering an invalid character in the Gradebook or SpeedGrader does not alter the state of the assignment.
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<p>In the Grades page, when a student deselects the checkbox to calculate grades based on graded assignments, excused assignments are not part of the calculation.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor excused a student from an assignment in the Gradebook, students saw the excused assignment with a zero grade if they deselected the Calculate Based Only on Graded Assignments checkbox. Canvas code has been updated to exclude excused assignments from grading totals.</em></p>
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<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> When an instructor entered a non-grade character (such as an ampersand or parenthesis), the grade was set to null and the state of the assignment showed as graded. This behavior occurred the state of the assignment changed with grade entries in either SpeedGrader or the Gradebook. Canvas code has been updated to disregard invalid characters in changing the assignment state.</em>
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<h2>Groups</h2>
<h2>Groups</h2>
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<h3>Course Conclude</h3>
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<h3>Cloned Groups and Pages</h3>
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When a course concludes in Canvas, groups in the course also conclude.
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<p>Group pages are not duplicated in cloned groups.</p>
-
 
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When pages were created within a group, and the instructor later cloned the group set, existing pages in the group were also duplicated but did not consistently link to the correct group. Canvas code has been updated to not create duplicate pages for cloned groups.</em></p>
-
<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> Users were not able to be removed from a course group unless an admin or instructor manually removed the student from the group. This behavior occurred because groups were not associated with the course status. Canvas code has been updated to show courses groups as concluded in the Groups page and remove associated groups from the Group favorites list.</em>
+
<h3>Pinned Student Discussions</h3>
-
<h2>Pages</h2>
+
<p>Discussions created by a student and pinned by an instructor do not appear as being edited by the instructor.</p>
-
<h3>Links and Escaped Characters</h3>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student created a discussion that was pinned by an instructor, the discussion was being marked as edited by the instructor. Canvas code has been updated to not mark discussions as updated when pinning or unpinning a discussion.</em></p>
-
Pages render linked character text correctly.
+
<h2>Modules</h2>
-
 
+
<h3>Practice Quizzes and Ungraded Surveys</h3>
-
<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> When a user created a link in a Page with non-alpha characters (such as a parenthesis or ampersand), the characters were escaping the link. This behavior occurred because of improper character decoding in the Rich Content Editor. Canvas code has been updated to render linked characters correctly.</em>
+
<p>Practice quizzes and ungraded surveys are only marked as late if the item requires a student submission.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>:When a student took a practice quiz or ungraded survey as part of a module, the module item will still show as late after the due date regardless of when the student took the quiz. Canvas code has been updated to correctly identify due dates for practice quizzes and ungraded surveys in modules.</em></p>
 +
<h3>Section Assignments and Module Completion</h3>
 +
<p>Module assignments assigned to a specific section and requiring a specific grade only show that the submission needs grading after the student has made a submission.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor added an assignment for a specific section to a module and required the student to earn a minimum grade, the student could view an indicator that their submission needed to be graded even without opening or submitting the assignment. Canvas code has been updated to correct the minimum score module prerequisite requirement for assignments in specific sections.</em></p>
 +
<h3>Unlock Dates in Unpublished Modules</h3>
 +
<p>If a page or file within an unpublished module contains an unlock date in the past, students are not shown the message that the content will unlock at a future date.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created an unpublished module and added a page or file with an unlock date in the past, students who tried to view the content saw that the content was not viewable until a future date, which was shown as being in the past. Canvas code has been updated to not mention when the content will unlock if the unlock date is in the past.</em></p>
 +
<h2>Notifications</h2>
 +
<h3>Conversations Links</h3>
 +
<p>Notifications sent from Conversations preserve URLs within a message.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user sent a message in Conversations containing a hyperlink, certain ASCII characters within a URL were being converted to ASCII-encoded characters, which broke the link. Canvas code has been updated to retain ACSII characters included in a Conversations hyperlinks.</em></p>
 +
<h3>Communication Channel Update</h3>
 +
<p>If a user tries to reply to a message in an unconfirmed communication channel, the error delivery message includes information about how to confirm the communication channel so replies can be sent back through Canvas.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user’s communication channel is an alias of their address on their mail server, and the user replies to a message, the user receives a delivery notification that the message cannot be delivered. Replies cannot be made through external notifications if the sending address cannot be identified with a confirmed communication channel in Canvas. Canvas code has been updated to include information about how users can update their communication channels.</em></p>
 +
<h3>Inactive Enrollments and Submission Comments</h3>
 +
<p>Students who have been deactivated from a course do not receive notifications about comments made to assignment submissions.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor added a comment to an inactive student’s submission, the student was receiving a notification about the comment, which caused confusion since the student was not able to access the course or any prior submissions. Canvas code has been updated to not send submission comment notifications to inactive students.</em></p>
 +
<h2>Profile</h2>
 +
<h3>Profile Picture Approvals</h3>
 +
<p>If an admin approves a user’s profile picture, all users are able to view the profile picture.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user flagged another user’s profile picture that was later approved by an admin, the user who flagged the profile picture was not able to view it. Canvas code has been updated to show user profile pictures if they were previously reported and then approved.</em></p>
 +
<h3>User Menu Icon</h3>
 +
<p>The User Menu icon is not available in the breadcrumbs of a user’s personal files page.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user clicked the User Navigation icon in the user’s Files page, the files shifted to make room for the menu items, but no items appeared because of a previous code change that did not display the menu items. Canvas code has been updated to remove the User Navigation icon from the breadcrumbs in a user’s Files page.</em></p>
<h2>Quizzes</h2>
<h2>Quizzes</h2>
-
<h3>Question Banks with More than 51 Quiz Questions</h3>
+
<h3>Question Bank Question Text</h3>
-
Users can move or copy paginated questions in a question bank with more than 51 quiz questions. Additionally, editing a question does not create a duplicate.
+
<p>Questions are displayed within a question bank.</p>
-
 
