The most recent Canvas production update occurred Saturday, March 30, 2019. Here are the full release notes, but updated features include:
Group Membership Edit Message Clarification
The group membership edit message has been reworded for functionality clarity. This commit makes the warning message stronger about data loss that may occur when editing group memberships for existing group submissions. When an instructor has previously created a group assignment that has received group submissions, adding or removing any student within the group triggers a group membership warning. The previous message did not warn instructors about the loss of data within SpeedGrader that may occur.
Editing groups after assignment submissions have been made can cause significant inconsistencies in your gradebook. Please make sure that your groups are set up properly before you accept assignment submissions. If you have allowed self-sign up groups, please edit the group and turn the self-sign up option off before assignments are submitted to prevent students from changing groups after submissions have been made. For more information about editing group membership, visit the Canvas guide How do I move a student into a different group?
Content Link Error Notification
The Notifications page includes a new alert for instructors to be notified about broken links in a course. This change allows instructors to be notified about broken links via notifications when they are accessed by students in the course.
If instructors want to be notified of broken links in their course, instructors can visit their Notification Preferences page and select the Content Link Error notification. Instructors are notified with both the location and content of the link error. This notification is triggered in the following conditions:
- The link cannot be accessed by students because of a permission error
- The link is broken
- The link is unpublished
Deleted links are not included in this notification. If you use links in your course, and especially if you copy your course from semester to semester, it is recommended that you also validate the links in your course. For more information, visit the Canvas guide How do I validate links in a course?
SMS Message Content
Cellular (SMS) Notifications have been shortened to distribute one message about the related content. Additionally, content no longer includes direct URLs to access the content within the course. This change minimizes the number of text messages sent to a subscribed user. Users who prefer accessing the content directly should consider accessing the Canvas apps and enabling push notifications.
Calendar Scheduler Reservations Bug Fix
If allowed in a Scheduler event, students can now view other students who have signed up for the same time slot. This fixed the issue when a Scheduler event was created that allowed multiple students to sign up for the same time slot and allowed students to view the other students, and one time slot was reserved in the Scheduler by a student, another student who signed up for the same time slot could not view the other attendee. For more information, visit the Canvas guide How do I add a Scheduler appointment group in a course calendar?
For more information, browse the Canvas Release Notes to find updated features or bug fixes that apply to you based on your Canvas usage. If you have any questions about the changes or about how to use Canvas effectively, IT Academic Technology Services staff is always available at the Faculty Commons (116 Pearson Hall) or you can send your questions to canvas-info@udel.edu.
