Canvas Updates

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Production Release notes for Saturday, November 21, 2015.<br>
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Production Release notes for Saturday, December 12, 2015.<br>
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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.
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In this production release (December 12), instructors can use new course tools to provide draft or provisional grades, export course content for offline viewing, confirm broken links in a course, and require anonymous grading. Students can view assignment descriptions when viewing calendar exports. Other small changes have been implemented to improve user workflow and interaction.
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<h1>Updated Features</h1>
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<h1>New Features</h1>
<h2>Assignments</h2>
<h2>Assignments</h2>
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<h3>Anonymous Grading Student View</h3>
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<h3>Moderated Grading</h3>
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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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<p>When creating an assignment, instructors can choose to have multiple graders evaluate a student’s work and create draft or provisional grades before the grade is marked as final for the course. This feature can also be used to create a sampling of students for assignment review to ensure grading is consistent and allows secondary grade reviews. Students cannot view any comments or grades until the grade is published.</p>
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<p>Moderated grading refers to two specific user roles: moderators and reviewers.
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<ul>
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<li>Moderators can be any user in the course who has been granted the course-level Moderate Grades permission (commonly instructors).</li>
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<li>Reviewers can be any user in the course who has been granted the course-level Edit Grades permission (commonly TAs). Reviewers interact with SpeedGrader as they can with any other SpeedGrader assignment.</li>
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</ul></p>
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<p>For each assignment that needs to be moderated, instructors must select the Allow a moderator to review multiple independent grades checkbox. Moderators can be any user in the course who has been granted the course-level Moderate Grades permission. Once an assignment has been published, moderators will see the <strong>Moderate</strong> button on the assignment page. Moderators can select checkboxes next to students whose assignments should be moderated, then click the <strong>Add Reviewer</strong> button to add the students to the moderation set and create quick-access links to SpeedGrader. The Moderate page only supports up to two provisional grades and one moderator grade. The moderator grade can be edited or overwritten by any user with the moderate grades permission. Several provisional grades can exist for a submission, but a submission does not need to have more than one reviewer. Reviewers interact with SpeedGrader as they would with any other Canvas assignment, including grading with rubrics and leaving comments. Once a reviewer grades the assignment, the grade appears in the Moderate page as a provisional grade in the appropriate reviewer column. Provisional grades are not included in the Gradebook and are only visible to moderators.</p>
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<p><em>Notes</em>:
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<ul>
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<li>Students not in the moderator set can only be assigned one provisional grade.</li>
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<li>When a course includes more than one moderator, each institution will need to set their own policies for which moderator controls official grade posting for the assignment.</li>
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</ul>
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</p>
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<p>Moderators can also view any previous reviews by opening SpeedGrader. Previous reviews display the grade and any comments, as well as any rubric results. The moderator can also use the Add Review link to add a second review (if one does not already exist), add a moderator review, or copy a previous review as the moderator review. Copying a review applies the grade as the final. The copy retains the grade and existing comments but allows the moderator to make additional comments or edits. When copying a grade as the final, SpeedGrader will generate a warning and override any existing grade in the Moderator column.To assign and post a final grade for the assignment, the moderator can click the radio button in any reviewer column (or click the Select button in SpeedGrader). Then click the Post button. The final grade is the grade that will appear in the Gradebook once the assignment grades are posted. Once a grade is published, the grade in the moderator page cannot be changed; all content is considered read-only for historical reference. However, grades can still be changed in the Gradebook.</p>
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<h2>Course Settings</h2>
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<h3>ePub Exports</h3>
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<p><em>ePub Exports is used in conjunction with the ePub Exporting course-level feature option.</em></p>
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<p>Instructors can allow students to download a course as an ePub file. This feature allows students to view course content when they are offline, such as files, pages, assignment details, discussion topics, or quiz instructions. Students cannot interact with the course in ePub material; course materials are displayed in a read-only state and any tasks such as submitting an assignment must be completed online. The default ePub organization is by module, meaning only items that students have access to view in each module will be included in the ePub file. However, instructors can set their course organization by content type (e.g. assignments, quizzes, etc.). This option can be changed by checking the ePub Export checkbox located in the Course Settings Course Details tab. Any user can generate ePub files in the current user interface by opening their User Settings page and clicking the Download Course Content button. (In the new Canvas user interface, click the Global Navigation Account link to access user settings.) Any available courses appear in the ePub content page and can be generated as needed using the Generate ePub link. Once the ePub is completed, the user can download the file or regenerate the ePub file. If a course includes a file that isn’t supported in an ePub, the page also includes a link to download associated files, which downloads the non-supported files in a zip file to be viewed in their native apps. Downloaded content can be viewed in any ePub reader, such as iBooks (Mac) or Azardi (Windows and Android). Other ePub applications can be used, but iBooks and Azardi are recommended as they provide the best support for embedded media. In ePub content, students cannot interact with course content directly such as completing an assignment, but they can view the assignment details, availability dates, and point values. In ePub content, students cannot interact with course content directly such as completing an assignment, but they can view the assignment details, availability dates, and point values.</p>
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<h3>Link Validator</h3>
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<p>Instructors can verify all the links throughout a course to ensure they are valid. This option is available in the Course Details tab in Course Settings. The course link validator searches through course content and returns invalid or unresponsive links. If links are found, Canvas provides the name of the content item with a link so instructors can correct the error.
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<em>Note</em>: Our engineers are correcting two known issues with false positive results: If the link has a redirect, and if the link needs authentication that the canvas server does not posses (but the user does). The link validator will follow redirects (up to a limit) before it creates the false positive of a broken link, as well as exclude links that trigger an unauthorized (403) error. More details about these fixes will be in a future release.</p>
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<p><em>This feature was orginally suggessted by the Canvas Community</em></p>
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<h2>SpeedGrader</h2>
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<h3>Anonymous Grading</h3>
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<p><em>Anonymous Grading is used in conjunction with the Anonymous Grading course-level feature option.</em></p>
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<p>TWhen grading assignments, the SpeedGrader option to Hide Student Names can now be enabled for all courses in Canvas as a course-level feature option. When the Anonymous Grading feature option is enabled, the Hide Student Names checkbox is enabled by default. If at any time the feature option is changed to allowed or off, the SpeedGrader option will be retained and must be changed manually. As noted in the October 31 and November 21 releases, the admin logging tool shows whether an assignment was graded anonymously. Students can also view whether or not an assignment was graded anonymously in both the student Grades page and the sidebar of the assignment submission page.</p>
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<h1>Updated Features</h1>
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<h2>Calendar</h2>
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<h3>Calendar Export Assignment Descriptions</h3>
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<p>Calendar feeds include the description of an assignment, in addition to the title and time of the event.</p>
<h1>Other Updates</h1>
<h1>Other Updates</h1>
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<h2>Assignments</h2>
 