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor moved multiple questions from a question bank, the question body was cut off and could not be viewed horizontally. Canvas code has been updated to retain the full question body within a question bank window.</em></p>
-
<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> When a user created a question bank with more than 51 quiz questions, the question bank could not be moved or copied. These behaviors occurred because of pagination restrictions to properly associate all questions in the question bank. Canvas code has been updated to properly associate all quiz question IDs in a question bank regardless if more items are loaded on the page.</em>
+
<h2>Rubrics</h2>
-
<h3>Term Dates and Auto-submission Quizzes</h3>
+
<h3>Use Rubric for Assignment Grading</h3>
-
Quizzes do not auto-submit with a course end date listed in the past.
+
<p>If a rubric is linked to multiple assignments, the rubric is not copied if the only change made is to set the rubric for grading.</p>
-
<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> When a term had an end date of whenever and the course had an end date listed in the past (without selecting the Students can only participate during these dates checkbox), quizzes were auto-submitting as soon as a student clicked to take a quiz. This behavior occurred because the quiz was not verifying the term date associated with the enrollment. Canvas code has been updated to use term dates for a course unless the course has course date overrides and the participation checkbox is selected. This fix was deployed to production on September 10.</em>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a rubric for an assignment and set the rubric to be used for grading, and then the instructor created another assignment with the same rubric that was not set for grading, copying the course and setting the second assignment’s rubric for grading copied the rubric. Canvas code has been updated to not copy a rubric if the only change made is to select the Use Rubric for Grading checkbox.</em></p>
 +
<h3>Free-Form Comments and Numerical Entries</h3>
 +
<p>When an instructor enters a number as a free-form comment, students can view the Grades page.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor entered a number as a free-form comment, students viewed an error message when they tried to view the Grades page. Canvas code has been updated to load the Grades page with free-form comment entries.</em></p>
 +
<h2>Settings</h2>
 +
<h3>Course Link Validator</h3>
 +
<p>The Course Link Validator has been optimized to retrieve valid pages through header status requests and accepts only gzip compression.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a valid link was added to a course, the Link Validator marked them as broken if the content compression type wasn’t verified. Canvas code has been updated to accept gzip-encoded content and optimize validation through header status requests.</em></p>
<h2>SpeedGrader</h2>
<h2>SpeedGrader</h2>
-
<h3>Manual Quiz Question Grading</h3>
+
<h3>Graded Survey Labels</h3>
-
In a manually graded quiz question, instructors no longer have to remove the dashes in the point field.
+
<p>Graded surveys do not include Correct Answer labels in multiple choice questions. In SpeedGrader, graded surveys only display the option that a student selected for the survey response.</p>
-
 
