Canvas Updates

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Production Release notes for Saturday, October 31, 2015.<br>
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Production Release notes for Saturday, November 21, 2015.<br>
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In this production release (October 31) instructors can more easily manage content and maintain grades thanks to small changes to existing features.
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In this production release (November 21) students can view whether or not an assignment has been graded anonymously. All users will also see small design changes throughout several Canvas features.
<h1>Updated Features</h1>
<h1>Updated Features</h1>
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<h2>Announcements</h2>
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<h2>Assignments</h2>
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<h3>Cancel Button</h3>
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<h3>Anonymous Grading Student View</h3>
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<p>When instructors create a new announcement, the Announcements page includes a Cancel button. This change helps enable consistent behavior when creating content across Canvas.</p>
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<p>Students can view whether or not an assignment was graded anonymously in SpeedGrader. Anonymous grading is set by opening SpeedGrader options and selecting the <strong>Hide Student Names in SpeedGrader</strong> checkbox. Notifications of the anonymous status are shown in both the student Grades page and the sidebar of the assignment submission page.</p>
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<h2>Discussions</h2>
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<h1>Other Updates</h1>
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<h3>Cancel Button</h3>
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<h2>Assignments</h2>
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<p>When instructors create a new discussion, the Discussions page includes a Cancel button. This change helps enable consistent behavior when creating content across Canvas.</p>
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<h3>Assignment Link</h3>
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<p>In the Assignments submission sidebar, the download link for the assignment is shown below the submission details link.</p>
<p><em>This feature was originally suggested by the Canvas community.</em></p>
<p><em>This feature was originally suggested by the Canvas community.</em></p>
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<h2>Files</h2>
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<h3>Submission Attachments and User Quotas</h3>
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<h3>Student Submission Files</h3>
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<p>Student submission attachments are not counted against a user's quota limit</p>
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<p>Students cannot delete user files if they are associated with a submission in a course. This change allows instructors to always download assignment submissions in SpeedGrader.</p>
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<p><em>This features resolves a fixed bug in Canvas</em></p>
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<p><em>This change resolves a fixed bug in Canvas</em></p>
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<h2>Calendar</h2>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student submitted an assignment and then deleted it from his or her user files, the student's instructor was not able to download the submission file from SpeedGrader. This behavior occurred because downloads for student files are associated with the submitted file in the student's user files area. Canvas code has been updated to prevent students from deleting submitted files in active courses. This change also improves a fix originally added to the July 18 release related to student submission files and SpeedGrader downloads.</em></p>
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<h3>Assignment Publish Toggle</h3>
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<h2>Modules</h2>
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<p>When creating an assignment in the Calendar, the publish button has been changed to a toggle, where the toggle on the left (default) means the toggle is not enabled. In the calendar, a toggle on the left means the assignment is not published. This change helps align toggle functionality throughout Canvas.</p>
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<h3>Requirements and Sequential Order Placement</h3>
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<h2>Dashboard</h2>
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<p>The Module requirements field displays the sequential order checkbox below the All Requirements radio button. Instructors can only require students to complete module requirements in sequential order if students complete all the requirements in the module. The One Requirement option is not supported.</p>
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<h3>Sidebar Performance Improvements</h3>
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<p><em>This change resolves a fixed bug in Canvas</em></p>
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<p>Canvas has implemented Performance improvements to the Dashboard sidebar to improve speed and content data.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a module, added a few module items such as assignments, and required students to complete one module item, Modules did not allow a student to progress even if one of the module items had been completed. This behavior occurred because Modules doesn't support the module sequence option when choosing one module item to complete. Canvas code has been updated to only allow sequential order as part of the all requirements checkbox.</em></p>
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<h2>Settings</h2>
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<h2>Canvas UI</h2>
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<h3>Feature Option Toggle</h3>
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<h3>Quiz Statistics and Section Views</h3>
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<p>The Feature Options buttons have been changed to a toggle, where the toggle on the left (default) means the toggle is not enabled. In Feature Options, a toggle on the left means the feature option is not enabled. This change helps align toggle functionality throughout Canvas.</p>
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<p>When instructors view quiz statistics for a course, they can choose to view quiz statistics by section. Filter the quiz by selecting the <strong>Section Filter</strong> button. <em>This feature was deployed to production on October 26. </em></p>
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<p>At the course level, if a feature is allowed to be enabled, the feature option includes a toggle. However, if a feature has been enforced at the account level by an admin, the course feature options displays the feature as On or Off.</p>
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<p><em>This feature was originally suggested by the Canvas community.</em></p>
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<h2>SpeedGrader</h2>
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<h3>Numerical Answer with Precision</h3>
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<h3>Firefox Crocodoc Annotations</h3>
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<p>In Quizzes, the Numerical Answer question type includes an Answer with Precision quiz option.</p>
