Notable changes to the Canvas @ Yale environment, last updated 08/09/2021.
Also check out Canvas Updates for Summer 2021
Table of Contents
This article will address the following information:
Canvas Updates
Canvas's core functionality is continuously updated throughout the year. Here are some of the more notable changes you should be aware of.
- Shopper role rebranded as Visitor role
- Modifying the Course Dates in your Canvas site and Restricting access to your course before/after the course opens
- Canvas Online Submission Assignments - WebCam Submissions (student guide)
- Reassign a student submission (only for online submission assignments with due dates and remaining attempts)
- Rich Content Editor - Pretty HTML Editor
- SpeedGrader Comment Library - Ability to save and reuse comments in the SpeedGrader grading panel
- Student Annotation Assignments - Assignment where students add annotations to a file uploaded by the instructor (student annotations are not available to other students). See also the student guide on How do I annotate a file as an assignment submission in Canvas?
- Regular Canvas Maintenance Windows - Beginning July 15th, Instructure will implement regular maintenance windows that take place somewhere between 12:05 am - 4:05 am ET on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month as needed (some may not be required). Although these windows are typically scheduled for 2 hours, maintenance usually lasts only a few minutes.
Yale Student COVID Training Requirements - NEW PROCESS FOR STUDENTS
For Fall 2021, students returning to campus will need to fill out a compact similar to what was required for Fall 2020, Spring 2021, and Summer 2021. For the fall 2021 students there will only be one COVID training site and students will need to manually join the course themselves. Below are the steps and process for students:
NOTE: The Student COVID Training for Fall will open on August 10, 2021 at 8:00am.
- Students will need go to the Student COVID Training: FA21 Enrollment Site
- If not already logged into Canvas, the student will be prompted to log into Canvas (click the NetID button and log in with their Yale NetID and Password)
- On the enrollment page, click the Enroll in Course button.
- Students will get a confirmation screen showing that they are now enrolled in the course and at that point they may click the Go to the Course button to view the Student COVID Training course.
- Once in the course, students will need to click on and review the assignment "Fall 2021 Student Return to Campus COVID-19 Training." You must watch the entire training and complete the final attestation question to receive credit for completing the training.
Yale College Early Registration Timeline & Process
For Fall 2021, Yale College students will have an early registration process that begins on April 1, 2021. The dates listed below are tentative and are subject to change. For official information about the updated process, please visit the Registration Website and be sure to check out the special page for Registration Upcoming Dates/Deadlines.
| March 29 | Fall 21 Yale College Courses ONLY Created in Canvas for instructors to access |
| April 1 - May 28 | Early Registration Period Yale College Students |
| April 1 | Fall 21 Courses appear in Yale Course Search for students to view |
| April 5 | Published Canvas course syllabi appear in Yale Course Search |
| May 3 | Student registration worksheets open / Students appear in the People Tool of their courses |
| June / July | Fall 2021 courses to be created in Canvas for Graduate School and Professional Schools |
| July 6 | Instructors can submit Course Reserves requests through their Canvas course sites |
| August 2 | Canvas course sites will become available to registered Students and Visitors (unless the instructor has already allowed or restricted access) |
| August 16 | Preference Selection opens for new Yale College students |
| August 20 | Preference Selection closes for new Yale College students |
| August 30 | Early registration opens for new Yale College students / Preference selection for discussion & lab sections open for all Yale College students |
| September 1 | Classes begin / Add/Drop period begins for Yale College |
| September 2 | Preference Selection for discussion & lab sections closes for Yale College students |
| September 3 | Open enrollment for remaining discussion & lab section seats for Yale College students |
| September 15 | Add/Drop period ends for Yale College |
Student Access to Canvas Courses During Early Registration
Please note that students who register for your course during the early registration open enrollment will appear in your Canvas course site's People tool after May 3rd. However, by default, registered students WILL NOT have access to Canvas course content and activities until New Student Registration opens in August. If you want to give your enrolled students early access to your content and activities before then, please check out the help article on How do I change the start and end dates for a course?
Related Student Help Article: FALL 2021 EARLY REGISTRATION: Why don't I see my Fall 2021 courses when I log into Canvas?
FAS Expanded Course Description Template
To provide students additional information about your course during the open enrollment period, an Expanded Course Description template was created for Fall 2020 and will again be available in all Fall 2021 FAS courses (Yale College and GSAS courses in Canvas).
