Fall 2024 Canvas Updates
January 07, 2025 / Digital Learning / Tags: Canvas Updates, Canvas, Digital Learning, Canvas Features
Welcome back, faculty! We hope you had a restful winter break and area feeling recharged for the 2025 Spring semester. Canvas receives monthly updates and as we all get ready for the new term, a quick review of important updates to Canvas that were rolled out during the Fall semester might be helpful. These new features might make your teaching experience smoother, more efficient, and even more engaging for your students. Read on to discover what's new and how you can make the most of these updates in your courses!
Rubrics
Enhanced Rubrics is a new course-level feature option. The new Rubric Criteria Builder simplifies the rubric creation process with features like drag-and-drop functionality, customizable rating orders, and the ability to save rubrics as drafts. This allows you to build rubrics in stages and complete them at your own pace or archive a rubric temporarily to restrict its use.
To enable this feature, you would need to go to your course settings, click the "Feature Options" tab, and enable the "Enhanced Rubrics" option.
Visit the Canvas Guides page to learn how to manage rubrics in a course using Enhanced Rubrics.
SpeedGrader
You can now take advantage of the Rich Content Editor features in SpeedGrader! This exciting update allows instructors to provide more detailed, well-organized, and visually engaging feedback to students. You can highlight key points, structure your comments for clarity, and even include external resources directly within your feedback. This enhanced functionality not only improves communication but also helps students better understand your feedback and take meaningful action on it. Plus, the Equation Editor is now available in SpeedGrader, making it easier than ever to include mathematical expressions in your comments.
Follow these links to learn more:
- SpeedGrader: Rich Content Editor Features
- SpeedGrader: Equation Editor Added to Rich Content Editor
New Quizzes
Submitted Date Displays in Moderate Log
The Moderate Log now displays the submission date for each student, giving instructors a clear timeline of when assignments were submitted. This update enhances the ability to track student progress, promotes transparency, and provides a reliable record to help resolve any grading disputes.
Attempt Log Stopped Viewing the Canvas Quiz Page
On the Moderate page, instructors can now track when students leave the New Quiz page - whether they navigate to another Canvas page or switch browsers - and when they return to resume the quiz. This feature gives instructors valuable insights into student engagement and time management during assessments.
Add Time to Existing Quiz Sessions
While a New Quiz attempt is in progress, instructors now have the ability to extend the time limit for individual students. Additionally, the student course-level accommodations link has been moved to the Student column (Previously located in the Accommodations column). This update makes it easier for instructors to quickly provide extra time to students who require accommodations, ensuring they can continue their quiz without interruption.
In the New Quizzes settings, instructors can now customize the timing and visibility of feedback and correct answers for students. This feature empowers instructors to strategically time feedback, reinforcing key concepts, promoting independent learning, and reducing the risk of cheating. It also helps align feedback with review sessions, ensuring fairness and consistency by standardizing the process for all students.
Let us know if you have any questions or if you're excited about any of these new features!
For a full list of all the Canvas Release Notes and Deploy Notes, visit the Canvas Releases website: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Releases/tkb-p/canvas-release
The Digital Learning Team
Email: elearning@fgcu.edu
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