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<p>When an instructor uses Crocodoc annotations for a supported assignment submission type (primarily Word documents and PDFs), the Firefox browser frequently removes the last annotated comment when updating the score field in SpeedGrader. This behavior is a Crocodoc-specific limitation within Firefox that cannot be resolved by Crocodoc at this time. To warn about the effects of Firefox and Crocodoc annotations, Canvas displays a warning banner that says “Warning: Crocodoc has limitations when used in Firefox. Comments will not always be saved.” To avoid losing any annotations, instructors may choose to use another browser when providing Crocodoc annotated feedback, or try clicking the screen before navigating to another student.</p>
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<p>Answer with Precision allows an admin to set an answer that is rounded to a precision of up to 16 in standard or exponential format (e.g. 1e+26).</p>
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<p>Question answer fields accept numerical inputs with or without an exponent and are formatted according to the configured precision. Any numerical entries past 16 are truncated for grading and comparison. By default, the precision answer field is set to 10.</p>
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<p>If any of the potential answers to a numerical question is a precision answer, then the student answer fields will accept precision answers. If none of the possible answers are precision answers, then the student answer fields will continue to round to four decimal places.</p>
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<p><em>This feature was originally suggested in the Canvas community.</em></p>
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<p><em>This feature resolves a fixed bug in Canvas: </em></p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a Numerical Answer question and included varied answers, the formula question was being inconsistent with how to factor answers that included decimals. This behavior occurred because even though the Numerical Answer answers were defined to support four decimals places, Canvas didn't know how to properly round some answers, meaning some answers would be cut off or be rounded to zero. Canvas code has been updated to include a Answer with Precision option as an answer choice in the Numerical Answer question type.</em></p>
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<h1>Fixed Bugs</h1>
<h1>Fixed Bugs</h1>
<h2>Accessibility</h2>
<h2>Accessibility</h2>
<h3>Assignments</h3>
<h3>Assignments</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>The online submission types include labels for each option and can be identified by screen readers.</li>
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<li>As part of creating assignment due dates, focus is retained in the input field of each due date set.</li>
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<li>The Add New Due Date button can be read by screen readers.</li>
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<li>When an assignment group is created, Canvas generates a message to show the group creation was successful.</li>
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<li>After adding a rubric, focus is retained on the Find a Rubric link for screen readers.</li>
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</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Announcements</h3>
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<h3>Conversations</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>The Unread filter can be read by screen readers.</li>
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<li>Conversations retains focus indicators on the Reply and More Options buttons.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Discussions</h3>
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<h3>Dashboard</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>The Unread filter can be read by screen readers.</li>
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<li>For each dashcard, the container is labeled as a <div> instead of a <header>. Additionally, terms are not labeled as links.</li>
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<li>In the Settings menu for a course, each option includes appropriate aria values to indicate its functionality.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Grades</h3>
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<h3>ePortfolio</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>What-if Grades are accessible to keyboard users.</li>
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<li>ePortfolio buttons and links include labels to define editing, managing, removing, and renaming sections.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>Modules</h3>
<h3>Modules</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>Screen readers can identify content items within a module.</li>
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<li>Screen readers can read the Add Module button.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Notifications</h3>
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<h3>Quizzes</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>Notifications display a color contrast of 3:1 for the default Canvas interface and 4.5:1 for high contrast profiles.</li>
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<li>As part of editing a quiz, the Cancel button is read as a button instead of a link.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>SpeedGrader</h3>
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<h3>User Settings</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>Screen readers and keyboard users can navigate to another student in the SpeedGrader student drop-down menu.</li>
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<li>When updating a profile picture, keyboard users can upload a file and navigate back to the profile page.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h2>Assignments</h2>
<h2>Assignments</h2>
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<h3>Pending Turnitin Scores</h3>
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<h3>File Uploads and Users in Additional Accounts</h3>
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<p>Turnitin returns a Turnitin score for student assignment submissions.</p>
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<p>Students can upload file uploads for an assignment submission even if the course they are enrolled in originates in a different account.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student submitted a Turnitin assignment, Turnitin was not generating scores for some students. This behavior occurred because of an error with the Turnitin ID. Turnitin IDs were generated based on the local database ID, allowing two different courses from two different institutions to share the same student email. Canvas code has been updated to preserve assignments with the appropriate Turnitin ID that matches the course and user account. However, older courses may require a separate support ticket to resolve this issue. This fix was deployed to production on October 15.</em></p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student tried to upload a file upload as an assignment submission, they were not able to submit the assignment. This behavior affected students who were enrolled in a course located in another account (through a trust setup) and occurred because of an error with the file redirect to confirm the submission ID. Canvas code has been updated to correct file redirects for user data originating in another account.</em></p>
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<h3>Restricted File Types and File Uploads</h3>
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<h3>Save and Publish Button and Notifications</h3>
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<p>Allowed extensions listed in restricted file types are not honored if File Upload is not a submission option.</p>