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a graded survey, the survey responses did not include an option for a correct answer. However, SpeedGrader was still showing the Correct Answer label. Canvas code has been updated to only show the option that a student selected for the survey response.</em></p>
-
<em><strong>Explanation:</strong> When an instructor opened a manually graded quiz in SpeedGrader and clicked the dashes in the points field, any scores typed in the field were inserted around the dashes instead of remove them completely. This behavior occurred because the points field was not focusing correctly on the dashes. Canvas code has been updated to remove the dashes when points are entered in the field.</em>
+
<h3>Crocodoc Annotations and Group Assignments</h3>
-
 
+
<p>When an instructor creates Crocodoc annotations on a group assignment, all students in the group can view the annotations.</p>
-
 
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor graded a group assignment and added Crocodoc annotations for feedback, the student who submitted the submission on behalf of the group was the only student who could view the annotations. Canvas code has been updated to create submission records in SpeedGrader to include all students in the group.</em></p>
<h1 dir="ltr">Next release schedule: </h1>
<h1 dir="ltr">Next release schedule: </h1>
<ul>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr">
<li dir="ltr">
-
<p dir="ltr">Beta release and notes: 9/28/15</p>
+
<p dir="ltr">Beta release and notes: 05/02/16</p>
</li>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<li dir="ltr">
-
<p dir="ltr">Production release notes: 10/5/15</p>
+
<p dir="ltr">Production release notes: 05/09/16</p>
</li>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<li dir="ltr">
-
<p dir="ltr">Production release and documentation: 10/10/15</p>
+
<p dir="ltr">Production release and documentation: 05/14/16</p>
</li>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>

Latest revision as of 13:13, 19 April 2016

Production Release notes for Saturday, April 23, 2016.
In this Canvas release (April 23), instructors can better manage inactive enrollments in the Gradebook and the People page and access the Course Navigation Menu from the Gradebook. .

Contents

New Features

Grades

Inactive Enrollments Setting

When a student is deactivated in a course, instructors can view inactive enrollments through the Gradebook Settings menu. Similar to the behavior of concluded enrollments, this feature allows instructors to filter inactive students from the Gradebook. When enabled, the Settings menu displays a checkmark next to the option to show inactive enrollments.

This feature was originally suggested by the Canvas Community.

Enrollment Labels

When displaying inactive or concluded students, Gradebook includes a label next to the name of the student indicating the student’s enrollment status. Grade fields for both enrollments types are grayed out, but inactive enrollment grades can still be edited.

Updated Features

Courses

Courses Page Updates

The Courses page design has been redesigned to incorporate the styles used in the Dashboard. The page displays all course details in a column format for easier readability. This change mostly affects the new Canvas UI; the legacy UI design only adds page headings to show each column type. Contrast ratios for the favorites star icon have also been increased for accessibility.

People

User Details Inactive Status

Users who have permission to view the user details page in a course can view an inactive label for inactive enrollments. This change helps clarify a user’s enrollment status when the user has multiple enrollments within a course.

Other Updates

Assignments

Turnitin Icon Contrast

Turnitin icon colors in the assignment submission details page, Gradebook, and SpeedGrader display with higher contrast ratios.

Gradebook

Performance Updates

Gradebook content is loaded incrementally for improved performance. Some Gradebook features such as column sorting may not be available in larger courses until all students have been loaded on the page.

Notifications

Communication Channel Update

If a user tries to reply to a message in an unconfirmed communication channel, the error delivery message includes information about how to confirm the communication channel so replies can be sent back through Canvas. Previously the message only mentioned that the reply could not be delivered, and the majority of users were unsure how to update or confirm a communication channel.

