Canvas Release Notes (2019-06-01)

Upcoming Canvas ChangesInternet Explorer 11: August 3On August 3, Internet Explorer 11 will no longer be supported as a Canvas browser. New Gradebook: January 18On 18 January 2020, the existing Canvas Gradebook will be replaced with the New Gradebook. For more information, please see Upcoming Canvas Changes‌.

In this Canvas release (June 1), the Compose Message window does not include an option to remove previously received messages. Additionally, the beta label has been removed from the Student Context Card feature option.

Feature Options

For institutions using the New Gradebook, the Message Students Who window alphabetizes student names by last name.

External Tools (LTI)

For institutions using the Quizzes.Next LTI, calculators can be enabled for an entire assessment, and Numeric questions support scientific notation.

Release notes also include API updates and fixed bugs.

Release notes describe upcoming Canvas functionality and are subject to change.

Follow the Canvas release notes space to be notified of updates
For all release changes, view the Release Notes Change Log
If you notice any contrary functionality compared to the outlined behavior in these notes, please file a Canvas support case according to your institution's support protocol
Other questions? View the Canvas Release Notes FAQ

Feature Options

The following feature options are addressed in this release:

Course: New Gradebook

Release Notes Change Log

Updated Features

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Conversations

Compose Field Message Removal

Location to Enable Feature	Conversations
Configuration Details	N/A
Affected Canvas Areas	Conversations
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Permissions	Conversations - send messages to entire class Conversations - send to individual course members
Related APIs	Conversations API
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	All Users
Feature Enhancement Ideas	Existing Conferences feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	Conversations

Summary

The Compose Message window does not include an option to remove previously received messages.

Change Benefit

This change improves accessibility within the Compose Message window.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

All Users

In the Compose Message window, previously received messages in the thread display below the text field. The Remove option to each specific message has been removed.

Individual messages can still be deleted from a conversation in the Conversations window by opening the message, selecting the Settings menu, and clicking the Delete link.

New Gradebook

Message Students Who Alphabetical Sorting

Location to Enable Feature	New Gradebook
Configuration Details	New Gradebook Feature Option
Affected Canvas Areas	New Gradebook
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors
Feature Enhancement Ideas	Existing New Gradebook feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	gradebook_new

Summary

The Message Students Who window displays names in alphabetical order.

Change Benefit

This change allows instructors to find student names in the window more easily.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Instructors

When an instructor accesses an assignment column and clicks the Message Students Who option, any names that display in the window are displayed in alphabetical order (first name, last name). The list of names remained alphabetical when a different messaging criterion is selected. Student names can be removed manually from the list at any time.

Alphabetical Name Display in Message Students Who

Quizzes.Next

Assessment On-Screen Calculators

Location to Enable Feature	Assignments
Configuration Details	Quizzes.Next LTI
Affected Canvas Areas	Assignments
Beta Environment Support	Yes (with exceptions—see LTI document)
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors, Students
Feature Enhancement Ideas	Existing quizzes.next feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	quizzes.next

Summary

The Settings page includes an option for allowing calculators during the entire assessment and not just for individual questions.

Change Benefit

This change allows students to view a calculator throughout an assessment.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Instructors

In the Settings menu, instructors can choose to allow students to view a calculator with basic or scientific functions.

Students

Students can open the calculator by clicking the Calculator icon. The calculator functions are the same as calculators enabled from the individual question.

Calculator at the top of the quiz

Numeric Question Scientific Notation Responses

Location to Enable Feature	Assignments
Configuration Details	Quizzes.Next LTI
Affected Canvas Areas	Assignments
Beta Environment Support	Yes (with exceptions—see LTI document)
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors, Students
Feature Enhancement Ideas	Existing quizzes.next feature ideas
Specified Tag for Feature Ideas	quizzes.next

Summary

Numeric questions accept scientific notation answers for the Exact Response and Within a Range requirement options.

Change Benefit

This change allows instructors to create questions that require responses in scientific notation.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Instructors

Instructors can create Numeric questions that require responses in scientific notification. For the Exact Response requirement, student answers must match the scientific notation input exactly. For the Within a Range requirement, student answers must fall within the scientific notation range inputs.

The accepted format for scientific notation answers is m*10^n, where m represents the coefficient (the number being multiplied), the asterisk represents the multiplication function, and ^n represents the exponent. For example, the answer 6.9832*10^8 would represent 6.9832 times 10 to the eighth power.

Scientific notation answers are not supported for Margin of Error or Precise Response options.

