Canvas Release Notes – 2/17/2018

Posted on cdominguezPosted in New Feature, New Tool, Updates

In this production release (February 17), in courses, new assignments no longer include an option to display grades via GPA scale, and individually graded group assignments include clarified options for sending student and instructor comments. The New Gradebook allows instructors to enter grades without having to verify the display grade originally set for the assignment. And the People page includes a field to record the date a student last attended a course.

The Conversations Inbox and Compose Message windows display a new autocomplete menu to select courses and groups. Small interface changes have been made in the New Scheduler appointment group editing window, Modules page, and the Terms of Use pages. And various changes have been made to platform and integration tools including APIs, LTI tool visibility, and SAML authentication.

Full production release notes also include fixed bugs.

Below is a screencast for this week’s release notes. For the full version of this article, please visit: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-14130

 

 
 

Updated Features

Assignments

GPA Scale Grading Type Removal

In an assignment, GPA Scale is no longer included as a grade display option in the Canvas interface. This change supports upcoming grading scheme enhancements in the New Gradebook. GPA Scale assignments can still be created through the Assignments API, though the existing GPA Scale

parameter has been deprecated.

 

Any existing assignments set to a GPA scale will not be affected with any grade calculations.

 

GPA scale assignments are not included as an option in the Canvas interface

 

Individually Graded Group Assignment Comment Options

When an instructor creates a group assignment with individual grading, the group assignment includes specified options that clarify how to send submission comments. This change helps clarify comment distribution in group assignments with individual grading. Previously if a student didn’t select the option to send the comment to the entire group, instructors were not able to view the comments in SpeedGrader.

 

For individually graded group submissions, students and instructors can view improved commenting options

 

For student roles, this change applies to the assignment submission page and the submission details page sidebar. Students can choose whether they want to send a comment to the instructor only or to the whole group.

 

For instructor roles, this change applies to the submission details page sidebar, the Gradebook comment window, and the SpeedGrader sidebar. Instructors can choose whether they want to send a comment to the student only or to the whole group.

 

Note: Comments are not currently supported in the New Gradebook.

 

release-notes-feature-idea-icon.png Canvas Community contributions: Allow Instructors to See Comments Not Sent to Whole Group Submission comments from Group assignments 

 

Conversations

Autocomplete Courses Menu

The Conversations Courses Menu has been updated as an autocomplete menu. This change improves accessibility for all users. This menu change is also located within the Compose Message window.

 

Users can either scroll to locate a course or group, or they can start to type the name of the course or group in the text field and click the full name when it appears.

 

Conversations Courses menu has been updated as an autocomplete menu to improve accessibility

 

Courses

Course Home Page Student View Button

The Course Home Page includes a Student View button. This change allows instructors to access student view without having to open Course Settings.

 

The Student View button can be accessed from the Course Home Page

 

Source Code-16.png Canvas open source contributions: Add a button to enter student view to the course home page 

 

Global Announcements

Trust Account Domain Restriction

Admins in a trust relationship can create global announcements and limit the announcement to a specific domain, which restricts the announcement from being viewed when a user logs in to a different domain.

 

Admins in trust accounts can specify if a global announcement should be for a specific domain

 

New Gradebook

Entered Grades Calculation Value

Instructors can enter grades in the New Gradebook in any format without having to confirm the grade display originally set for the assignment.

 

When the Enter Grades option is set to points, grades can be entered as points or percentages. The entered grade is converted into points and displayed appropriately. Percentage entries are calculated as percentages but displayed as the appropriate point value. For instance, for a 25-point assignment, entering 80% in a Gradebook cell or in the Grade Detail Tray calculates to 20 points and displays the grade as the point value.

 

New Gradebook Enter Grades as Point Value

 

When the Enter Grades option is set to a percentage, only percentage values are supported. Entries without a percent symbol are always calculated as a percentage, which helps graders save time by not having to always enter the percent symbol. For instance, for a 25-point assignment, entering 100% in a Gradebook cell or in the Grade Detail Tray calculates as 100%. However, entering 20 as a point value calculates as 20%. Submissions that should be graded as a point value or grading scheme should never be set with the Enter Grades option as a percentage, as the Gradebook will always display the grade as a percentage.

 

New Gradebook Enter Grades as Percentage

 

When an assignment includes the grading scheme option, and the Enter Grades option is set to a grading scheme, grades can be entered as the grading scheme, points, or a percentage. Grading schemes are only available for Letter Grade assignment types. The entered grade is converted into the grading scheme and displayed appropriately. For instance, for a 50-point assignment where an A is 50 points, entering an A in a Gradebook cell or in the Grade Detail Tray calculates to 100% or 50 points, but the Gradebook will always display the grade as the grading scheme value.

 

Note: the Enter Grades option is not supported for Complete/Incomplete assignment types.

 

New Gradebook supports grade values in any format

 

People

Last Attended Date

In the User Details page, an instructor can note the date that a student last attended in the course.

 

Dates can only be entered in Canvas individually on a per-student basis. Additionally, once a date is entered, it cannot be removed.

 

Enrollment data can be returned using the Enrollments API.

 

Note: This functionality is currently not supported for institutions using the Profiles feature.

 

Instructors can include the last attended date for a student

 

Permissions

Modify Login Details for Users Subaccount Permission

In subaccounts, the Account Roles tab does not display the Modify Login Details for Users permission. This change supports permissions functionality, as user data resides in the root account. Admins who would like to enable this permission for subaccount admins should create a new role within the root account.

 

Reports

Grade Export Unposted Columns

The Grade Export report includes additional columns at the end of each row to represent unposted (muted) current and final scores.

 

MGP Grade Export Unposted Columns

The MGP Grade Export report includes additional columns at the end of each row to represent unposted (muted) current and final scores. Along with the existing current and final score columns, this report also includes individual unposted current and final score columns for each grading period.