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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>
 
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<p><em>This feature was originally suggested by the Canvas community.</em></p>
 
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<h3>Submission Attachments and User Quotas</h3>
 
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<p>Student submission attachments are not counted against a user's quota limit</p>
 
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<p><em>This features resolves a fixed bug in Canvas</em></p>
 
<h2>Calendar</h2>
<h2>Calendar</h2>
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<h3>Assignment Publish Toggle</h3>
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<h3>Scheduler Messages</h3>
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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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<p>When instructors use the Message Students Who feature in the Scheduler, messages that include over 100 recipients are automatically sent as individual messages.</p>
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<h2>Dashboard</h2>
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<h2>Grades</h2>
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<h3>Sidebar Performance Improvements</h3>
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<h3>Ungraded Quizzes and Student Grade Totals</h3>
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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>When a student submits a quiz that has a manually graded component, the ungraded quiz does not factor into student’s grades view. Student grades are only updated when the manually graded question has been graded by the instructor.</p>
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<h2>Settings</h2>
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<p><em>This feature was originally suggested by the Canvas community.</em></p>
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<h3>Feature Option Toggle</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>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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<h2>SpeedGrader</h2>
<h2>SpeedGrader</h2>
<h3>Firefox Crocodoc Annotations</h3>
<h3>Firefox Crocodoc Annotations</h3>
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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>When an instructor uses Crocodoc annotations for a supported assignment submission type (primarily Word documents and PDFs), the Firefox browser frequently removes the last annotation 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 click the screen to retain comments before navigating to another student.</p>
<h1>Fixed Bugs</h1>
<h1>Fixed Bugs</h1>
<h2>Accessibility</h2>
<h2>Accessibility</h2>
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<h3>Assignments</h3>
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<h3>Analytics</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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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>In Account Analytics, the Grade Distribution tooltip displays the same distribution percentage as shown in the distribution graph.</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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</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Conversations</h3>
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<h3>Calendar</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>Conversations retains focus indicators on the Reply and More Options buttons.</li>
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<li>Calendar date range fields, undated items, link drop-down menus, and calendar checkboxes retain focus for keyboard users.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>Dashboard</h3>
<h3>Dashboard</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>For each dashcard, the container is labeled as a &lt;div&gt; instead of a &lt;header&gt;. Additionally, terms are not labeled as links.</li>
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<li>To Do and Coming Up Lists display assignments with their respective icon in gray text. The Recent Feedback section shows a green check mark next to the content link and is the only section that includes the color green. The names of calendar event, quiz, discussion, and assignment icons can be read by screen readers.</li>
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<li>In the Settings menu for a course, each option includes appropriate aria values to indicate its functionality.</li>
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</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Course Setup Checklist</h3>
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<h3>ePortfolio</h3>
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<ul>
<ul>
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<li>ePortfolio buttons and links include labels to define editing, managing, removing, and renaming sections.</li>
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<li>The Course Setup Checklist displays list elements and can be navigated by screen readers.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Modules</h3>
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<h3>Discussions</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>Screen readers can read the Add Module button.</li>
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<li>Discussion expand and collapse links can be identified by screen readers.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<h3>Quizzes</h3>
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<h3>Files</h3>
<ul>
<ul>
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<li>As part of editing a quiz, the Cancel button is read as a button instead of a link.</li>
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<li>File previews are accessible for both screen readers and keyboard users.</li>
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</ul>
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<h3>User Settings</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>When updating a profile picture, keyboard users can upload a file and navigate back to the profile page.</li>
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</ul>
</ul>
<h2>Assignments</h2>
<h2>Assignments</h2>
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<h3>File Uploads and Users in Additional Accounts</h3>
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<h3>Downloaded Submissions File Names</h3>
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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>File names are not changed in submission downloads.</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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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor downloaded student submissions with First + Last as their display name (e.g: Jane Smith), the download added a dash between the last name and first name. This behavior occurred because of a change in the file pattern. Canvas code has been updated to change file download file names.</em></p>
