Canvas Release Notes (2019-02-16)

In this Canvas release (February 16), DocViewer supports stylus tools to create annotations within supported touchscreen devices. For embedded images in the Rich Content Editor, the Canvas files folder structure displays thumbnail images. Interface updates have also been made in Pages and the Rich Content Editor Accessibility Checker.

Feature Options

For institutions using the New Gradebook, instructors can replace a student’s final grade calculated through Canvas activities with a manually entered grade.

External Tools (LTI)

For institutions using the Canvas Commons LTI, when viewing the Resource Details tab in Commons, users can view filtered search results that only display resources from their specific institution, and resource cards display the number of times a resource has been downloaded or imported and the number of times a resource has been favorited [REMOVED].
Additionally, the Rich Content Editor allows instructors to view and import content from their Commons Favorites directly in Canvas [REMOVED].
For institutions using Quizzes.Next LTI, instructors can reopen submitted assessment attempts from the Moderation page. And the Restrict Student Result View option supports additional options to display or hide points, items, responses, and feedback.

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: Final Grade Override

Release Notes Change Log

New Features

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New Gradebook

Final Grade Override

This feature is used in conjunction with an existing feature option in Canvas. Please view the content below for additional details. For more information about LTI tools, please see the Canvas Release Notes FAQ.

Location to Enable Feature	New Gradebook, Individual Gradebook
Configuration Details	New Gradebook Feature Option Final Grade Override Feature Option
Affected Canvas Areas	New Gradebook, SpeedGrader, Student Grades
Related APIs	Enrollments API
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors, Students

Summary

Instructors can replace a student’s final grade calculated through Canvas activities with a manually entered grade.

Change Benefit

This change allows instructors to adjust the final grade for a student if needed in the course, such as before sending course grades to a student information system. However, once this feature is enabled, it cannot be turned off.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Instructors

When the Final Grade Override feature option is enabled for a course, instructors can enable the final grade override in the Gradebook Settings menu.

New Gradebook Setting for Final Grade Override option

The Gradebook displays an Override column where a new grade can be entered. In the Individual View Gradebook, the grade overrides can also be enabled.

New Gradebook Override Column

For an override score, a letter grade results in the lower value of the grading scheme. This behavior varies from entering letter grades for individual assignments, where entries take the higher value of the grading scheme. A percentage is retained as the percentage as the override score. Overridden grades can be removed by deleting the grade from the column.

Students will view the overridden score in their Grades page. However, they will not know the score has been overridden.

New Gradebook Override Grade showing in Student Grades Page

Notes:

When enabled in a course by one instructor, the Override column will not automatically display for all instructors. The column must be enabled by instructors individually.
Final grade override actions are not recorded in the Grading History page, which only records changes for individual assignments.
Currently final grade overrides are not displayed in the student context card and will be updated in a future release.

Feature Idea Contributions
https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/1696-override-final-grade

Canvas features are always welcome to feedback. Product teams may make adjustments at any time via the Canvas Feature Idea process.
View existing New Gradebook feature ideas
For new ideas, please tag the idea with gradebook_new

Quizzes.Next

Reopen Student Assessment

Location to Enable Feature	Assignments
Configuration Details	Quizzes.Next LTI
Affected Canvas Areas	Assignments
Beta Environment Support	No
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors, Students

Summary

Quizzes.Next supports reopening submitted assessment attempts from the Moderation page.

Change Benefit

This feature allows instructors to grant a student access to an assessment that was submitted before it was complete.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Admins, Instructors

Instructors can reopen an assessment attempt for an individual student from the Moderation page. Reopening an assessment will reopen the most recent attempt.

Students

When a student resumes a reopened assessment, previously recorded responses will be retained and can be changed, unless the assessment displays one question at a time with backtracking disabled. The assessment timer will resume from its remaining time from the attempt.

Quizzes.Next reopen submission student view

Feature Idea Contributions
Canvas features are always welcome to feedback. Product teams may make adjustments at any time via the Canvas Feature Idea process.
View existing quizzes.next feature ideas
For new ideas, please tag the idea with quizzes.next

Updated Features

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Commons

Favorites and Downloads Sorting

This feature is used in conjunction with an external tool (LTI) in Canvas. Please view the content below for additional details. For more information about LTI tools, please see the Canvas Release Notes FAQ.

Status	REMOVED 2019-02-11
Location to Enable Feature	Commons LTI
Configuration Details	Commons LTI Resource Previews must be enabled by a Commons admin
Affected Canvas Areas	Commons LTI Any area with imported content
Beta/Test Environment Support	Functionality affects content in the beta environment only; New/updated features not available until production deploy
Permissions	Course Content - add / edit / delete Discussions - view Assignments and Quizzes - add / edit / delete
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Admins, Instructors

Summary

Resource cards display the number of times a resource has been downloaded or imported and the number of times a resource has been favorited. Users can also sort search results by Most Favorited and Most Downloaded.