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<p>When an instructor creates an assignment but leaves the content unpublished, users receive a notification once the instructor publishes the assignment.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created an assignment and selected the Restrict Upload File Types option without selecting the File Upload submission type, the assignment could not be saved. This behavior occurred because the assignment was looking for extensions in the restricted file types field. Canvas code has been updated to ignore any restricted file types if the File Uploads submission option is not selected.</em></p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created an assignment but did not publish the assignment, editing the assignment at a later date then clicking the Save and Publish button was not generating a notification. This behavior occurred because notifications was not verifying the prior workflow state for the assignment. Canvas code has been updated to send out notifications for an assignment once it is published.</em></p>
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<h2>Authentication</h2>
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<h3>Automatic Peer Review Distribution</h3>
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<h3>Microsoft Office and Shibboleth</h3>
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<p>When an instructor assigns automatic peer reviews, peer reviews are distributed evenly across all students.</p>
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<p>Students can access Canvas links placed in a Microsoft Office document if their institution is using Shibboleth for authentication.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor set an assignment with a peer review and chose the option to assign peer reviews automatically, peer reviews were being distributed inconsistently, where students were being reviewed more times and fewer times than other students. This behavior occurred because peer reviews were not being distributed according to a specific factor. Canvas code has been updated to use the peer review ID when automatically assigning peer reviews. The peer review ID is factored with the peer review count, so if a peer review is set to receive three reviews per student, the peer review ID will be used to count accurate distribution.</em></p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a Word Document with links to Canvas pages, students trying to view the links through those documents received an error message. This behavior affected institutions using Shibboleth for Canvas authentication and occurred because Microsoft Office applications use an internal browser that tries to handle all online communication and cannot pass user credentials from previous sessions. Canvas code has been updated to provide authentication support in Microsoft Word documents.</em></p>
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<h3>Submission Attachments and User Quotas</h3>
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<h2>Conferences</h2>
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<p>Student submission attachments are not counted against a user’s quota limit.</p>
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<h3>Concluded Enrollments and Conferences</h3>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student submitted a file attachment as part of an assignment submission, the file size was applied to the user’s quota, causing users with limited file space to exceed their quota. Additionally, any users who tried to delete a profile picture were unable to update their profile pictures. This behavior occurred because of a code change in the October 31 release that disallowed students from deleting any files submitted as an assignment, which also included profile picture uploads. Canvas code has been updated to not count submission attachments toward a user’s file quota.</em></p>
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<p>Users with concluded enrollments are not invited to join a conference.</p>
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<h2>Calendar</h2>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user in an active course invited all users to a conference, users with concluded enrollments were also able to join the conference. This behavior occurred because Conference was only pulling user IDs for the course. Canvas code has been updated to verify the state of users in a course.</em></p>
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<h3>Scheduler Appointment Time Slots</h3>
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<p>When editing an appointment group, an instructor cannot edit the dates with the calendar icon.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created an appointment group and then edited the group, changing the time slots with the calendar icon appeared to change the dates but were not saved. This behavior occurred because time slots in the calendar cannot be edited once they are created. Canvas code has been updated to remove the calendar icon from time slots when editing an appointment group.</em></p>
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<h3>Scheduler Group Appointments and Group Memberships</h3>
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<p>Changes to group memberships are shown in previously created scheduler appointments.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student is in a group and signed up for an appointment in the scheduler, the Scheduler was not updating the appointment if the student moved to another group. This behavior occurred because the scheduler was not verifying the user’s current group. Canvas code has been updated to use active group memberships in scheduler reservations.</em></p>
<h2>Conversations</h2>
<h2>Conversations</h2>
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<h3>Missing Names</h3>
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<h3>Send Message in People Page</h3>
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<p>Conversations shows the names of all participants in a message thread.</p>
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<p>Users can send a message from a course’s people page regardless of the course’s favorite status.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a conversations message included a message sent to multiple users, the conversation was not displaying the list of all participants. This behavior occurred because of a caching error. Previously conversations cached the list of users in a message, which conflicted with the actual user display. Canvas code has been updated to remove caching from the participant list. This fix was deployed to production on October 15.</em></p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user opened a course, viewed the People page, viewed a user, and clicked the Send Message button, the message was never sent. This behavior occurred because the message component was associated with the courses list and wouldn’t send if the course being messaged from was not a favorite course in the courses list. Canvas code has been updated to disassociate course favorite status with sending messages and launch messages from their associated context.</em></p>
<h2>Course Imports</h2>
<h2>Course Imports</h2>
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<h3>Module Requirements</h3>
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<h3>Discussion and Quiz Assignment Groups</h3>
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<p>Exporting and importing a course with module requirements retains the module settings.</p>
