A Canvas production update will occur on Saturday, June 19, 2021. Check out the full release notes. Production updates occur on third Saturday of each month, and the next planned update is Saturday, July 17, 2021. Updates in the current release include:
SpeedGrader Comment Library
Instructors can now add and save comments for reuse within SpeedGrader across multiple students and assignments. When instructors and other graders access SpeedGrader, the assignment comments area includes a feedback icon that opens the Comment Library. Comments can be entered in the text field and added to the comment library to add to student submissions.
Comments that you wish to re-use should be added to the Comment Library first because comments that are added directly to assignment comments cannot be transferred to the library. Comments can be deleted from the library at any time. But if a comment needs to be edited, the comment must to be copied, edited and added as a new comment to the library. Please note that Canvas engineers are working to add editing capability, and we will update you when it is available.
To add a comment from the library to an assignment, click feedback icon to open the library and click the comment you wish to add. The library will close and the comment will display in SpeedGrader.
You may edit the comment in the assignment, but changes you make will not be stored to the library. You must still click on the Submit button to save the comment to the assignment.
Comments can be deleted from the library at any time. If a comment needs to be edited, the comment must be copied, edited, and added as a new comment to the library. Comments are saved per individual user, so comments saved by a user in one course will also display when the user is viewing SpeedGrader in another course. Your comment library is not available to others in the course with grading capability.
New Quizzes – Item Bank Management
If you have enabled New Quizzes in your Canvas course and are using item banks, you understand that they are currently associated with a user. You can share an item bank with another user, but doing so provides the user with editing privileges. In this update, item bank sharing supports a new View permission, which can be given to a user to provide access to the bank as read-only. The user who shares an item bank can continue to specify editing access for other users. Permissions are selected at the time that an item bank is shared. Additionally, item banks can be shared with a course to provide access to other Teachers and/or TAs in your course to use when creating quizzes.
For those that use New Quizzes and item banks, a new course navigation menu item “Item Banks” appears to provide direct access to item banks.
Reminder: Canvas has updated its timeline for New Quizzes. New Quizzes will be enforced in July 2022. Classic Quizzes will be removed from the interface in December 2022. For more information, please see New Quizzes Timeline Overview.
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 IT-ATS Welcome Bar or you can send your questions to canvas-info@udel.edu.