Change Benefit

This update allows instructors to easily view how many times a resource has been favorited and downloaded. It also allows instructors to sort search results by Most Favorited or Most Downloaded.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Instructors

The resource card displays the number of times a resource has been favorited and downloaded, allowing instructors to easily find content in Commons. Instructors can also sort search results by Most Favorited or Most Downloaded.

Commons Favorites View Favorited views in Commons

Feature Idea Contributions
Canvas features are always welcome to feedback. Product teams may make adjustments at any time via the Canvas Feature Idea process.
View existing Commons feature ideas
For new ideas, please tag the idea with commons

Institution Search Results

This feature is used in conjunction with an external tool (LTI) in Canvas. Please view the content below for additional details. For more information about LTI tools, please see the Canvas Release Notes FAQ.

Status	REMOVED 2019-02-11
Location to Enable Feature	Commons LTI
Configuration Details	Commons LTI Resource Previews must be enabled by a Commons admin
Affected Canvas Areas	Commons LTI Any area with imported content
Beta/Test Environment Support	Functionality affects content in the beta environment only; New/updated features not available until production deploy
Permissions	Course Content - add / edit / delete Discussions - view Assignments and Quizzes - add / edit / delete
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors

Summary

When viewing the Resource Details tab in Commons, users can view filtered search results that only display resources from their specific institution.

Change Benefit

This update allows users to find resources from the same institution as the resource they’re currently viewing.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Instructors

When an instructor is viewing the Resource Details tab for a resource in Commons, they can click the Institution name to view filtered search results that only display resources from that institution.

Account filter view in Commons

Feature Idea Contributions
Canvas features are always welcome to feedback. Product teams may make adjustments at any time via the Canvas Feature Idea process.
View existing Commons feature ideas
For new ideas, please tag the idea with commons

DocViewer

Stylus Support

Location to Enable Feature	DocViewer
Beta Environment Support	No
Affected Canvas Areas	DocViewer
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructor, Student

Summary

DocViewer supports the use of a stylus for annotations in certain browser configurations on touchscreen devices.

Change Benefit

This feature allows instructors and students to use a stylus to make annotations in DocViewer on supported touchscreen devices.

Affected User Roles

All Users

Stylus functionality is supported for any user who can access DocViewer. Support is provided for the Microsoft Surface Pro running Windows 10 using the Chrome or Edge browser. Stylus support is limited to Bamboo Ink and any stylus officially supported by Microsoft for the Surface Pro. Limited stylus compatibility is also available in the Firefox browser.

Feature Idea Contributions
https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8810-use-of-stylus-with-docviewer
Canvas features are always welcome to feedback. Product teams may make adjustments at any time via the Canvas Feature Idea process.
View existing docviewer feature ideas
For new ideas, please tag the idea with docviewer

Quizzes.Next

Additional Result Restriction Settings

Location to Enable Feature	Quizzes.Next Delivery Settings
Configuration Details	Quizzes.Next LTI
Affected Canvas Areas	Assignments
Beta Environment Support	No
Affects User Interface	Yes
Affected User Roles	Instructors, Students

Summary

The Restrict Student Result View option in Quizzes.Next supports additional options to display or hide points, items, responses, and feedback.

Change Benefit

This change gives instructors additional options when determining the information that students can view in their assessment results.

Affected User Roles & Behaviors

Instructors

Instructors can manage additional settings when the Restrict Student Result View option is selected. Student result settings include displaying total points awarded, total points possible, and assessment items and questions. The options to show total points awarded and show points possible apply to overall points and individual question points.

When the option to display assessment items and questions is selected, instructors can also manage the option to display student responses and item feedback. When the option to display student responses is enabled, instructors can also manage options to indicate whether answers are correct or incorrect and display correct answers if an incorrect answer was selected.

To completely hide all assessment results, instructors will need to uncheck all options on the Restrict student result view settings.

Quizzes.Next restrict student result view option

Students

The information displayed in the assessment results page will vary for students based on the options selected by their instructor.

Assessment results page view for students

Feature Idea Contributions
https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/11598-additional-options-for-quiz-response-settings
Canvas features are always welcome to feedback. Product teams may make adjustments at any time via the Canvas Feature Idea process.
<A _jive_internal="true" href="https://community.canvaslms.com/

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Comments

GideonWilliams

Great news about the stylus and the Surface Pro, albeit from a slightly biased viewpoint. Has huge potential especially with the rise and competition from OneNote Class Notebooks. Does this mean it is available to test from 16th?

cjr201

Great to see a new quizzes.next feature. This is welcome functionality.

rake_9

I'm glad to see the final grade override! My institution has been waiting for this since we adopted Canvas.