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<p>Canvas retains assignment groups for courses importing select assignment and discussion content.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When the module requirement option was edited in a module (such as requiring one module item instead of all module items), exporting and importing the course was not retaining the edited module option. This behavior occurred because the requirement setting was not set as a copied element. Canvas code has been updated to retain the requirement count for a module.</em></p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user imported a Canvas course that contained an assignment group with no assignments (discussions and quizzes only), the course imported the content into a new assignment group called Imported Assignments. This behavior affected assignment groups that only contained quizzes and discussions, and where the import selected specific content as part of the import and did not affect course copy; the behavior occurred because quizzes and discussions were not properly considered to be assignments when imported as select content. Canvas code has been updated to treat all assignment types as assignments for group validation.</em></p>
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<h3>Disable Comments Setting</h3>
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<h2>Dashboard</h2>
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<p>The Disable Comments on Announcements course setting is retained in course export.</p>
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<h3>Coming Up Sidebar List</h3>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor selected the Disable Comments on Announcements course setting and copied the course, the setting was not retained when the course was imported. This behavior occurred because the lock setting for announcements was not specified. Canvas code has been updated to retain the state of announcements in a course export.</em></p>
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<p>Coming Up events do not visibly conflict in the Dashboard and Course Home Page sidebar.</p>
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<h2>Course Setup Checklist</h2>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created events or assignments for a course, the Coming Up list in the Dashboard sidebar was not always matching with the sidebar in the Course Home Page. This behavior occurred because any hidden events or assignments (events that are in the future) were reloading in the other location, causing the sidebar to display more items than should be displayed. Canvas code has been updated to not cache hidden items in Coming Up events.</em></p>
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<h3>Course Publishing and TAs</h3>
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<p>TAs cannot publish a course in the Course Setup Checklist unless they have the appropriate permission.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a TA opened the Course Setup Checklist, the TA could see the Publish option. This behavior occurred because the checklist was not verifying permissions to change the course state. Canvas code has been updated to hide the publish button from any user role that cannot change the course state.</em></p>
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<h2>Discussions</h2>
<h2>Discussions</h2>
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<h3>Group Discussion Order</h3>
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<h3>Deleted Graded Discussions and Discussion State</h3>
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<p>Group discussions are displayed by discussion ID, which may also be alphabetical order.</p>
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<p>Graded discussions that have been restored to a course are restored to their original state.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a group discussion and viewed the discussion group's page (/courses/:course_id/discussion_topics/:id), the group names were shown out of order. This behavior occurred because group discussions did not include any sorting parameters. Canvas code has been updated to order groups by ID. Depending on the group creation, ordering by ID may also be ordered alphabetically.</em></p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a graded discussion was deleted from a course in a published state, and the discussion was restored to the course, the graded discussion was displaying as unpublished on the Assignments page. This behavior occurred because Canvas assumed the discussion topics were already active and were updated to be unpublished. Canvas code has been updated to confirm the date of the discussion before restoring a discussion.</em></p>
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<h3>Concluded Enrollments and Replies</h3>
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<h3>Group Discussions in Unpublished Courses</h3>
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<p>Users with concluded enrollments cannot edit their discussion replies.</p>
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<p>Group discussions do not send notifications if the course is unpublished.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor enabled the option for students to edit discussion posts, users with concluded enrollments were able to edit their discussion replies. This behavior occurred because replies weren't being restricted to concluded students. Canvas code has been updated to verify user state for discussion reply edits.</em></p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a discussion was published in a group, but the group was in an unpublished course, group members were being sent ASAP notifications about the group discussion. This behavior occurred because the group was not verifying the status of the course. Canvas code has been updated to not send group discussion notifications in unpublished courses.</em></p>
<h2>Files</h2>
<h2>Files</h2>
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<h3>File Upload Warning</h3>
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<h3>Folder with Multiple Files</h3>
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<p>If a user navigates away from Files before an uploaded file is complete, Files displays a warning message.</p>
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<p>When a folder contains over 100 files, the Files page loads more efficiently.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user uploaded a file and navigated away before the file was complete, the file was not shown as uploaded when the user returned to the page. This behavior occurred because the file could not upload completely without the user staying on the page. Canvas code has been updated to display a warning if a user tries to navigates away from the page.</em></p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user opened a Files folder containing over 100 files, the files took a long time to load and even locked up the browser. This behavior occurred because of an issue with rendering file image thumbnails instead of the entire file. Canvas code has been updated to improve page functionality when view multiple files.</em></p>
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<h3>Locked Files and Previous Access</h3>
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<h2>Grades</h2>
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<p>A file set to unlock after a specific time will unlock regardless of whether a student has already tried to access the file.</p>
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<h3>Student Grades Counter and Deleted Assignments</h3>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: If a student tried to view a locked file before the unlocked date, when the file unlock date had passed, the file remained locked for the student. This behavior occurred because of a caching error with viewing permissions. Canvas code has been updated to ensure the locked file date isn't cached beyond the unlock date.</em></p>
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<p>When a graded quiz or assignment is deleted from a course, Course Navigation refreshes the Grades indicator for associated assignments.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: If a student took a quiz or submitted an assignment, and the quiz or assignment was deleted, the Grades counter in Course Navigation did not decrease the grade count accordingly. This behavior occurred of a caching error in the Canvas server. Canvas code has been updated to refresh grade indicators for any deleted assignments.</em></p>