Scientific Notation in Numeric question

Other Updates

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Account Settings

Student Context Card Beta Label Removal

Location to Enable Feature	Account Settings
Configuration Details	N/A
Affected Canvas Areas	Account Settings
Beta/Test Environment Support	Yes
Permissions	Account-level settings - manage Feature Options - enable / disable
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Admins, Instructors

Summary

The beta label has been removed from the Student Context Card feature option.

Change Benefit

This change indicates that this feature option is no longer in beta.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Admins

Admins can enable this feature option that has been changed from beta status to production-ready for their institution. No existing functionality has been affected.

Features without a beta status indicate the features are ready to be enabled in production; any additional enhancements will be added as part of regular Canvas releases.

Platform/Integration

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API

API Change Log

Adjustments have been made to the following APIs as noted in the API Documentation change log:

Files API
Originality Report API
Uploading Files

Fixed Bugs

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Accessibility

Announcements

Announcements that are unread are part of the title when read to screen readers.

Assignments

In the sidebar, the Submissions heading is labeled as an H2, and the Comments heading is labeled as an H3.

Discussions

The Discussions page includes H2 headings in their appropriate locations.

Discussions that are unread are part of the title when read to screen readers.

Calendar

Labels are included in the Edit Event window for screen readers.

Conversations

The Conversations page and all icons display a color contrast of 4.5:1 for high contrast profiles.

Files

The checkbox next to each file identifies the name of the selected file for screen readers.

Groups

The Groups heading is labeled as H1, and individual groups are labeled as H2.

The New Student Group window reads the Group name and Joining labels to screen readers.

Rich Content Editor

The toolbar keyboard shortcut can be enabled from anywhere in the Rich Content Editor.

<H2

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Comments

Kristin Lundstrum

Hello Canvas Community ~ Everyone is invited to join the Release Notes (2019-06-01) Collaborative Chat! We'll meet for about 45-minutes on Wednesday, May 22nd and collaboratively discuss the updates. New participants are always welcome! Smiley Happy

JamesAshby

I'm not seeing the Allow Calculator option within Quizzes.Next in Beta. Is it supposed to be available in the beta environment?

unknown

Hi James, I'm not seeing it in the quiz settings. I saw it when I created a Numeric quiz question. This is in the beta environment.

numeric quiz question

Sylvia_Ami

Messages Students Who... in alphabetical order - Yippee! This saves so much time.

erinhmcmillan

Hi, James,

You'll need to reach out to your CSM to get your account provisioned in the beta environment for Quizzes.Next. As soon as that is completed, you'll be able to see the updates after the subsequent beta environment refresh.

Thanks!

Erin

erinhmcmillan

Hi, Vivian,

After checking your account, I see that you need to enable the Quizzes.Next feature option for the course. It's already allowed for your entire account, but each individual course defaults to off. Once the option is enabled, you'll be able to see the option in the Settings menu.

Thanks!

Erin

buellj

Hi All,

For the calculator - is the instructor able to see how the student used the calculator? (Steps they took, etc.)

Thanks!

Stef_retired

@buellj , I notice that someone just posted this as a feature idea: https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/14235-record-calculator-activity-in-quizzesnext

cwhermsen

In our beta environment, I just noticed a new button when viewing users as an admin: "Clear User Cache"

I couldn't find anything about this in the release notes. I created a ticket with support about this, but wanted to check if anyone else saw this as well.

erinhmcmillan

Hi, Chris,

Thanks for the question! That link was inadvertently exposed in the UI and was reverted last night. If that feature is to be made available to admins, we'll be sure to include it as part of the regular release notes cadence.

Thanks,

Erin

unknown

Hello Erin,

I also do not see the calculator option in our beta environment. I confirmed .next is enabled.

314122_Screen Shot 2019-05-28 at 1.20.43 PM.png

erinhmcmillan

Hi, Fernando,

Your account was just provisioned by our engineering team; you should be able to refresh and see it there.

Thanks!

Erin

kshepherd_canva

Hi everyone,

In beta, can you no longer see the Reply field in Discussions when in Admin view? I can see it in Student View, and in Admin view all the other discussion options are available (Search entries/author, filter for uread, subscribe, and so forth) but I can't actually post to a discussion in beta unless I'm in Student View.

hesspe

Hi,

I noticed the following in Feature Options in Beta:

LTI 1.3 and LTI Advantage (Beta)

I don't see a mention of this in the Release Notes.

In our production instance we have "Enable reregistration for LTI 2" on. I know there are problems with LTI 2.0 and it's being deprecated. Is there any relationship between the LTI re-registration option and that? Would this be better posted as a question in the community Question space?

Thanks,

-Peter

erinhmcmillan

Hi, Peter,

It's because you'll find it mentioned in Canvas Release Notes (2019-06-22). They're ready for you!

Thanks,

Erin

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