Saturday's Canvas Update & Notice of Upcoming Changes

Upcoming Canvas Changes

On May 24, 2014, the following changes will be made to Canvas:

• Calendar 1, Gradebook 1, and Old Conversations will no longer be available in Canvas.  CCC as of spring semester is using Calendar 2.  Gradebook 2 is the default for CCC instructors.  Most at CCC will noticed the switch from Old Conversations to new conversations though.
• Internet Explorer 9 will no longer be a supported browser. Additionally, Canvas will officially update its code to no longer support all browsers older than the latest two versions (as referenced in the Canvas Guides).

On July 5, 2014, the following change will be made to Canvas:

• Draft State will no longer be a Feature Option in Canvas and will be enabled for all Canvas users as a standard feature. (Learn more about Draft State as an admin or instructor.)  Currently in the spring semester, CCC is not using the Draft State, but it will be rolled out, possibly before July 5. 

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In this production release (04/12), we’ve made some general improvements that make life better for everyone—students, instructors, and admins. The production notes also include fixed bugs and other updates to existing Canvas features.

Note: Production release notes indicate the features that will be included in Saturday’s release and may differ from features available in your beta environment.

New Features

Announcements & Discussions

Unsaved Changes Warning Message

When instructors create a new Announcement or Discussion and try to navigate away from the page without saving, Canvas will confirm whether or not it should leave the page. This feature helps instructors avoid losing entire announcements or discussions inadvertently.
 

Updated Features

Assignments

Assignment Submission Preview Button

To help students identify assignment previews and feedback from their instructors, the preview icon has been replaced with a button. If the assignment is previewed with Crocodoc, Canvas will show the View Feedback button to allow for any feedback that the instructor may include on the assignment. If the assignment is previewed in a format that does not support feedback (Scribd or Google Docs), Canvas will show the Preview button. Hovering over the button provides students with more information about their submissions.

Note: Crocodoc is not available in beta environments.

Course Imports

Select Course Content

Within the Course Imports tool, users must specify the content they want to import into Canvas—whether they want to import all content or select specific content. Additionally, selection options have changed from checkboxes to radio buttons. These changes appear on most content types and help clarify the course imports process.

Gradebook

Page Footer

To allow more space in the browser window, the Canvas webpage footer has been removed from the Gradebook.

New Conversations

Page Footer

To allow more space in the browser window, the Canvas webpage footer has been removed from New Conversations.

Select Multiple Messages as Read

Users can select multiple messages as read within New Conversations. When multiple unread messages are selected, the right panel displays a multiple conversations message, and users can mark all messages as read. This feature is in addition to the Select All Messages functionality introduced in the 02/08/14 Production Release Notes.

User Profile

Picture Uploader

This feature is only available for institutions that allow profile pictures in Canvas.

Canvas users have a new profile picture uploader to add pictures to their profiles. Users can upload an existing picture from their computer or take a new picture, and users with Gravatar accounts can import their existing Gravatars. When uploading a picture, users can also drag a picture from their desktop and drop it into the uploader. Pictures can be cropped and resized.

The user’s profile picture folder will automatically store a copy of the saved profile picture. When a new picture is saved in a user’s profile, the new picture will override the existing picture file in the user’s folder.

Note:

• Canvas no longer allows users to select a picture from previously uploaded profile pictures.
• The Take a Picture option is not supported when using Safari or Internet Explorer.
• No changes have been made to the Profile Pic API.