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<h3>Safari Browser and Student Grades</h3>
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<p>In Safari, users can view grades when hovering over assignment scores.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student used the Safari browser and viewed Grades for a course, hovering over the score caused the grades to disappear. This behavior occurred because the hover font weight was set to bold, which affected the grades view. Canvas code has been updated to always show grades when hovering over grades.</em></p>
<h2>Gradebook</h2>
<h2>Gradebook</h2>
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<h3>Gradebook Quiz Icon and Zero Points</h3>
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<h3>Total Column Options</h3>
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<p>Entering zero as a grade for an essay quiz removes the Q icon.</p>
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<p>When an instructor hovers over the Total Column, the options appear in the drop-down menu</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a quiz displayed a Q icon for manual grading, entering zero as a grade retained the Q icon and didn't save the score. This behavior occurred because the gradebook was not identifying a score of zero as being a complete grade. Canvas code has been updated to clear the icon with a manual score.</em></p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor hovered over the Gradebook Totals Column, the drop-down menu was not appearing. This behavior occurred because hovering over the column re-rendered the options attached to the menu, which removed them from view. Canvas code has been updated to reattach Total Column options to the menu.</em></p>
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<h3>Message Students Who Haven't Submitted Yet</h3>
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<h3>Concluded Courses and Download All Submissions Button</h3>
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<p>The Message Students Who Have Not Submitted option selects names of students whose assignments have been graded but are unsubmitted.</p>
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<p>Instructors can download submissions from concluded courses.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor manually grades a student's assignment without a submission, selecting the Message Students Who option was not selecting the student's name. This behavior occurred because the Gradebook was disregarding all students with a grade. Canvas code has been updated to include students without submissions regardless of grade.</em></p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor viewed a concluded course and clicked the Download All Submissions button, the download failed. This behavior occurred because Canvas wasn’t verifying the current user course permissions. Canvas code has been updated to allow user to download submissions if they have the View All Grades permission.</em></p>
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<h3>Export Links</h3>
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<p>Exporting a Gradebook CSV does not overlap links for previous exports.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: After exporting a Gradebook CSV and reloading the page, exporting a new CSV placed the link for the previous export on top of the export icon. This behavior occurred because of the assigned icon class. Canvas code has been updated to correct the icon class and only allow two list items in the export menu.</em></p>
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<h3>Everyone Else Grades and Grading Periods</h3>
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<p>All course assignments appear in the Gradebook regardless of grading periods.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When using Differentiated Assignments, grades were only appearing when viewing the grading period with the Everyone Else date or when viewing all grading periods. Additionally, some assignments were not appearing at all, regardless of dates. These behaviors occurred because grading periods were not respecting assignment dates. Canvas code has been updated to allow grading period filters to respect assignment dates. This fix was deployed to production on October 15.</em></p>
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<h3>Muted Assignment Icon and Internet Explorer 11</h3>
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<p>Instructors using Internet Explorer 11 view the Muted Assignment icon in the same size as all other icons.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When instructors using Internet Explorer 11 opened the Gradebook and muted an assignment, the Muted Assignment icon appeared smaller than other icons. This behavior occurred because the icon size set to a specific size, which rendered smaller in IE 11. Canvas code has been updated to set the icon as a full percentage.</em></p>
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<h3>Internet Explorer 10 Display</h3>
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<p>Instructors can view the Gradebook using Internet Explorer 10.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor opened the Gradebook using Internet Explorer 10, the Gradebook was not displaying in the browser. This behavior occurred because of a syntax error in the browser. Canvas code has been updated to correct the syntax and prevent Gradebook viewing. This fix was deployed to production on October 15.</em></p>
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<h3>Not Graded Assignments and Muted Assignment Icon</h3>
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<p>The Muted Assignment icon only displays in the Total column for graded assignments.</p>
+
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a Not Graded assignment and muted the assignment, the Muted Assignment icon still appeared in the Total column even though the assignment did not affect student scores. This behavior occurred because the icon was set to display for all assignments regardless of type. Canvas code has been updated to only show the icon for graded assignments.</em></p>
+
<h2>Modules</h2>
<h2>Modules</h2>
-
<h3>Requirements and Sequential Order Placement</h3>
+
<h3>Overdue Icon</h3>
-
<p>Instructors can only require students to complete module requirements in sequential order if students complete all the requirements in the module.</p>
+
<p>Modules displays the overdue icon only if a student does not have a submission for the assignment.</p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a module, added a few module items such as assignments, and required students to complete one module item, Modules did not allow a student to progress even if one of the module items had been completed. This behavior occurred because Modules doesn't support the module sequence option when choosing one module item to complete. Canvas code has been updated to only allow sequential order as part of the all requirements checkbox.</em></p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student viewed the Modules page, the page displayed the overdue icon for all assignments with due dates in the past. This behavior occurred because Modules was not verifying assignment submissions. Canvas code has been updated to not show the overdue icon if a submission exists for an assignment.</em></p>
-
<h3>Modules Drag and Drop</h3>
+
<h3>Modules and Visible Completion Requirements</h3>
-
<p>Instructors can drag modules to the end of of the list in a course with multiple pre-existing modules.</p>
+
