New Excuse an Assignment in Canvas

Instructure Released a new Canvas feature Saturday (6/27) and teachers now have the ability to excuse an assignment!

Excuse an Assignment

To excuse an assignment for a student, enter the value of ‘EX’ in the corresponding Gradebook cell. The Gradebook will reflect that the assignment is excused for the student. Excused assignments are not included in the calculation for a student’s total grade.

Students can also be excused from a Group Assignment; the other members of the group will still be able to view and submit the assignment.

Note: Currently, the Gradebook only accepts a standard Canvas-wide value of ‘EX’ for assignment exemptions. In phase two of this feature, instructors will be able to choose from a list of statuses for the excused assignment or for a graded assignment, such as late, missing, absent, etc.

When students have been excused from an assignment, they can view the excused status on the assignment submission page, or when they view the grades page. Students who are excused from an assignment will not be able to submit the assignment, though they can still view the assignment details.

Differentiated Assignments by Individual

Have you ever needed to give a student a make-up test?

Have you ever needed to allow a student to turn in work early or late?

Well now you can!

Differentiated Assignments by Individual

In Assignments, Quizzes, and Graded Discussions instructors have the flexibility to differentiate assignments between individual students and select which students are required to complete specific tasks and when.  When creating or editing an assignment, instructors can specify whether the assignment should be for everyone in the course, for specific sections, or for individual students. Only the section(s) or student(s) specified in the assignment details can view the assignment. Varied due date functionality remains available for each assignment.

This feature can also be used with the existing ability to create an assignment by section. If the assignment is not created for everyone, Canvas will notify the assignment creator that course sections have not been added to the assignment.

In the Gradebook, assignment grade cells are grayed out for students who have not been included in the assignment. Assignments that are not assigned to a student are not factored into the student’s overall grades.

New Canvas File Browser

The “Files” section of your course has been redesigned for a more improved user experience. The new files redesign allows you to view more details about your files, manage editing permissions, and preview files. In addition, Files is fully accessible for all keyboard users and screen readers.

Files is fully searchable by file name and offers quick access to add a folder or upload a file. The left panel shows all folders for quick navigation. Clicking the name of a folder displays all the contents of the folder in the right panel. For each file, users can view and sort files by name, the date the file was created and modified, the name of the person who modified the file (if modified by another user), and the size of the file. Files can also be published and unpublished within Files.

Additionally, Files is built with responsive design to adjust for browser scaling. The folder navigation window, file displays, and even file names adjust to the width of the browser window. Files can be uploaded and previewed without the use of Flash. You can view a queue of uploaded files and their status. To upload a file, click the Upload button, or drag and drop a file from the computer desktop.

When a file is selected, Files displays the file toolbar at the top of the window. You can download the file, edit the file name, share the file, delete the file, and move the file to another location. You can also edit permissions for files, including setting the state of the file (published or unpublished), schedule availability dates for the files, or make files available to students who have the link. You can also download, rename, move, or delete a file using the Settings icon for each individual file. Users can select and manage multiple files at one time.

To move a file, you can also drag and drop the file into different file folders. Files will display the icon for the file type that is being moved. To view a file, click the file name. Files can also be previewed by clicking anywhere on the file information and clicking the View button in the toolbar. Files displays any file type that is compatible with the document previewer in Canvas. The preview displays the file and file information details, as well as a link to download the file.