Canvas regularly releases updates to their system on the third Saturday of each month and admins update the Canvas@UD environment.  Canvas@UD administrators may not enable some updates until the timing is better to avoid confusion during a semester.  There are several new features that are now available in your spring courses.

Discussion Checkpoints enabled

Based on community feedback, Canvas disabled the Discussion Checkpoints feature until further notice.  Please review the Canvas@UD January 18 release notes for more information and watch for announcements and updates.  We apologize for the inconvenience.  

Commonly referred to as “multiple discussion due dates”, this was delayed by Canvas for the November production release.  They are not required, but their availability will change the discussion settings and grading, and their use may update the language and workflow presentation for student replies.  Please see the Canvas@UD blog post, Canvas Discussion Checkpoints are coming!    Please note, even if you do not use checkpoints with your graded discussions, the SpeedGrader interface will appear differently.  Navigate through student discussion replies  using the Next and Previous buttons in the right sidebar.  Student replies are highlighted in blue and no longer filtered in the preview pane.   When you move to the next student, the preview pane will move to the student’s first reply. 

New course feature options available

Canvas is continually creating new features to improve your experience.  Generally, the majority of improvements will be made available as part of our regular release cycle, but some are available for instructors to use on an opt-in basis when they are first introduced and Canvas is still working on improving their functionality or their use may change your workflow for common activities.  After a specified period of time, these feature options may become standard features in Canvas.  Features options available to enable in your course can be found in Settings under the Feature Options tab.

After a specified period of time, some feature previews may become standard features in Canvas.  The following feature previews are now available in our your course:

• Discussion Summary (Feature Preview) uses a Generative AI model to give instructors summaries of the main points, questions, and ideas in a discussion thread.  For more information, please see the Canvas@UD blog post, Discussion Summaries Course Feature Option Available.
• Rubrics Enhancements (Feature Preview) focuses on improving usability, flexibility, and the overall user experience, making rubric creation and management more intuitive and powerful.  For more information, please see the Canvas@UD blog post, Rubrics Enhancements Course Feature Option Available.
• Preserve Group Set during Course Copy creates group sets for associated group assignments when importing content from another course.  Previously, copied group assignments were automatically defaulted to the Project Groups group set if no group set match was found.  Now the group set structure will be created, but instructors are still responsible for assigning students in groups.  Canvas@UD administrators will default this option to enabled starting with 25F, but until then, this option must be enabled before content is copied.

Feature options are controlled at a course-level and most are not enabled by default.  Users who opt in to a feature preview may join the associated the Community user group to help improve the feature through direct feedback.  Once enabled, some feature previews do not have backward compatibility and cannot be cleanly disabled once once used.   Your choice to enable may depend your benefit from enabling the feature preview with the understanding your course may receive feature preview updates as soon as they are released.

For more information about feature options in your Canvas course, please see the Canvas@UD resource, Canvas Course Feature Options.

New Quizzes Updates

• In addition to the item analysis report, a new student analysis report is available similar to the reports available in Classic Quizzes. Instructors can view this report by exporting the CSV file which includes a range of data such as:
  • Time Elapsed
  • Submission Attempts
  • Item Type
  • Student Response
  • Points Earned
  • Number of Correct
  • Number of Incorrect
  • No Response
  • Overall Score
• Instructors can migrate Classic Quiz question banks to New Quiz item banks by using the Convert content to New Quizzes checkbox.  *Please note, this capability has been delayed by Canvas from the January 18 release to the February 15 release.
• The account feature option “New Quizzes migration during course import/copy” has been enabled be default in all courses.  This feature was previously labeled “Import existing quizzes as New Quizzes” on the Import Course Content tool.  This change was needed to allow the above-mentioned migration of question banks to item banks and to support the import of New Quizzes using a Canvas cartridge file.  There is still no deadline to migrate to New Quizzes at this time, but this change completes Phase 2 of the Canvas@UD New Quizzes Transition Plan.

 

External Tools Updates

• Poll Everywhere ‘s new feature, Course Management, is now available for all presenters.  Starting January 6, presenters who have synced at least one course via the LTI integration see a banner to opt in when navigating to a  course in Poll Everywhere.  Try out the experience throughout the spring semester with the flexibility to return to the existing experience if needed.  Looking ahead, Course Management will be fully enabled for all presenters in the summer of 2025, and the banner will be removed.  For more information, please review the Poll Everywhere support article, Getting Started with Course Management. 

• Starting in January, Perusall has several new features available such as those below.
  • Reusable scoring templates, rubrics, and quizzes
  • Peer review fishbowl assignments
  • Default assignment instructions and Reading, watching, or listening to the end engagement
  • Streamlined course setup and flexible TA permissions

For highlights, please review their New Features January 2025 highlight video.

• UD Library, Museums, and Press has launched Pressbooks, a new user-friendly Open Educational Resources (OER) content publishing system designed to help faculty create their own dynamic, high-quality learning materials.   Content may be imported into your Canvas course using a common cartridge file.   For more information, please see the library webpage, Pressbooks Resources.