<p>Modules only display completion requirement types relating to the items added to the module.</p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor tried to drag modules to the end of the list in a course with multiple pre-existing modules, the module could not be dragged past the last newly created module. This behavior occurred because the drag-and-drop functionality was limited to the space of the module list. Canvas code has been updated to remove the container window for modules.</em></p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a module and included a module item, Modules was displaying every completion requirement type even if the requirement wasn’t related to that item. This behavior allowed instructors to set incompatible requirements with module items, which weren’t saved and were set with no requirements. This behavior occurred because modules weren’t verifying Must Contribute options within the module. Canvas code has been updated to filter module requirement types when adding module items.</em></p>
-
<h2>Notifications</h2>
+
<h2>Outcomes</h2>
-
<h3>Notification Columns and Long Email Addresses</h3>
+
<h3>Account-Level Outcomes and Course Permissions</h3>
-
<p>Long email addresses do not misalign the email notification column.</p>
+
<p>Instructors can delete imported account-level outcomes if they have not yet been used in the course.</p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user set an email address as a notification method, long email addresses stretched the email heading and misaligned the notification column. This behavior occurred because of no width specification for the column. Canvas code has been updated to set a minimum width for the table column.</em></p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an account-level outcome was imported into a course, instructors could not delete an outcome that was not being used in the course. This behavior occurred because account-level outcomes are set as read-only, causing the Delete button to be hidden by default. Canvas code has been updated to allow instructors to delete imported outcomes if unused in the course.</em></p>
-
<h2>Pages</h2>
+
<h3>Outcomes and Rubrics</h3>
-
<h3>View All Pages Button</h3>
+
<p>Account-level outcomes can be deleted from a course as long as the outcome does not have any course associations.</p>
-
<p>If a course does not show the Pages Course Navigation link, students cannot view the View All Pages button on the course home page.</p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an account-level outcome was imported into a course, and an instructor created an assignment, added a rubric, added the outcome to the rubric, then deleted the assignment, the instructor was not able to remove the outcome from the course even though it wasn’t used to assess an assignment. This behavior occurred because the rubric was still considered to be associated with the outcome. Canvas code has been updated to destroy all associations for a rubric if its associated assignment is deleted.</em></p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When the Pages Course Navigation link was hidden in a course, students were able to view the course home page and click the View All pages button, which resulted in an error message. This behavior occurred because the View All Pages button was not aligned with the visibility setting for the Pages link. Canvas code has been updated to hide the View All Pages button if the Pages link is hidden for the course.</em></p>
+
<h3>Deleted Outcomes and Learning Mastery Gradebook</h3>
 +
<p>The Learning Mastery Gradebook does not display outcome results for deleted outcomes.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor graded a student with an outcome, the outcome appeared in the Learning Mastery Gradebook. However, if the outcome was removed from the rubric, if the assignment was deleted, or if the rubric was deleted, the outcome grade was still appearing in the Learning Mastery Gradebook. This behavior occurred because the Gradebook was not confirming the state of the outcome. Canvas code has been updated to not show outcomes from deleted rubrics.</em></p>
<h2>Quizzes</h2>
<h2>Quizzes</h2>
-
<h3>Formula Questions and Decimals</h3>
+
<h3>Ungraded Surveys and Point Values</h3>
-
<p>Instructors can specify the number of decimals for an answer in the Numerical Answer question type.</p>
+
<p>Ungraded surveys do not display point values.</p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a Numerical Answer question and included varied answers, the formula question was being inconsistent with how to factor answers that included decimals. This behavior occurred because even though the Numerical Answer answers were defined to support four decimals places, Canvas didn't know how to properly round some answers, meaning some answers would be cut off or be rounded to zero. Canvas code has been updated to include a Answer with Precision option as an answer choice in the Numerical Answer question type.</em></p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created an ungraded survey with questions that were assigned point values, the point values reflected as the point total for the quiz. This behavior occurred because surveys were being treated as other quiz types where point values are displayed. Canvas code has been updated to hide points possible for ungraded surveys.</em></p>
-
<h3>Formula Questions and Rounding</h3>
+
<h3>Ungraded Quiz UI Mismatch</h3>
-
<p>Repeating decimals beyond two places are rounded up.</p>
+
<p>Ungraded quizzes don’t refer to correct answer choices.</p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a Formula quiz question and included an answer with a repeating decimal beyond two decimal places, any answers that included a five (such as 1.75) was being rounded down to 1.7 rather than rounding to 1.8. This behavior occurred because the decimal number wasn't being added to the computation correctly. Canvas code has been updated to round up with two decimals.</em></p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a multiple choice question in an ungraded survey, the quiz question referred to correct answers, which was confusing as ungraded surveys do not have correct answers. This behavior occurred because the quiz inherited the settings from the question type. Canvas code has been updated to recognize ungraded quizzes as a survey and not refer to correct answers when applicable.</em></p>
-
<h3>Quiz Questions and Auto Scrolling</h3>
+
<h3>Embedded Media and Updated Quizzes</h3>
-
<p>Quiz questions do not auto scroll to the last quiz question.</p>
+
<p>Instructors can update a quiz question containing uploaded/recorded media.</p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student took a quiz with at least three quiz questions requiring a typed answer, the quiz was auto scrolling to the last quiz question. This behavior occurred because the last question input element of a quiz would automatically be focused. Canvas code has been updated to remove the autofocusing of question input fields. This change does not affect general accessibility features when taking a quiz.</em></p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a quiz that included uploaded/recorded media, clicking Update Question (without saving the quiz) and editing the question again would not allow the media to be played. This behavior occurred because of an error with the quiz question API and properly translating the quiz question content. Canvas code has been updated to retain media HTML for question entries.</em></p>
-
<h3>Numerical Answer Quiz Edits</h3>
+
<h3>Symbols and Quiz Answers</h3>
-
<p>After editing a Numerical Answer Quiz question, the input fields retain the correct answer type.</p>
+
<p>Quizzes display <, >, and & in quiz questions.</p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a Numerical Answer question, selected an answer type, and then edited the quiz, each answer type included the input fields from the other answer type. This behavior occurred because the edit functionality was being applied to elements not part of the dialog window. Canvas code has been updated to correct functionality in maintaining various dialog elements.</em></p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user entered a lesson than, greater than, or ampersand into a quiz question answer, the characters displayed in an encoded version causing the symbols to disappear. This behavior occurred because of an error with the quiz question API and properly translating HTML content. Canvas code has been updated to include symbol characters in question answers.</em></p>
