Notable changes to Canvas @ Yale environment, last updated 05/13/2024.
Also check out Canvas Updates for Spring 2024 and Canvas Updates for Fall 2024
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.
- When creating or editing an event, users can manually input event times. Additionally, the time increments in the drop-down menu are changed to 15 minute increments.
- In the Item Analysis Report of New Quizzes, the Answer Frequency Summary charts display the total number of correct responses, incorrect responses, and no responses for the following question types:
- Categorization
- Matching
- Ordering
- Hot Spot
- Formula
- In Modules, instructors have the option to unpublish a module only. This option is available in the Publish All drop-down menu and individual module drop-down menus.
- In New Quizzes, the CSV format of the Quiz and Item Analysis report can be downloaded, encompassing all metrics and Answer Frequency Summary tables accessible through the User Interface.
- The Rich Content Editor font options are updated to only include web-safe fonts available on all systems. See deploy notes for list of fonts.
- In the Gradebook, instructors can choose multiple filter options for each filter type.
- Additional information on Fill in the Blank question types in New Quizzes has been added to the Item Analysis report for instructors to evaluate student responses and provide appropriate intervention.
- The following data is added to the Item Analysis report: Essay and File Upload- Score distribution chart, CSV support; Numeric-Answer Frequency Summary, Aggregation and CSV support
- On the New Quizzes Moderate page, a configure icon is added allowing instructors to switch between percentages and raw points in the score display column.
- In New Quizzes the Moderation page View Log includes the question position of the answered question.
- In the Gradebook, the Message Students Who feature is enhanced to allow instructors to message students who have submitted an assignment.
- For students who have not submitted, the Message Students Who feature in the Gradebook is updated to include a checkbox allowing instructors to exclude excused students from the message.
- In the Rich Content Editor, a Find and Replace plugin is available, which allows for efficient data extraction, transformation, and manipulation.
Canvas Discussion/Announcement Redesign
The interface for Canvas Discussions and Canvas Announcements is updating with their Discussion/Announcements Redesign. Learn more about this redesign from Instructure's community page for the update. We will be enabling this update on May 22, ahead of Instructure’s planned release for early July, 2024.
The redesign has feature parity with the "classic" Discussions and Announcements, though there is additional functionality being added:
- Discussion and announcement threads display a label for users with TA roles and Teacher (Instructor) roles. This feature helps students more quickly identify users with instructor-based roles in the course.
- When a reply includes additional replies, the number of replies is displayed, as well as the number of unread replies (specific to the user viewing the reply). Users can choose to view these replies inline or in a split view.
- Users can mention other users in discussion replies by using the "@" symbol.
- Users can quote other replies as part of their discussion reply.
- Within individual discussions, replies can be reported by students and teachers. Teachers can choose to enable reporting in the Discussions Settings menu.
- Discussions allow teachers to create anonymous discussions.
Canvas External Application Updates
Canvas @ Yale has some changes to our external applications available for faculty and student use.
PlayPosit End of Life
After careful consideration and evaluation of our educational technology tools, we have decided not to renew our PlayPosit license.
Users will have access and can continue using PlayPosit through the end of the Spring 2024 term (May 31st), but PlayPosit will no longer be available for access or use starting Summer 2024.
The decision to not renew the PlayPosit license was made after a thorough assessment of our current and future educational technology needs. We understand that this tool has been valuable in various aspects of teaching. We recommend exploring alternative solutions to fill the gap left by PlayPosit including VoiceThread, Panopto, and Perusall.
Blackboard Ally End of Life - Panorama Replacement
Blackboard Ally, the accessibility checker and tool for document remediation in Canvas, is being depreciated in mid-May (final date yet to be determined). Blackboard Ally will be replaced with Panorama, which has analogous functionality with Ally in terms of identifying and reporting accessibility issues, tools to facilitate document remediation, and access to generate alternative formats for students and faculty. Additional documentation and resources regarding Panorama will be made available closer to the date of tool installation / switching. Any questions regarding Blackboard Ally’s depreciation and Panorama’s replacement can be sent to [email protected].
Pilot Conclusion: FeedbackFruits
FeedbackFruits will conclude its year-long pilot at the end of the Spring 2024 semester, at which point access to the entire FeedbackFruits tool suite will end.
Yale has currently licensed the Peer Review and Group Member Evaluation tools in the FeedbackFruits tool suite, which will be available to all official academic course sites in Canvas. Additional FeedbackFruits tools may be added to Yale's license at the conclusion of the Spring 2024 pilot.
Thank you to all of our faculty, students, and staff who have participated in the FeedbackFruits pilot and provided invaluable feedback in the tools functionality.
“New VoiceThread” Interface
VoiceThread is updating to their "New VoiceThread" interface, which includes many improvements and expansion of functionality. We will be enabling this new interface on May 22 (ahead of VoiceThread’s planned enforcement of this change on June 30, 2024). Expanded functionality includes:
- New version is fully accessible, so VT Universal is no longer necessary
- Increased visibility for closed captions
- Bulk comment management options
- Add audio descriptions of slides
- One conversation view
- Zooming and panning while commenting
- Media sources included in the slide upload options inside an open VoiceThread
- Ability to jump to another slide while commenting without having to flip through them sequentially