I do have some questions, if someone from Instructure could answer?

is the override grade accessible via API? I don't see it mentioned in the API change log.
Are there plans to have the override grade included in the Grade History page? This would be highly desirable. In fact, I'm uncomfortable with this feature being available without logging.

I'm also curious as to the reason why the visibility of the override column is an individual display option. In courses with more than one instructor, this looks like a communication snafu just waiting to happen.

shane_ohara

In my testing, placing a final grade override for students does not actually update the current or final grade found in an exported grade book. This means that those of us who use the grade sync tool will not be passing the override grade to our SIS. I am seeking clarification with our CSM, but wondering if others see the same result?

Steps: locate a course with grades > export the current grade book > enabled the feature > place an override for [XX] number of students > export the grade book again > no score updates for either the current grade or final grade; all scores match exactly.

Thanks,

Shane

buellj

Kudos for uncovering this Shane - hopefully they are planning on updating the exported grades or this will lead to some fun incidents.

vanzandt

I think they added the grade override API endpoints in the 01-05-2019 release. Check the Additions --> API Responses --> Enrollments API section of the API Change Log - Canvas LMS REST API Documentation for that release date.

I also agree that there is a potential for confusion with not displaying the override column to other instructors in the course. If changes were tracked in grade history, as you propose/suggest, it shouldn't be an issue to display it to all who have Teacher access. It could even be helpful to allow for a read-only version for TAs who are trying to field questions from students.

Sylvia_Ami

I agree with @rake_9 ‌. If the Override feature is turned on/off based on the user, then this will be major confusion if the course has other users who are teachers and graders. Also, this could cause our internal help support staff to give out the wrong information. The help staff would have to turn on the Override column for a specific course in order to see the override grades.

I suggest that the option to turn on the Override column be at the Course/Feature Options level. That way, any user that has permission to see the grades will all see the same thing. I like the override feature, but as an admin, I will not turn it on for my account until it will do more good than harm.

joseph_allen

This looks like a nice release. One additional question about the Gradebook override: will the override work for grading periods? Meaning I create Quarter 1, Quarter 2 etc. At the conclusion of Q1, can I enter an override that will be for that quarter / grading period only? Quarter 2 can have its own override etc.? In order to get the benefit of the override, it must apply to each individual grading period. Thanks.

vanzandt

I have also asked our CSM if/how the grade being sent through the Sync Grades to SIS process will accommodate the override grades. I'm hopeful with this statement above, "such as before sending course grades to a student information system," that it means the override grade would be sent in that process. Hopefully one of us will hear back soon. I was expecting/hoping that they would also add a column to the gradebook export to display the override column, or to adjust one of the final grade columns. I haven't tested that yet, but will let you know if my testing results differ from yours.

Sylvia_Ami

Commons Favorites and Downloads Sorting

Does anyone see this new feature? I don’t see the menu items: Most Favorited and Most Downloaded. Also, I don’t see these changes in the resource cards. Is this new feature available in Beta Commons?

Commons Favorites in RCE

I don’t see Commons Favorites in RCE so I can import directly from Commons to a page. I have some images in Commons marked as favorites. But when I go to a course, edit a page, and look in the RCE, I don't see the menu the "Commons Favorites" menu item.

For all of the above, I'm in the Beta instance and looking in Beta Commons and have Resource Previews enabled in Commons. Can anyone help me?

vanzandt

If it's like the release of the new Preview feature, they don't have a way to provide us access in a Beta period since it's an LTI tool, and the Commons linked in our Beta and Test environments is actually linked to Production Commons. I was confused on the last release, but they do include the info in their tables for each item...

Beta/Test Environment Support

Functionality affects content in the beta environment only; New/updated features not available until production deploy

It would be nice if they could figure out how to provide beta environments of their LTI-based tools, so we have an opportunity to test in advance of release. Or if they do, then maybe they will respond and correct me.

cw2481

I have gotten the exact same results. We rely on these exports for transferring the grades to our SIS. In order for this feature to be at all viable for us we need the changes reflected in the export.

holmer

Very important! And have API endpoints for this. If not, my institution will not be able to use this.

cw2481

I agree also. Not having both the override appear to all who have grading access and not keeping the overrides listed in the grading history can cause some serious confusion for our instructors. The minute two instructors see different grades and we cannot identify what happened is a disaster in the waiting. The grade override is a feature our faculty have been asking for, but we cannot deploy it without the transparency and logs in place.

rake_9

The view-only for TAs was something my team also suggested as we reviewed this.

rake_9

That is our state; we use APIs to transfer grades to the SIS. I can't release this until I can be sure the expected grade can be pulled for transfer. vanzandt‌ (above) said he thinks it was released earlier. We'll check.