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<h3>Save and Publish Button and Notifications</h3>
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<h3>Long Assignment Submission File Names and Turnitin</h3>
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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>Long file names wrap around Turnitin originality reports and submission download options.</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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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an assignment submission includes a long file name, the file name overlapped Turnitin originality reports and submission download options. This behavior occurred because the SpeedGrader CSS didn’t include word wrapping for submission names. Canvas code has been updated to include supported word wrapping.</em></p>
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<h3>Automatic Peer Review Distribution</h3>
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<h2>Authentication</h2>
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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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<h3>Microsoft Office and Shibboleth</h3>
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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>Students can access Canvas links placed in a Microsoft Office document if their institution is using Shibboleth for authentication.</p>
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<h3>Submission Attachments and User Quotas</h3>
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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 and was originally reported to be updated in the October 31 release.</em></p>
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<p>Student submission attachments are not counted against a user’s quota limit.</p>
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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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<h2>Calendar</h2>
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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>
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<h2>Conversations</h2>
<h2>Conversations</h2>
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<h3>Send Message in People Page</h3>
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<h3>Group Individual Messages</h3>
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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>Users can send a group message and select the checkbox to send individual messages.</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>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user tried to send a message to members in a group but chose to send messages individually, the page failed and generated an error message. This behavior occurred because context type wasn’t being considered when sending the messages. Canvas code has been updated to support individual messages for groups.</em></p>
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<h2>Course Imports</h2>
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<h3>Recorded Media and File Names</h3>
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<h3>Discussion and Quiz Assignment Groups</h3>
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<p>File names for recorded and uploaded videos/audio files display in Conversations.</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 a user composed a new message and included recorded/uploaded media, the file name for the media file was undefined or missing. This behavior occurred because the conversation was not detecting the media file. Canvas code has been updated to display media file names in Conversations.</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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<h2>Dashboard</h2>
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<h3>Coming Up Sidebar List</h3>
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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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<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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-
<h2>Discussions</h2>
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-
<h3>Deleted Graded Discussions and Discussion State</h3>
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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 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>Group Discussions in Unpublished Courses</h3>
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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 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>
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<h2>Files</h2>
<h2>Files</h2>
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<h3>Folder with Multiple Files</h3>
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<h3>File Downloads and Text-Based Files</h3>
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<p>When a folder contains over 100 files, the Files page loads more efficiently.</p>
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<p>Downloading a link to a text-based file immediately downloads the file.</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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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user clicked the link to download a file, most text content-type files were not downloading and required the user to view the preview page first. This behavior occurred because of a consistency issue between browsers. Canvas code has been updated to add text as a valid download type.</em></p>
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<h2>Grades</h2>
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<h3>Folder Names</h3>
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<h3>Student Grades Counter and Deleted Assignments</h3>
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<p>Folder names can be no longer than 255 characters.</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>: When a user created a folder in a sub-folder with a name longer than 255 characters, the folder redirected to the parent folder. This behavior occurred because the Files API could not support folder names longer than 255 characters. Canvas code has been updated to limit folder names to 255 characters.</em></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>Files Move Menu</h3>
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<h3>Safari Browser and Student Grades</h3>
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<p>After searching for a file in the search field, users can move the file via the Move option.</p>
