Canvas New Feature Release, January 15
Instructure will perform its monthly release of new features to Canvas on Saturday, January 15, 2022 (can you believe it’s already 2022?). This is a part of the regular process by which Canvas provides new features to all of its users on the third Saturday of every month, without interrupting access to the system. More information about how Canvas releases work can be found here. This month, there are just several changes that were added to save instructors time and add efficiency. Additionally, there are several BigBlueButton updates for you as well! So many new features, let’s get right into them.
COURSE NAVIGATION MENU STATE
This feature will be most relevant to those who use the three lines to the left of the course name to collapse and expand the course navigation menu. Now, it remembers whether the course navigation menu is collapsed or expanded on a user-by-user basis. If you collapse it, then go to another course or page, it will remain collapsed until you choose to expand it once again. Then, it will remain in that state until the user changes it once again.
AUTOMATIC REMOVAL OF THE MISSING LABEL AFTER GRADING AN ASSIGNMENT
This feature will save instructors time by automatically removing the ‘missing’ label once the assignment has been graded. Currently, when a student has not submitted a graded assignment by the due date, the red missing label appears as a visual indicator. When the assignment is then turned in, that missing label remains, causing confusion for students and instructors alike.
The video below will show you what was previously required to remove the label, as well as how you can still use the missing label if needed on those graded assignments.
LOAD IN NEW TAB PREFERENCES REMAIN
If you add External URL and External Tool (LTI) within your modules, you usually have a preference for whether or not you would like the link or tool to load in a new tab. This feature will remember your preferences for future modules.
When links or tools are added to a module, the Load in New Tab checkbox is not selected by default. However, if the checkbox is selected, the checkbox will remain selected for all additional links added to a module. The checkbox will always retain the state of the last added link. If the checkbox is deselected when a link is added to a module, the checkbox will return to its default state.
UNPOSTED GRADING COMMENT WARNING
This new feature will now notify you if you create a comment for a student in the SpeedGrader, but forget to submit the comment before moving on. When a grader creates a text, media, or audio comment and tries to advance to the next student or a previous student for the assignment, the grader is notified that the comment has been created but not posted. Selecting the Proceed button indicates the comment should be saved as a draft for the submission being viewed.
Users can choose to not be notified for comments that have not been posted by selecting the checkbox at the bottom of the window. The option to not show the warning applies on a per-assignment basis. Viewing another assignment and navigating between students before posting a comment also displays the warning. The option is also stored on a per-browser basis, so viewing an assignment in a different browser will also display the warning.
See this in action within the video below:
BigBlueButton Updates
Last but not least, there are several new updates to BigBlueButton. To view the updates, including a new analytics dashboard and background blurring options, click over to this blog post dedicated to those features of BigBlueButton.