May 2024 Canvas Deploy Notes

Created by Maria Shimel
Aug 13, 2024
5 min read

WHAT IS THIS? This Blog is made up of curated notes taken from the official Canvas Deploy Notes; the goal is to highlight upcoming changes and improvements to Canvas at Boise State University.

  • To do a deeper dive on any of these topics, please follow the provided link to the full list of Canvas Deploy Notes.

  • Boise State University does not subscribe to all functionalities that might be included in the Canvas Deploy Notes official webpage. If you have questions about the Boise State Canvas instance, please email LTS@boisestate.edu.

WHO IS THE AUDIENCE? Boise State Faculty and Staff.

  • Occasionally some small changes will impact Students in Canvas, these changes should be communicated by Faculty to their impacted Students.

  • Large changes in the user interface will be communicated to all Boise State Users in advance.

WHY SHOULD I READ THIS? This Blog provides a running list of changes/improvements that have been made in Canvas. Users who work on a rotating contractual basis could find the listed updates helpful in “catching up” with any changes in Canvas during their time away from teaching.

WHEN WILL THE NEXT BLOG BE RELEASED? LTS plans to update this Blog on a monthly basis.

ONGOING - Boise State will turn on this tool at the beginning of the SU24 term

Canvas Deploy Notes (2024-05-08)

Gradebook

  • TOOL: Message Students Who Have Submitted Updates

  • IMPACTED: Instructor

  • UPGRADED: In the Gradebook, the Message Students Who feature is enhanced to allow instructors to message students who have submitted an assignment. Options include messaging all students who have submitted, students with graded submissions, and students with ungraded submissions. These updates help instructors provide positive reinforcement to students who have submitted their work and streamline the process of excluding excused students from messages about missing assignments, making the workflow quicker and more efficient.

screenshot showing the many different mailing options for picking what students to email

  • TOOL: Message Students Who Have Not Submitted Updates

  • IMPACTED: Instructor

  • UPGRADE: For students who have not submitted, the Message Students Who feature in the Gradebook is updated to include a checkbox allowing instructors to exclude excused students from the message. These updates help instructors streamline the process of excluding excused students from messages about missing assignments, making the workflow quicker and more efficient.

email showing the filter for selecting the term Students who haven't submitted yet

Canvas Release Notes (2024-05-18)

Rich Content Editor

  • TOOL: Find and Replace Plugin

  • IMPACTED: All Users

  • UPGRADE: In the Rich Content Editor, a Find and Replace plugin is available. This update allows for efficient data extraction, transformation, and manipulation.

New Quizzes

  • TOOL: Export New Quizzes Using Common Cartridge

  • IMPACTED: Instructor

  • CHANGED: When Exporting Course Content, New Quizzes are included in Common Cartridge exports and Course Content export files as XML file type allowing the import of existing quizzes to New Quizzes. This update enhances efficiency by enabling instructors to export New Quizzes in Course Exports.

Canvas Deploy Notes (2024-05-22)

Course Settings

  • TOOL: Removal of More Options Link

  • IMPACTED: Instructor

  • CHANGE: In Course Settings, the More Options link is removed allowing the additional options remain displayed on the page. This update improves the user experience by reducing steps needed to access additional course setting options.

People

  • TOOL: Display Inactive Sections

  • IMPACTED: Instructor

  • UPGRADE: When a student's enrollment is deactivated, an inactive label displays next to each inactive section on the People page and in the user context card. This update allows instructors to easily determine which section enrollments are inactive for a student.

Sections

  • TOOL: Add a New Section Relocation

  • IMPACTED: Instructor

  • CHANGE: In the Sections tab of course settings, the Add a New Section field is relocated above the list of sections. Additionally, new sections are added to the top of the list, previously they were added at the bottom. This update enhances the accessibility of the Add a New Section field in courses with numerous sections.

  • TOOL: Course Dates, Term Dates and Section Dates Display

  • IMPACTED: Instructor

  • CHANGE: In the Course Section tab, the course dates, term dates and section dates display. This update allows instructors to quickly view all important dates related to a course.

SpeedGrader

TOOL: Randomize Student Sort by List

IMPACTED: Instructor

UPGRADE: In SpeedGrader Settings, instructors can randomize the order of students. This update improves prevention of grading fatigue and biases when grading students. In the SpeedGrader Settings, in the Sort student list field, select the randomize students option. When the randomized students option is selected, the preference is saved as the default in the browser for the course. When logging in on another device, instructors must select the sort by options again.