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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 user searched for a file in the search field, clicked the Settings icon for the file, and selected the Move option for the file, the file was not able to be moved. This behavior occurred because the Move option was not supported from the search field. Canvas code has been updated to move files that have been located in the search field.</em></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>
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<h3>Folder File Previews</h3>
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<p>Folder previews are not supported in Canvas.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user tried to preview a folder, the folder was showing the preview of a file with the same ID. If the file did not include an ID, the folder created a File Not Found error. This behavior occurred because Canvas was not completely supporting file previews for folders as originally updated in the July 18 release. Canvas code has been updated to disable previews for file folders. When a folder is selected, the files toolbar does not include a preview option.</em></p>
<h2>Gradebook</h2>
<h2>Gradebook</h2>
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<h3>Total Column Options</h3>
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<h3>Message Students Who and Large Enrollment Courses</h3>
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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>Users in large enrollment courses can use the Message Students Who feature in the Gradebook.</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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<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor used the Message Students Who feature in the Gradebook in a large course, not all messages were able to be sent and generated a browser timeout message. This behavior occurred because of a JavaScript error. Canvas code has been updated to prevent timeout errors in large courses.</em></p>
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<h3>Concluded Courses and Download All Submissions Button</h3>
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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 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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<h2>Modules</h2>
<h2>Modules</h2>
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<h3>Overdue Icon</h3>
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<h3>Firefox and Long File Names</h3>
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<p>Modules displays the overdue icon only if a student does not have a submission for the assignment.</p>
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<p>In Firefox, files with long continuous names added to a module in Firefox are truncated after 50 characters.</p>
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<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>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a user used the Firefox browser to add a file with a long continuous name to a module, the name was not displaying in the Modules page. This behavior occurred because of an error in Firefox when wrapping styles are not present in the style sheet. Canvas code has been updated to truncate long file names in Firefox.</em></p>
-
<h3>Modules and Visible Completion Requirements</h3>
+
<h3>Module Requirement Removal and Sequential Order</h3>
-
<p>Modules only display completion requirement types relating to the items added to the module.</p>
+
<p>When all requirements have been removed from a module, users can view the module content in any order.</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>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor removed all requirements from a module, the Students must move through requirements in sequential order option was not disabled, causing viewing difficulties for public course enrollments. This behavior occurred because of the October 31 release, which changed the placement of the sequential order checkbox and the view of the checkbox state. Canvas code has been updated to disregard sequential completion if no requirements exist.</em></p>
-
<h2>Outcomes</h2>
+
<h2>Notifications</h2>
-
<h3>Account-Level Outcomes and Course Permissions</h3>
+
<h3>Differentiated Assignments</h3>
-
<p>Instructors can delete imported account-level outcomes if they have not yet been used in the course.</p>
+
<p>Due dates in differentiated assignment are included in the assignment creation notification.</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>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created a differentiated assignment, the due_at field was set to null in the Assignments API, which was the source of visible due dates in assignment creation notifications. The dates were included in the assignment but ignored in the notifications and were read as No Due Date when there was a due date. This behavior occurred because Canvas notifications weren’t correctly coded to differentiated between differentiated assignments and assignments assigned to everyone. Canvas code has been updated to apply due dates when an assignment includes differentiated due dates.</em></p>
-
<h3>Outcomes and Rubrics</h3>
+
<h2>Pages</h2>
-
<p>Account-level outcomes can be deleted from a course as long as the outcome does not have any course associations.</p>
+
<h3>Page Display Limit</h3>
-
<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>Users can view all pages in the Pages sidebar.</p>
-
<h3>Deleted Outcomes and Learning Mastery Gradebook</h3>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created or edited a page and tried to add an existing page from the wiki pages list in the Content Selector sidebar, the list stopped displaying pages after showing 150 titles. This behavior occurred because the page display limit was set to 150. Canvas code has been updated to not set a limit for the list of wiki pages. However, pages must be published to appear in the list.</em></p>
-
<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>Ungraded Surveys and Point Values</h3>
+
<h3>Access Code Quiz Previews</h3>
-
<p>Ungraded surveys do not display point values.</p>
+
<p>Instructors can preview and submit a quiz that requires access codes.</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>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor attempted to preview and submit a quiz that required an access code, the page generated an internal error. This behavior occurred because the quiz was set to delete the access code once the quiz was submitted and wasn’t compatible with previews. Canvas code has been updated to show submission results after submitting the quiz preview. This fix was deployed to production on November 26. This change also resolved a concern where the access code was being stored in multiple sessions, allowing students multiple quiz attempts.</em></p>
-
<h3>Ungraded Quiz UI Mismatch</h3>
+
<h3>Images and Quiz File Name</h3>
-
<p>Ungraded quizzes don’t refer to correct answer choices.</p>