This feature resolves a fixed bug in Canvas

Explanation: When a user’s communication channel is an alias of their address on their mail server, and the user replies to a message, the user receives a delivery notification that the message cannot be delivered. Replies cannot be made through external notifications if the sending address cannot be identified with a confirmed communication channel in Canvas. Canvas code has been updated to include information about how users can update their communication channels.

Fixed Bugs

Accessibility

Assignments

Calendar

Conversations

Courses

Discussions

Files

Modules

Profile

Quizzes

Syllabus

Accounts

Subaccount SIS Export Reports

To maintain accuracy for subaccount reports, Canvas updates all user account associations weekly.

Explanation: When an admin in a subaccount generated the SIS Export reports, users were only included in the report if the first course where they were enrolled was the subaccount where the report was generated. Even though courses and groups can be created within subaccounts, user data is maintained at the account level. Canvas code has been updated to update all account associations weekly.

Analytics

Group Discussions

When a user participates in a group discussion, participation is shown in the user access report and the course activities analytics page.

Explanation: When a user participated in a group discussion, the user access report and course activities analytics page were not showing any participation in the discussion, although discussion was shown as a page view. Canvas code has been updated to include group page views and participations in course analytics.

Announcements

Announcement Titles

Long announcement titles do not affect the Announcements Index Page layout.

Explanation: When an instructor created an announcement with a long title, the title affected the announcement text and misaligned the announcement container in the Announcements Index Page. Canvas code has been updated to correct announcement titles from affecting the page layout.

Calendar

Scheduler Appointments and Deleted Student Enrollments

If a student enrollment is deleted from a course, any future appointments in Scheduler are also deleted.

Explanation: When a student was deleted from a course, any future appointments with the student were not removed from the instructor’s calendar. Canvas code has been updated to cancel future appointments when a student is deleted from a course.

Multi-Course Scheduler Appointments

Multi-course Scheduler appointments are shown to instructors in the associated course.

Explanation: When an instructor created a Scheduler appointment group for multiple courses, the appointment group in one course showed signups from students in another course. Canvas code has been updated to display student appointments to instructors in their respective courses.

Multi-Course Scheduler Appointments and Deleted Instructor Enrollments

If an instructor’s course enrollment is deleted from a multi-course Scheduler appointment, the instructor can edit the appointment group.

Explanation: When an instructor created a Scheduler appointment group for multiple courses, and the instructor’s enrollment was deleted for one of the courses, the instructor was not able to edit the appointment group. The group could only be edited if the instructor were re-enrolled in the additional course. Canvas code has been updated to allow users with the Add, edit, and delete events on the course calendar permission to manage any appointment groups without enrollments in all contexts.

Conversations

Recipient Search in Large Courses

Users can search for recipients when creating a message.

Explanation: When a user tried to search for recipients in a large course with multiple groups or use the Address Book icon, the recipient list was unable to load if the request took longer than 60 seconds. Canvas code has been updated to improve recipient search in Conversations.

Relative Links

Conversations messages treat relative URLs as absolute links.

Explanation: When a user sent a Conversations message without the full website path (e.g., canvaslms.com), the link was treated as a relative page URL in the user’s Canvas account URL structure. Canvas code has been updated to treat relative URLs in Conversations messages as absolute links with the full website path.

Help Messages and Group Conversations

Messages sent to multiple recipients through the Canvas Help menu are treated as a group conversation.

Explanation: When a student opened the Canvas Help menu and sent a message to a course that contained more than one instructor or TA, messages were being sent to each recipient separately. Canvas code has been updated to send the message as a group message so any replies are coordinated appropriately.

Course Imports

Multiple Course Imports

Canvas only processes one course import at a time.

Explanation: When a user imported multiple courses into Canvas, graded discussions and quizzes sometimes created duplicate or incorrectly linked items. Canvas code has been updated to only allow one course to be processed at a time.

Allow Liking Option

Allow Liking Discussions settings are retained in course imports.

Explanation: When a user imported a Canvas course and the Discussions Allow Liking checkbox was selected, the checkbox option was removed after import. Canvas code has been updated to retain Discussions Allow Liking settings in course imports.

Course Copy Self-Import

Copying a course into itself includes an updated warning message that importing course content into the same course will duplicate content the first time and overwrite duplicates if repeated.

