The most recent Canvas production update occurred on Saturday, August 17, 2019. Here are the full release notes. This is the first update of the Canvas production environment on its new monthly update schedule. Production updates will now occur on third Saturday of each month, and the next planned update is Saturday, September 21, 2019. Updates in the current release include:
Conferences – New Features
Breakout Rooms: Canvas Conferences (BigBlueButton) supports breakout rooms, which allow you to place students into groups for team collaboration during a conference. Breakout rooms can be created at any time during the conference. A minimum of two breakout rooms are required, and you can create up to 8 rooms. Breakout rooms can either be assigned manually or randomly, or attendees can choose which breakout room to join.
Once created, breakout rooms are displayed as their own tab for you or another moderator to manage and join breakout rooms.
Once a participant has joined a breakout room, the participant cannot be assigned or join another breakout room. Participants join a room in a separate tab in the browser which displays the remaining time for the breakout session at the top of the window. Once the breakout room time has concluded, the tab will close and return the participant to the main conference automatically.
For more help with Breakout Rooms, consult BigBlueButton’s Breakout Room Tutorial video, Overview for Moderator/Presenters (with Breakout Rooms) Tutorial video, or the Canvas help guide, How do I use the Conferences interface as a moderator or presenter?
Closed Captions: Canvas Conferences (BigBlueButton) supports live closed captioning, which allows a stenographer join a conference as an observer and provide live captioning to attendees.
Accessibility: Canvas Conferences (BigBlueButton) is WCAG 2.0 AA Accessible, with some exceptions. For additional information, please see the BigBlueButton Accessibility Page.
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.