+
<p>When adding images in the Rich Content Editor, instructors receive a warning message about the alt-text image file name.</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>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor created or edited a quiz and used the Rich Content Editor to add an image, the quiz file name could be displayed to students, opening possibilities for cheating due to broken links or slow internet connections. This behavior occurred because alt text is part of Canvas images for accessibility use, and the alt text defaults to the file name. Canvas code has been updated to display a warning that the image alt text could be displayed to students. Instructors can change the name of the alt image when adding an image to quizzes. This warning does not apply to other content areas with the Rich Content Editor, such as Pages.</em></p>
-
<h3>Embedded Media and Updated Quizzes</h3>
+
<h3>Quiz Regrade</h3>
-
<p>Instructors can update a quiz question containing uploaded/recorded media.</p>
+
<p>After saving a changed question, Canvas applies the quiz regrade option.</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>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor edited the answer to a quiz question that supported quiz regrade (multiple choice, true/false, or multiple answers), the regrade option was not retained for the quiz question. This behavior occurred because the quiz only retained the quiz ID and not the question data. Canvas code has been updated to display the regrade option after updating the quiz.</em></p>
-
<h3>Symbols and Quiz Answers</h3>
+
<h3>Symbols and HTML Encoding</h3>
-
<p>Quizzes display <, >, and & in quiz questions.</p>
+
<p>Symbols in quiz question answers are not HTML encoded.</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>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a quiz was created or edited, saved, then edited again before saving the quiz, symbols in the question’s answers become HTML ended. This behavior occurred because the symbol was being treated as a web connection object. Canvas code has been updated to set timeouts for HTTP requests in quizzes.</em></p>
-
<h3>Instructor Grade Notifications</h3>
+
<h3>Question Banks and Multiple Questions</h3>
-
<p>In Course Navigation, instructors do not see grade notifications after taking a quiz.</p>
+
<p>Question Banks only display one version of each question.</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>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor set a quiz to pull from a question bank, pulling more than the available questions from the question bank was delivering each question twice, causing grading errors. This behavior occurred because the question bank duplicated questions if the number of questions that should be pulled exceeded the number of questions available in the question bank. Canvas code has been updated to create a warning when the number of questions exceeds the number of questions available in the question bank. Additionally, when a question is duplicated, the points possible field shows as twice the question value.</em></p>
-
<h2>Rich Content Editor</h2>
+
<h3>Course Sections with No End Date</h3>
-
<h3>Preformatted Text</h3>
+
<p>Students can take a quiz when a section date is still open.</p>
-
<p>When editing a page, preformatted text appears in the Rich Content Editor.</p>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a course was assigned to a term that had ended but the section had no end date, students in the section were not able to take quizzes. However, students were able to participate in all other content areas. This behavior occurred because section dates with no end dates was not defined as a valid date restriction to participate in quizzes. Canvas code has been updated to allow no end date in a section to pass quiz eligibility restrictions.</em></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>
+
<h3>Quiz Grade Fields</h3>
 +
<p>Quiz grade fields support multiple characters for grade entry.</p>
 +
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor graded a quiz question and entered a quiz value with more than two characters, the additional characters were hidden behind the window, such as 5.75. This behavior occurred because the quiz grade field was not large enough to support more than two characters. Canvas code has been updated to increase the side of the quiz grade field.</em></p>
<h2>SpeedGrader</h2>
<h2>SpeedGrader</h2>
-
<h3>File Attachments and Comment Submissions</h3>
+
<h3>Student Resubmissions and Original Markups</h3>
-
<p>The attachment icon does not autosubmit comments in SpeedGrader.</p>
+
<p>When an assignment is resubmitted, all users are able to view the original Crocodoc submission.</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>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When a student resubmitted an assignment that was previously graded using Crocodoc, only the instructor could view the original assignment markup in SpeedGrader. This behavior occurred because of an error with Crocodoc permissions when multiple submissions existed. Canvas code has been updated to associate Crocodoc with each submission file and verify permissions for Crocodoc-enabled file types.</em></p>
-
<h3>Rubric Scrolling</h3>
+
<h3>Submission Status Sorting in Various Browsers</h3>
-
<p>The rubric window in SpeedGrader scrolls independently of the student submission.</p>
+
<p>Sorting in SpeedGrader is consistent in all browsers.</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>
+
<p><em><strong>Explanation</strong>: When an instructor sorted student submissions by submission date or submission status, the submissions were not sorting accurately in various browsers. Incorrect sorting by submission date occurred in all browsers except Chrome and Safari, and incorrect sorting by submission status occurred in all browsers except Firefox. This behavior occurred because SpeedGrader relies on a browser’s native sorting capabilities, which weren’t consistent. Canvas code has been updated with a Javascript sorting library to ensure stability across all browsers.</em></p>
-
<h3>SpeedGrader Auto Downloads</h3>
+
-
<p>SpeedGrader does not automatically download Photoshop files.</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>
+
-
<h3>Document Previewer and Peer-Reviewed Assignments</h3>
+
-
<p>The Canvas document previewer generates file previews for peer-review assignments.</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>
+
-
<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: 11/30/15</p>
+
<p dir="ltr">Beta release and notes: 12/21/15</p>
</li>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<li dir="ltr">
-
<p dir="ltr">Production release notes: 12/07/15</p>
+
<p dir="ltr">Production release notes: 12/28/15</p>
</li>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<li dir="ltr">
-
<p dir="ltr">Production release and documentation: 12/12/15</p>
+
<p dir="ltr">Production release and documentation: 01/09/16</p>
</li>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>