-
<h3>Course End Date Setting and Concluded Enrollments</h3>
+
<h3>Instructor Grade Notifications</h3>
-
<p>Instructors can view quiz results in concluded courses.</p>
+
<p>In Course Navigation, instructors do not see grade notifications after taking a quiz.</p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an account enabled the Restrict Students from Viewing Quiz Questions after Course End Date option, instructors and TAs with concluded enrollments were also restricted from viewing quiz results in both the quiz and SpeedGrader. This behavior occurred because the restriction was not verifying permissions. Canvas code has been updated to allow users to view quiz questions if they have grading permissions.</em></p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor took a quiz in Canvas, a grade indicator appeared in Course Navigation but it could not be removed. This behavior occurred because Canvas is designed to generate grade indicators with automatically scored quizzes. Canvas code has been updated to not generate grade indicators for users with an instructor role.</em></p>
 +
<h2>Rich Content Editor</h2>
 +
<h3>Preformatted Text</h3>
 +
<p>When editing a page, preformatted text appears in the Rich Content Editor.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user created or edited a page and tried to use the pre-formatted text option, the paragraph text wasn’t changing to the pre-formatted format. This behavior occurred because of an error with the preformatted font family. Canvas code has been updated to support preformatted text in the Rich Content Editor.</em></p>
<h2>SpeedGrader</h2>
<h2>SpeedGrader</h2>
-
<h3>Student Submission Downloads</h3>
+
<h3>File Attachments and Comment Submissions</h3>
-
<p>Instructors can download all student submissions in SpeedGrader.</p>
+
<p>The attachment icon does not autosubmit comments in SpeedGrader.</p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student submitted an assignment and then deleted it from his or her user files, the student's instructor was not able to download the submission file from SpeedGrader. This behavior occurred because downloads for student files are&#160; associated with the submitted file in the student's user files area. Canvas code has been updated to prevent students from deleting submitted files in active courses. This change also improves a fix originally added to the July 18 release related to student submission files and SpeedGrader downloads.</em></p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor clicked the paper clip icon to attach a file, the icon submitted any existing text or a previously added file attachment. This behavior occurred because of an error with the button command in the JavaScript file where SpeedGrader was creating hidden separate comment boxes. Canvas code has been updated to disassociate attachments from comment autosubmissions.</em></p>
-
<h3>Student Graded Status</h3>
+
<h3>Rubric Scrolling</h3>
-
<p>When an instructor enters a score for a student submission, SpeedGrader updates the student's assignment status with a green check mark.</p>
+
<p>The rubric window in SpeedGrader scrolls independently of the student submission.</p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor entered a score for a student submission, SpeedGrader still showed the submission as Needs Grading with an orange dot. However, once the page was refreshed, the green check mark icon displayed correctly. This behavior occurred because SpeedGrader was not verifying the submission state after a score was entered. Canvas code has been updated to verify the state of the submission after grading. This fix was deployed to production on October 14.</em></p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor used a rubric in SpeedGrader and tried to scroll to view the contents of the rubric, the rubric was scrolling the entire page instead of the rubric window content. This behavior occurred because the rubric window did not contain a height specification. Canvas code has been updated to adjust the height of the window to 100% and allow overflow content to scroll.</em></p>
-
<h3>Google Chrome Speech-to-text Recognition</h3>
+
<h3>SpeedGrader Auto Downloads</h3>
-
<p>The speech-to-text icon appears in SpeedGrader when using the Chrome browser.</p>
+
<p>SpeedGrader does not automatically download Photoshop files.</p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: In Chrome, when instructors opened SpeedGrader, the speech-to-text recognition icon was not listed as a comment option. This behavior occurred because the field that included the icon was inadvertently hidden. Canvas code has been updated to set the speech recognition as a class selector that should always identify the icon element in Chrome.</em></p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When students submitted large Photoshop files that couldn’t be previewed, SpeedGrader automatically downloaded the file. This behavior occurred because image types that couldn’t be previewed were tagged with the download parameter, including Photoshop images. Canvas code has been updated to exclude PSD files from automatic downloads.</em></p>
-
<h2>Syllabus</h2>
+
<h3>Document Previewer and Peer-Reviewed Assignments</h3>
-
<h3>Syllabus Assignments and Events Differentiation</h3>
+
<p>The Canvas document previewer generates file previews for peer-review assignments.</p>
-
<p>In the Syllabus, graded assignments are shown in bold text.</p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student submitted a file as part of a peer-reviewed file upload assignment, if the file attempted to render in the document previewer, such as with a Rich Text Format document, the previewer generated an error message. This behavior occurred because of a typo in the previewer file method confirming whether or not peer reviews were present. Canvas code has been updated to preview files used with peer review assignments.</em></p>
-
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user viewed the Syllabus, users could not differentiate assignments from events. Previously in the syllabus, graded assignments (assignments, quizzes, graded discussions) appeared in the syllabus in bold, while course events and non-graded discussions were not bold. This behavior occurred because of an inadvertent change while enhancing the performance of calendar events and assignment data. Canvas code has been updated to display graded assignments in bold text.</em></p>
+
<h3>Student Graded Status for Manually Graded Quiz Questions</h3>
 +
<p>When an instructor enters a score for a manually graded quiz question, SpeedGrader updates the student’s assignment status with a green check mark.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor graded a manual quiz question, such as an essay, SpeedGrader still showed the submission as Needs Grading with an orange dot. However, once the page was refreshed, the green check mark icon displayed correctly. This behavior occurred because of a regression caused by an upcoming Canvas feature. Canvas code has been updated to update the status icon when scores are applied in a manually graded quiz.</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: 11/09/15</p>
+
<p dir="ltr">Beta release and notes: 11/30/15</p>
</li>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<li dir="ltr">
-
<p dir="ltr">Production release notes: 11/16/15</p>
+
<p dir="ltr">Production release notes: 12/07/15</p>
</li>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<li dir="ltr">
-
<p dir="ltr">Production release and documentation: 11/21/15</p>
+
<p dir="ltr">Production release and documentation: 12/12/15</p>
</li>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>