FWIW, I also asked our CSM to research theses issues.

leward

Indiana University is super-jazzed about the final grade override. We've been asking for this since 2014. I took a quick look and I think I discovered a bug. We've got both the new gradebook and the final grade override set to Allow. If I turn on the final grade override option without enabling the new gradebook, both settings get locked and I can't go back and turn on the new gradebook. Here's a quick video demo of the problem:

grade_override - Indiana University

rake_9

We found that once you turn on the Override feature in a course, you can't turn it off (we have the new gradebook on in all courses).

leward

I concur with the Valerie Rake's observation that treating the override grade option as an individual display option is a formula for confusion among users with the teacher role (and derivative roles). All teachers should be able to see the grade that will be transferred to SIS (and that students will see. I also question the decision to not to show students their calculated grade and score along with the override grade and score. By not doing this, students may be given the impression that they grade was incorrectly calculated. Furthermore, there should be full transparency when an instructor opts to override the calculated grade in the event that the grade was lowered (rather than raised), which does in fact happen here at IU.

leward

A quick observation about the final grade override which isn't necessarily apparent in the above description. Instead of entering a letter grade, you can enter a percentage score. The score will be converted to the corresponding letter grade in the course grading scheme. Thi approach may be preferable for instructors who do not agree with the decision to assign the score for the lower boundary of the grade. If a score is entered, that is the score that is returned by the API as the override_score.

emily_allen

Hi @GideonWilliams ‌,

You are correct, this functionality will be available to test from the 16th.

Thanks!

Emily

Renee Carney

@shane_ohara , @buellj , vanzandt, & @cw2481

Have you sent this up through support yet? If not, please do. Thank you.

Renee Carney

Hi @leward & @rake_9

This is a definite bug. Please report this up through support. It sounds like a workflow design issue.

emily_allen

Hi @rake_9 ‌ and vanzandt‌,

I checked with the team and there are currently no plans to include the final grade override in Gradebook history. Gradebook history tracks individual assignment grading, it doesn’t track grading period/course totals, and final grade override is tied to those totals. I recommend creating a feature idea to help show how this functionality would be helpful to your institution.

Thanks!

Emily

emily_allen

Hi @joseph_allen ‌,

I checked with the team and you can apply an override to individual grading periods. However, the override doesn’t carry forward in course total calculations, it's just overriding that grading period for reporting purposes, etc. Hope this helps!

-Emily

Renee Carney

We just did some checking with the product team. This feature will need to remain an individual feature at this point, but we are looking ahead to see how we can show other instructors in the course that one has done a grade override. No ETA on this, just want you to know we're thinking on it.

Chris

I agree with basically all of the commends so far about the grade override:

Grade override, in my opinion, should be a universal thing.

If someone has grade change privileges, they should be able to override the final grade (or, even better would be a new permission for grade override).
All people with view grade permissions should be able to see the final grade override, and know that it is indeed an override.
- It's going to cause confusion if a student sees all of their individual grade items, but the final grade doesn't match the totals. Transparency is key for grades, as far as I'm concerned
Ideally, any api calls/variables that used to return the final grade should be updated to return the override grade. This would ensure any existing integrations with SIS or other systems don't all need to be revised. A new api call/variable to return just the calculated grade (ignoring the override) could be added, if it's necessary.
Grade overrides should be on the gradebook history page. I know it's currently only for individual item changes, but I think that's because all final calculations have been automatic and based on the individual items before now. With the ability to override, it's critical to show that history as well now.

I don't quite understand why this would ever be a user setting... Perhaps it was easier to code that way, but if one person sees grades one way, and they appear differently to another it's a recipe for disaster. One of the biggest problems our faculty have with the "original" gradebook is the "treat ungraded as 0" option precisely because they are the only ones who see the effects of the switch (students end up seeing a different grade than teachers when the option is enabled). The "new" gradebook removed this option in favor of grade policies, which lets everyone see the same grade views, but now the override is putting us right back to having differing views of grades. I'd really urge Instructure to rethink this before release.

I'm definitely in favor of having a final grade override option, but it needs to be implemented in a better way which will minimize any possible confusion.

-Chris

rake_9

@leward I agree with the transparency point - even if the actual calculation isn't shown, letting the student know that an override has happened would be appropriate.

rake_9

Well said chriscas‌!

BethanReid

I also agree with Chris. We won't be releasing this on our production until the download issue is resolved and there is full transparency between teachers and students. I also urge you to rethink this and keep it in beta until these issues are ironed out.

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