Revision as of 18:36, 8 December 2015

Production Release notes for Saturday, December 12, 2015.
In this production release (December 12), instructors can use new course tools to provide draft or provisional grades, export course content for offline viewing, confirm broken links in a course, and require anonymous grading. Students can view assignment descriptions when viewing calendar exports. Other small changes have been implemented to improve user workflow and interaction.

Contents

New Features

Assignments

Moderated Grading

When creating an assignment, instructors can choose to have multiple graders evaluate a student’s work and create draft or provisional grades before the grade is marked as final for the course. This feature can also be used to create a sampling of students for assignment review to ensure grading is consistent and allows secondary grade reviews. Students cannot view any comments or grades until the grade is published.

Moderated grading refers to two specific user roles: moderators and reviewers.

For each assignment that needs to be moderated, instructors must select the Allow a moderator to review multiple independent grades checkbox. Moderators can be any user in the course who has been granted the course-level Moderate Grades permission. Once an assignment has been published, moderators will see the Moderate button on the assignment page. Moderators can select checkboxes next to students whose assignments should be moderated, then click the Add Reviewer button to add the students to the moderation set and create quick-access links to SpeedGrader. The Moderate page only supports up to two provisional grades and one moderator grade. The moderator grade can be edited or overwritten by any user with the moderate grades permission. Several provisional grades can exist for a submission, but a submission does not need to have more than one reviewer. Reviewers interact with SpeedGrader as they would with any other Canvas assignment, including grading with rubrics and leaving comments. Once a reviewer grades the assignment, the grade appears in the Moderate page as a provisional grade in the appropriate reviewer column. Provisional grades are not included in the Gradebook and are only visible to moderators.

Notes:

Moderators can also view any previous reviews by opening SpeedGrader. Previous reviews display the grade and any comments, as well as any rubric results. The moderator can also use the Add Review link to add a second review (if one does not already exist), add a moderator review, or copy a previous review as the moderator review. Copying a review applies the grade as the final. The copy retains the grade and existing comments but allows the moderator to make additional comments or edits. When copying a grade as the final, SpeedGrader will generate a warning and override any existing grade in the Moderator column.To assign and post a final grade for the assignment, the moderator can click the radio button in any reviewer column (or click the Select button in SpeedGrader). Then click the Post button. The final grade is the grade that will appear in the Gradebook once the assignment grades are posted. Once a grade is published, the grade in the moderator page cannot be changed; all content is considered read-only for historical reference. However, grades can still be changed in the Gradebook.

Course Settings

ePub Exports

ePub Exports is used in conjunction with the ePub Exporting course-level feature option.

Instructors can allow students to download a course as an ePub file. This feature allows students to view course content when they are offline, such as files, pages, assignment details, discussion topics, or quiz instructions. Students cannot interact with the course in ePub material; course materials are displayed in a read-only state and any tasks such as submitting an assignment must be completed online. The default ePub organization is by module, meaning only items that students have access to view in each module will be included in the ePub file. However, instructors can set their course organization by content type (e.g. assignments, quizzes, etc.). This option can be changed by checking the ePub Export checkbox located in the Course Settings Course Details tab. Any user can generate ePub files in the current user interface by opening their User Settings page and clicking the Download Course Content button. (In the new Canvas user interface, click the Global Navigation Account link to access user settings.) Any available courses appear in the ePub content page and can be generated as needed using the Generate ePub link. Once the ePub is completed, the user can download the file or regenerate the ePub file. If a course includes a file that isn’t supported in an ePub, the page also includes a link to download associated files, which downloads the non-supported files in a zip file to be viewed in their native apps. Downloaded content can be viewed in any ePub reader, such as iBooks (Mac) or Azardi (Windows and Android). Other ePub applications can be used, but iBooks and Azardi are recommended as they provide the best support for embedded media. In ePub content, students cannot interact with course content directly such as completing an assignment, but they can view the assignment details, availability dates, and point values. In ePub content, students cannot interact with course content directly such as completing an assignment, but they can view the assignment details, availability dates, and point values.

Link Validator

Instructors can verify all the links throughout a course to ensure they are valid. This option is available in the Course Details tab in Course Settings. The course link validator searches through course content and returns invalid or unresponsive links. If links are found, Canvas provides the name of the content item with a link so instructors can correct the error. Note: Our engineers are correcting two known issues with false positive results: If the link has a redirect, and if the link needs authentication that the canvas server does not posses (but the user does). The link validator will follow redirects (up to a limit) before it creates the false positive of a broken link, as well as exclude links that trigger an unauthorized (403) error. More details about these fixes will be in a future release.

This feature was orginally suggessted by the Canvas Community

SpeedGrader

Anonymous Grading

Anonymous Grading is used in conjunction with the Anonymous Grading course-level feature option.

TWhen grading assignments, the SpeedGrader option to Hide Student Names can now be enabled for all courses in Canvas as a course-level feature option. When the Anonymous Grading feature option is enabled, the Hide Student Names checkbox is enabled by default. If at any time the feature option is changed to allowed or off, the SpeedGrader option will be retained and must be changed manually. As noted in the October 31 and November 21 releases, the admin logging tool shows whether an assignment was graded anonymously. Students can also view whether or not an assignment was graded anonymously in both the student Grades page and the sidebar of the assignment submission page.