As part of the template, you also have the option to share a Course Welcome Video. A Course Welcome Video provides students an opportunity to hear from you about the class.
Detailed Canvas Course Titles
Starting in Summer 2021, the Canvas course titles have been updated to be more accurate and readable by eliminating truncated words and abbreviations, adding in proper spacing, and removing un-rendered HTML code. This change should not impact courses in any other way.
Course titles will continue to be formatted as normal with the Primary Course Code, Number, Section and Term followed by the expanded Course Title.
Example: SAMP 100 01 (FA21): Full Detailed Title
New and Updated External Applications & Integration
The Poorvu Center is please to announce the following external applications and external application integration are now available to all academic courses through Canvas. For a complete list of external applications, please see the following article.
| External Application Name | Description |
|---|---|
| ANTICIPATED: ATI Testing | ATI Testing is a platform used for proctoring Medical and Nursing School exams. |
|
NEW: Qualtrics LTI |
Qualtrics is a robust survey tool that can be used for both standard and anonymized surveys. Yale University's existing survey instance will be integrated with Canvas to allow for the creation of surveys that can be offered through Canvas and, if desired, track who has completed the survey without knowing individual users' results. |
| NEW: Sapling Learning | A product from the Macmillian Learning suite, Sapling Learning is an online homework and instruction tool that is integrated in Canvas but licensed by individual students. The integration allows instructors to assign work to students through Canvas. |
| CONTINUING: Ed Discussions | Ed Discussion is a threaded discussion platform. It supports document and image upload, math equations, runnable code, embedded video, and image annotation. Posts can be private or anonymous, and student responses can be ‘endorsed’ by instructors. Learn more about Ed Discussions and Canvas. |
| CONTINUING: Hypothesis | Hypothesis is a collaborative annotation tool that allows students to comment on, discuss, and take notes on digital materials. Hypothesis works on any online page, PDF or EPUB file - through the Canvas integration, Hypothesis can be incorporated in your course as a graded assignment or as an ungraded item in a Module. Learn more about Hypothesis and Canvas. |
| CONTINUING: Lingco (for Language Exams) | Lingco is an adaptive language learning and assessment tool. Lingco provides assessment options for languages that includes powerful AI grading features which can use voice recognition for auto-scoring. Lingco will be piloted with a small group of language placement exams and other specific language-based activities. Language instructors can contact the Center for Language study for details. |
|
CONTINUING: Playposit |
PlayPosit aims to increase learner engagement through interactive videos. You can integrate PlayPosit into your courses through the Assignments tool, or the Modules tool in Canvas. Playposit can leverage videos hosted in Panopto, YouTube, or other hosting platforms. |
The following improvements have been in place for a while, but are worth mentioning as these tools have seen an increase in user adoption since their implementation. Two of our existing external applications through integration with Panopto (Media Library) have lead to increase utility and function for those tools that utilize or produce video by providing a common repository for those assets when used in teaching.
| External Application Integration | Description |
|---|---|
| Playposit & Panopto (Media Library) | Videos stored in a courses Media Library folder within Yale's instance of Panopto are available through Playposit. |
| Zoom & Panopto (Media Library) | When scheduling meetings through the Canvas / Zoom integration, you can now automatically store the recording of that meeting to the Media Library folder for the course you are scheduling from. This is only available for the Zoom integration, and not the Zoom HIPPA integration as access to Zoom cloud recording is required. |
Useful Dates and Information
Mid-Semester Feedback Dates:
Mid-Semester Feedback is a tool that is available for instructors to collect feedback in the middle of the term. The tool is released for a specific pre-defined time (see below) in all participating schools. You can read more about the Mid-Semester Feedback tool in our help article for instructors and our help article for students.
NOTE: Not all professional schools utilize the Mid-Semester Feedback Tool. If your course does not have the Mid-Semester Feedback Tool, please contact your local school support team for your school's preferred feedback collection mechanism.
|
Instructor Open (instructors can begin creating/editing questions) |
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 @ 12:00pm |
|
Question Deadline (instructors must have survey finalized) |
Sunday, October 3, 2021 @ 11:59pm |
|
Feedback Opens (student may begin submitting feedback) |
Monday, October 4, 2021 @ 9:00am |
|
Feedback Closed (students cannot submit after this date) |
Monday, October 18, 2021 @ 10:00pm |
|
Submissions Purged (all submissions for the semester will be deleted - instructors should download submissions they want to keep prior to this date) |
Wednesday, August 31, 2022 @ 11:59pm |