Explanation: When a user copied a course into itself, the warning message indicated that the content would be copied, causing users to believe that content would always be duplicated. Content would be copied on the first import but overwrite the existing copy on any additional import. Canvas code has been updated to clarify the warning message for course copies.

Pre-processing Status

The course copy pre-processing status updates automatically when the process is queued.

Explanation: When a user copies a course, the import status updated as pre-processing but was never updated when the import was actually queued and running. Canvas code has been updated to automatically update pre-processing statuses.

Quiz Re-imports

Re-importing a quiz creates a new version of the quiz.

Explanation: When a user deleted but later re-imported a quiz, the old quiz was restored along with any previously deleted quiz questions. Canvas code has been updated to create copies of re-imported quizzes without any previously deleted questions.

Outcomes

Outcomes within an outcome group are retained in a course import.

Explanation: When an outcome was created in an outcome group and attached to a rubric in an assignment, copying a module with the assignment was not copying the associated outcome. Canvas code has been updated to copy any outcomes within an outcome group associated with modules content.

Quiz Images

If a quiz includes an embedded image that was deleted from a question, the import error message directs back to the quiz.

Explanation: When a user created a quiz question with an embedded image and deleted the image from the course, the course copy status created an error message. However, clicking the error link generated a page error. Canvas code has been updated to direct the error link to the quiz with the missing image.

Discussions

Locked Discussion Descriptions

When a discussion is locked by accessibility dates, the description is not available for viewing.

Explanation: When a discussion was locked by accessibility dates, the discussion description was still able to be viewed by students. Canvas code has been updated to hide descriptions in locked discussions.

Files

Folder Clicks and Page Load

Clicking a folder multiple times does not affect loading the Files page.

Explanation: When a user repeatedly clicked folders in the left panel, the right panel stopped loading for the last selected folder and did not display any files content. This behavior occurred in Chrome and Safari. Canvas code has been updated to remove unnecessary calls to previously selected folders and view files content.

Grades

Excused Assignments and Grade Calculations

In the Grades page, when a student deselects the checkbox to calculate grades based on graded assignments, excused assignments are not part of the calculation.

Explanation: When an instructor excused a student from an assignment in the Gradebook, students saw the excused assignment with a zero grade if they deselected the Calculate Based Only on Graded Assignments checkbox. Canvas code has been updated to exclude excused assignments from grading totals.

Groups

Cloned Groups and Pages

Group pages are not duplicated in cloned groups.

Explanation: When pages were created within a group, and the instructor later cloned the group set, existing pages in the group were also duplicated but did not consistently link to the correct group. Canvas code has been updated to not create duplicate pages for cloned groups.

Pinned Student Discussions

Discussions created by a student and pinned by an instructor do not appear as being edited by the instructor.

Explanation: When a student created a discussion that was pinned by an instructor, the discussion was being marked as edited by the instructor. Canvas code has been updated to not mark discussions as updated when pinning or unpinning a discussion.

Modules

Practice Quizzes and Ungraded Surveys

Practice quizzes and ungraded surveys are only marked as late if the item requires a student submission.

Explanation:When a student took a practice quiz or ungraded survey as part of a module, the module item will still show as late after the due date regardless of when the student took the quiz. Canvas code has been updated to correctly identify due dates for practice quizzes and ungraded surveys in modules.

Section Assignments and Module Completion

Module assignments assigned to a specific section and requiring a specific grade only show that the submission needs grading after the student has made a submission.

Explanation: When an instructor added an assignment for a specific section to a module and required the student to earn a minimum grade, the student could view an indicator that their submission needed to be graded even without opening or submitting the assignment. Canvas code has been updated to correct the minimum score module prerequisite requirement for assignments in specific sections.

Unlock Dates in Unpublished Modules

If a page or file within an unpublished module contains an unlock date in the past, students are not shown the message that the content will unlock at a future date.

Explanation: When an instructor created an unpublished module and added a page or file with an unlock date in the past, students who tried to view the content saw that the content was not viewable until a future date, which was shown as being in the past. Canvas code has been updated to not mention when the content will unlock if the unlock date is in the past.