Updated Features

Calendar

Calendar Export Assignment Descriptions

Calendar feeds include the description of an assignment, in addition to the title and time of the event.

Other Updates

Calendar

Scheduler Messages

When instructors use the Message Students Who feature in the Scheduler, messages that include over 100 recipients are automatically sent as individual messages.

Grades

Ungraded Quizzes and Student Grade Totals

When a student submits a quiz that has a manually graded component, the ungraded quiz does not factor into student’s grades view. Student grades are only updated when the manually graded question has been graded by the instructor.

This feature was originally suggested by the Canvas community.

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 annotation 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 click the screen to retain comments before navigating to another student.

Fixed Bugs

Accessibility

Analytics

Calendar

Dashboard

Course Setup Checklist

Discussions

Files

Assignments

Downloaded Submissions File Names

File names are not changed in submission downloads.

Explanation: When an instructor downloaded student submissions with First + Last as their display name (e.g: Jane Smith), the download added a dash between the last name and first name. This behavior occurred because of a change in the file pattern. Canvas code has been updated to change file download file names.

Long Assignment Submission File Names and Turnitin

Long file names wrap around Turnitin originality reports and submission download options.

Explanation: When an assignment submission includes a long file name, the file name overlapped Turnitin originality reports and submission download options. This behavior occurred because the SpeedGrader CSS didn’t include word wrapping for submission names. Canvas code has been updated to include supported word wrapping.

Authentication

Microsoft Office and Shibboleth

Students can access Canvas links placed in a Microsoft Office document if their institution is using Shibboleth for authentication.

Explanation: 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 and was originally reported to be updated in the October 31 release.

Conversations

Group Individual Messages

Users can send a group message and select the checkbox to send individual messages.

Explanation: When a user tried to send a message to members in a group but chose to send messages individually, the page failed and generated an error message. This behavior occurred because context type wasn’t being considered when sending the messages. Canvas code has been updated to support individual messages for groups.

Recorded Media and File Names

File names for recorded and uploaded videos/audio files display in Conversations.

Explanation: When a user composed a new message and included recorded/uploaded media, the file name for the media file was undefined or missing. This behavior occurred because the conversation was not detecting the media file. Canvas code has been updated to display media file names in Conversations.

Files

File Downloads and Text-Based Files

Downloading a link to a text-based file immediately downloads the file.

Explanation: When a user clicked the link to download a file, most text content-type files were not downloading and required the user to view the preview page first. This behavior occurred because of a consistency issue between browsers. Canvas code has been updated to add text as a valid download type.

Folder Names

Folder names can be no longer than 255 characters.

Explanation: When a user created a folder in a sub-folder with a name longer than 255 characters, the folder redirected to the parent folder. This behavior occurred because the Files API could not support folder names longer than 255 characters. Canvas code has been updated to limit folder names to 255 characters.

Files Move Menu

After searching for a file in the search field, users can move the file via the Move option.

Explanation: When a user searched for a file in the search field, clicked the Settings icon for the file, and selected the Move option for the file, the file was not able to be moved. This behavior occurred because the Move option was not supported from the search field. Canvas code has been updated to move files that have been located in the search field.

Folder File Previews

Folder previews are not supported in Canvas.

Explanation: When a user tried to preview a folder, the folder was showing the preview of a file with the same ID. If the file did not include an ID, the folder created a File Not Found error. This behavior occurred because Canvas was not completely supporting file previews for folders as originally updated in the July 18 release. Canvas code has been updated to disable previews for file folders. When a folder is selected, the files toolbar does not include a preview option.

Gradebook

Message Students Who and Large Enrollment Courses

Users in large enrollment courses can use the Message Students Who feature in the Gradebook.

Explanation: When an instructor used the Message Students Who feature in the Gradebook in a large course, not all messages were able to be sent and generated a browser timeout message. This behavior occurred because of a JavaScript error. Canvas code has been updated to prevent timeout errors in large courses.

Modules

Firefox and Long File Names

In Firefox, files with long continuous names added to a module in Firefox are truncated after 50 characters.

Explanation: When a user used the Firefox browser to add a file with a long continuous name to a module, the name was not displaying in the Modules page. This behavior occurred because of an error in Firefox when wrapping styles are not present in the style sheet. Canvas code has been updated to truncate long file names in Firefox.

Module Requirement Removal and Sequential Order

When all requirements have been removed from a module, users can view the module content in any order.

Explanation: When an instructor removed all requirements from a module, the Students must move through requirements in sequential order option was not disabled, causing viewing difficulties for public course enrollments. This behavior occurred because of the October 31 release, which changed the placement of the sequential order checkbox and the view of the checkbox state. Canvas code has been updated to disregard sequential completion if no requirements exist.