Revision as of 13:35, 17 November 2015

Production Release notes for Saturday, November 21, 2015.
In this production release (November 21) students can view whether or not an assignment has been graded anonymously. All users will also see small design changes throughout several Canvas features.

Contents

Updated Features

Assignments

Anonymous Grading Student View

Students can view whether or not an assignment was graded anonymously in SpeedGrader. Anonymous grading is set by opening SpeedGrader options and selecting the Hide Student Names in SpeedGrader checkbox. Notifications of the anonymous status are shown in both the student Grades page and the sidebar of the assignment submission page.

Other Updates

Assignments

Assignment Link

In the Assignments submission sidebar, the download link for the assignment is shown below the submission details link.

This feature was originally suggested by the Canvas community.

Submission Attachments and User Quotas

Student submission attachments are not counted against a user's quota limit

This features resolves a fixed bug in Canvas

Calendar

Assignment Publish Toggle

When creating an assignment in the Calendar, the publish button has been changed to a toggle, where the toggle on the left (default) means the toggle is not enabled. In the calendar, a toggle on the left means the assignment is not published. This change helps align toggle functionality throughout Canvas.

Dashboard

Sidebar Performance Improvements

Canvas has implemented Performance improvements to the Dashboard sidebar to improve speed and content data.

Settings

Feature Option Toggle

The Feature Options buttons have been changed to a toggle, where the toggle on the left (default) means the toggle is not enabled. In Feature Options, a toggle on the left means the feature option is not enabled. This change helps align toggle functionality throughout Canvas.

At the course level, if a feature is allowed to be enabled, the feature option includes a toggle. However, if a feature has been enforced at the account level by an admin, the course feature options displays the feature as On or Off.

SpeedGrader

Firefox Crocodoc Annotations

When an instructor uses Crocodoc annotations for a supported assignment submission type (primarily Word documents and PDFs), the Firefox browser frequently removes the last annotated comment when updating the score field in SpeedGrader. This behavior is a Crocodoc-specific limitation within Firefox that cannot be resolved by Crocodoc at this time. To warn about the effects of Firefox and Crocodoc annotations, Canvas displays a warning banner that says “Warning: Crocodoc has limitations when used in Firefox. Comments will not always be saved.” To avoid losing any annotations, instructors may choose to use another browser when providing Crocodoc annotated feedback, or try clicking the screen before navigating to another student.

Fixed Bugs

Accessibility

Assignments

Conversations

Dashboard

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