Notifications

Conversations Links

Notifications sent from Conversations preserve URLs within a message.

Explanation: When a user sent a message in Conversations containing a hyperlink, certain ASCII characters within a URL were being converted to ASCII-encoded characters, which broke the link. Canvas code has been updated to retain ACSII characters included in a Conversations hyperlinks.

Communication Channel Update

If a user tries to reply to a message in an unconfirmed communication channel, the error delivery message includes information about how to confirm the communication channel so replies can be sent back through Canvas.

Explanation: When a user’s communication channel is an alias of their address on their mail server, and the user replies to a message, the user receives a delivery notification that the message cannot be delivered. Replies cannot be made through external notifications if the sending address cannot be identified with a confirmed communication channel in Canvas. Canvas code has been updated to include information about how users can update their communication channels.

Inactive Enrollments and Submission Comments

Students who have been deactivated from a course do not receive notifications about comments made to assignment submissions.

Explanation: When an instructor added a comment to an inactive student’s submission, the student was receiving a notification about the comment, which caused confusion since the student was not able to access the course or any prior submissions. Canvas code has been updated to not send submission comment notifications to inactive students.

Profile

Profile Picture Approvals

If an admin approves a user’s profile picture, all users are able to view the profile picture.

Explanation: When a user flagged another user’s profile picture that was later approved by an admin, the user who flagged the profile picture was not able to view it. Canvas code has been updated to show user profile pictures if they were previously reported and then approved.

User Menu Icon

The User Menu icon is not available in the breadcrumbs of a user’s personal files page.

Explanation: When a user clicked the User Navigation icon in the user’s Files page, the files shifted to make room for the menu items, but no items appeared because of a previous code change that did not display the menu items. Canvas code has been updated to remove the User Navigation icon from the breadcrumbs in a user’s Files page.

Quizzes

Question Bank Question Text

Questions are displayed within a question bank.

Explanation: When an instructor moved multiple questions from a question bank, the question body was cut off and could not be viewed horizontally. Canvas code has been updated to retain the full question body within a question bank window.

Rubrics

Use Rubric for Assignment Grading

If a rubric is linked to multiple assignments, the rubric is not copied if the only change made is to set the rubric for grading.

Explanation: When an instructor created a rubric for an assignment and set the rubric to be used for grading, and then the instructor created another assignment with the same rubric that was not set for grading, copying the course and setting the second assignment’s rubric for grading copied the rubric. Canvas code has been updated to not copy a rubric if the only change made is to select the Use Rubric for Grading checkbox.

Free-Form Comments and Numerical Entries

When an instructor enters a number as a free-form comment, students can view the Grades page.

Explanation: When an instructor entered a number as a free-form comment, students viewed an error message when they tried to view the Grades page. Canvas code has been updated to load the Grades page with free-form comment entries.

Settings

Course Link Validator

The Course Link Validator has been optimized to retrieve valid pages through header status requests and accepts only gzip compression.

Explanation: When a valid link was added to a course, the Link Validator marked them as broken if the content compression type wasn’t verified. Canvas code has been updated to accept gzip-encoded content and optimize validation through header status requests.

SpeedGrader

Graded Survey Labels

Graded surveys do not include Correct Answer labels in multiple choice questions. In SpeedGrader, graded surveys only display the option that a student selected for the survey response.

Explanation: When an instructor created a graded survey, the survey responses did not include an option for a correct answer. However, SpeedGrader was still showing the Correct Answer label. Canvas code has been updated to only show the option that a student selected for the survey response.

Crocodoc Annotations and Group Assignments

When an instructor creates Crocodoc annotations on a group assignment, all students in the group can view the annotations.

Explanation: When an instructor graded a group assignment and added Crocodoc annotations for feedback, the student who submitted the submission on behalf of the group was the only student who could view the annotations. Canvas code has been updated to create submission records in SpeedGrader to include all students in the group.

Next release schedule:

Note: You can follow the release schedule on the Canvas Updates calendar

Archived Canvas Updates
Retrieved from "https://lss.at.ufl.edu/help/Canvas_Updates"
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