Notifications

Differentiated Assignments

Due dates in differentiated assignment are included in the assignment creation notification.

Explanation: When an instructor created a differentiated assignment, the due_at field was set to null in the Assignments API, which was the source of visible due dates in assignment creation notifications. The dates were included in the assignment but ignored in the notifications and were read as No Due Date when there was a due date. This behavior occurred because Canvas notifications weren’t correctly coded to differentiated between differentiated assignments and assignments assigned to everyone. Canvas code has been updated to apply due dates when an assignment includes differentiated due dates.

Pages

Page Display Limit

Users can view all pages in the Pages sidebar.

Explanation: When an instructor created or edited a page and tried to add an existing page from the wiki pages list in the Content Selector sidebar, the list stopped displaying pages after showing 150 titles. This behavior occurred because the page display limit was set to 150. Canvas code has been updated to not set a limit for the list of wiki pages. However, pages must be published to appear in the list.

Quizzes

Access Code Quiz Previews

Instructors can preview and submit a quiz that requires access codes.

Explanation: When an instructor attempted to preview and submit a quiz that required an access code, the page generated an internal error. This behavior occurred because the quiz was set to delete the access code once the quiz was submitted and wasn’t compatible with previews. Canvas code has been updated to show submission results after submitting the quiz preview. This fix was deployed to production on November 26. This change also resolved a concern where the access code was being stored in multiple sessions, allowing students multiple quiz attempts.

Images and Quiz File Name

When adding images in the Rich Content Editor, instructors receive a warning message about the alt-text image file name.

Explanation: When an instructor created or edited a quiz and used the Rich Content Editor to add an image, the quiz file name could be displayed to students, opening possibilities for cheating due to broken links or slow internet connections. This behavior occurred because alt text is part of Canvas images for accessibility use, and the alt text defaults to the file name. Canvas code has been updated to display a warning that the image alt text could be displayed to students. Instructors can change the name of the alt image when adding an image to quizzes. This warning does not apply to other content areas with the Rich Content Editor, such as Pages.

Quiz Regrade

After saving a changed question, Canvas applies the quiz regrade option.

Explanation: When an instructor edited the answer to a quiz question that supported quiz regrade (multiple choice, true/false, or multiple answers), the regrade option was not retained for the quiz question. This behavior occurred because the quiz only retained the quiz ID and not the question data. Canvas code has been updated to display the regrade option after updating the quiz.

Symbols and HTML Encoding

Symbols in quiz question answers are not HTML encoded.

Explanation: When a quiz was created or edited, saved, then edited again before saving the quiz, symbols in the question’s answers become HTML ended. This behavior occurred because the symbol was being treated as a web connection object. Canvas code has been updated to set timeouts for HTTP requests in quizzes.

Question Banks and Multiple Questions

Question Banks only display one version of each question.

Explanation: When an instructor set a quiz to pull from a question bank, pulling more than the available questions from the question bank was delivering each question twice, causing grading errors. This behavior occurred because the question bank duplicated questions if the number of questions that should be pulled exceeded the number of questions available in the question bank. Canvas code has been updated to create a warning when the number of questions exceeds the number of questions available in the question bank. Additionally, when a question is duplicated, the points possible field shows as twice the question value.

Course Sections with No End Date

Students can take a quiz when a section date is still open.

Explanation: When a course was assigned to a term that had ended but the section had no end date, students in the section were not able to take quizzes. However, students were able to participate in all other content areas. This behavior occurred because section dates with no end dates was not defined as a valid date restriction to participate in quizzes. Canvas code has been updated to allow no end date in a section to pass quiz eligibility restrictions.

Quiz Grade Fields

Quiz grade fields support multiple characters for grade entry.

Explanation: When an instructor graded a quiz question and entered a quiz value with more than two characters, the additional characters were hidden behind the window, such as 5.75. This behavior occurred because the quiz grade field was not large enough to support more than two characters. Canvas code has been updated to increase the side of the quiz grade field.

SpeedGrader

Student Resubmissions and Original Markups

When an assignment is resubmitted, all users are able to view the original Crocodoc submission.

Explanation: When a student resubmitted an assignment that was previously graded using Crocodoc, only the instructor could view the original assignment markup in SpeedGrader. This behavior occurred because of an error with Crocodoc permissions when multiple submissions existed. Canvas code has been updated to associate Crocodoc with each submission file and verify permissions for Crocodoc-enabled file types.

Submission Status Sorting in Various Browsers

Sorting in SpeedGrader is consistent in all browsers.

Explanation: When an instructor sorted student submissions by submission date or submission status, the submissions were not sorting accurately in various browsers. Incorrect sorting by submission date occurred in all browsers except Chrome and Safari, and incorrect sorting by submission status occurred in all browsers except Firefox. This behavior occurred because SpeedGrader relies on a browser’s native sorting capabilities, which weren’t consistent. Canvas code has been updated with a Javascript sorting library to ensure stability across all browsers.

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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