Notable changes to Canvas @ Yale environment, last updated 2/16/2025.
Also check out Canvas Updates for Fall 2025 and Canvas Updates for Summer 2026.
Table of Contents
This article will address the following information:
Canvas Updates
- When the YouTube Content overlay feature option is enabled, an overlay message displays in Canvas for YouTube videos not hosted in Canvas Studio to alert viewers that ads may appear. The message displays in the browser before the video plays.
- Note: Instructure is not associated with these ads; they are managed by YouTube.
- In Gradebook Settings, a View Hidden Grades indicator option is available. When enabled, instructors see an icon marking any grades that have not yet been posted to students.
- In SpeedGrader, checkboxes are added to sections, allowing instructors to filter submissions by multiple sections at once.
- Files are unpublished through the Unpublish Module and All Items feature when in a simple published state with no other restrictions.
- Users can sort feature options by feature, status or state making it easier for users to quickly find and manage feature options by allowing them to sort by feature name, status, or state, improving efficiency and reducing time spent navigating long lists.
- In the Gradebook, instructors can manage the visibility of grades and feedback for individual assignments. By default, scores and comments are released together, but instructors can schedule them to release separately.
- Set the release date at the individual assignment level in the Grades section of the course.
- When the release schedules are separated, comments must be released prior to grades.
- Preserving scheduled feedback release dates during course copy/import is not currently supported.
- If an instructor manually releases grades before the scheduled release time, the manual release takes precedence and the scheduled release is canceled.
- A View status for colorblindness option is added to Gradebook Settings. When enabled, a symbol displays next to each status in the Gradebook to provide an additional visual indicator.
- In New Quizzes Survey Reports, instructors can click the response count to view a list of students who selected a specific answer. For anonymous surveys, student identities are masked as Student 1, Student 2, and so on to ensure privacy.
- Instructors can export survey responses to a CSV file.
- Included Data: The file includes respondent name for non-anonymous surveys, submission timestamp, question text, and all answers for every question type.
- Anonymity Handling: For anonymous surveys, student name and ID are excluded or marked as Anonymous to protect privacy.
New Quizzes Now Supports Surveys
New Quizzes supports Survey-type quizzes, allowing instructors to collect anonymous or non-anonymous feedback, with graded or ungraded options. Instructors can view survey data in the Reports tab. Surveys support the following question types:
- Multiple Choice
- Multiple Answer
- True/False
- Fill in the Blank
- Essay
- File Upload
Canvas @ Yale: AI Features
We are pleased to announce that we have enabled 3 native Canvas AI features after review and approval by Yale's Data Governance Committee. The AI features are:
- IgniteAI Search - a search tool within a Canvas course site to make finding course materials easier
- Discussion Summaries - a tool that allows instructors to generate a discussion summary of highlights, key questions, and more
- Discussion / Announcement Translations - a function that allows a user to translate the text of a course discussion or announcement into one of the supported languages
For more information about these now available AI Features, please explore our new Canvas @ Yale AI Features section in our help documentation.
Canvas @ Yale Email Support Update
Emailing [email protected] will now go directly to the Educational & Engagement Technology team in the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning.
Additionally, you can still email [email protected] to request Canvas or broader teaching / learning support.
With this change you can expect a response to your email during our normal working hours of Monday - Friday, between 8:30 AM and 5 PM. For support outside our normal hours, please reach out to the ITS Help Desk.
External Tool Updates
Qualtrics LTI Tool Removal
The Qualtrics LTI, which supports the direct integration, distribution, and collection of Qualtrics Surveys in a Canvas course site, will be removed from all Yale Canvas instances on May 19, 2026. For more information, please reference our news article on this topic.
LinkedIn Learning Tool Removal
Due to low adoption, the LinkedIn Learning integration has been removed from our Canvas @ Yale instance. Direct URLs to LinkedIn Learning content can still be used to share content with students.