What’s New in Canvas for the Fall 2024 Term?
This summer we have had quite a few new updates come out to Canvas and we are excited to announce what they are and how they help our faculty at FSCJ. These updates aim to enhance usability, improve readability, and introduce innovative tools to better support instructors and students in managing and participating in discussion threads, so let’s dive on in! In addition to the Canvas based features, this blog post includes changes discussed and decided by our Canvas Committee to make the FSCJ Canvas experience our own.
Simple Syllabus Name Change
To improve clarity for students, we have updated the name of the Simple Syllabus tool in the course menu. When you look for the syllabus tool in Canvas, you will now see it will be labeled as “Course Syllabus” for easier navigation and better readability. In Spring 2025, the “Course Syllabus” link will be in the course navigation by default. If you would like to use Simple Syllabus for Fall 2024 term, then you will need to enable the “Course Syllabus” link by going to your course settings - navigation - then enable the “Course Syllabus” link. The following Canvas guide has instructions on How to Modify Course Navigation Links.
FSCJ Canvas Changes Approved for Fall
During the last academic year, we initiated a Canvas Committee to review, discuss, and decide on improvements to our LMS. Those recent changes are listed below for your review. Additionally, if you have interest in joining the committee to provide your own insight on how we can improve the policies and processes while working in Canvas, the please email Brandi Bleak at brandi@fscj.edu.
Color Header Text in Modules
If you used text headers in the past, you may have noticed that they didn’t really create a feeling of separation between items in the module and were sometimes mistaken by users as a page they couldn’t click on, causing confusion. After much testing and review, our talented multimedia team in the Center for e-Learning created a visual separation with the line and color when a text header is added in a Canvas module.
With this new improvement, the text header stands out and better serves as a divider to make the module content look less cluttered. This change will be applied between the Summer and Fall terms, to not change the experience for students.
Instructors have option to Allow Students Read-Only Access to Courses Beyond End Dates
Traditionally, when a course ends, it is removed from a student’s Canvas Dashboard and they lose access to it upon that end date. Beginning this term, instructors will have the option to allow students to access a read-only version of their courses after the term ends. This change is especially helpful for instructors whose courses build upon one another, enabling students to reference past materials as needed. Students are NOT able to submit assignments, discussions, or add any contributions to the course in the read-only status. If a student needs access beyond the end date to complete course materials, then you will still need to submit a ticket to allow course access after the end date for Incomplete grade processing.
Students are restricted from viewing a course after it ends by default. To allow students to view the course after the end date, visit the course Settings area and then scroll down to view the Participation section. Uncheck the box option highlighted below.
Offline Mobile Sync
Canvas is introducing offline support in its mobile app to address challenges faced by students with limited or unreliable internet access. This feature allows students to download and access key course materials like modules, assignments, and grades, without needing a constant connection. Currently, only the Canvas Student app offers this functionality, focusing on content access rather than course participation (e.g., submissions or discussions). Students can choose which courses and content to download, with settings for automatic updates when connected.
You can read more about what is included and more about the feature here.
Updates to Canvas Discussion
Disallow Threaded Replies
A common frustration with Discussions was that there were many use cases for using non-threaded discussions in a course, which was something we were able to do with the older version of Discussions. The feature has now been enabled in your edit settings of your Discussions assignment to, Disallow Threaded Replies.
Double Check: Disallow Threaded Replies May Be the Default
When Canvas updated the “Disallow Threaded Replies” option, some discussions inadvertently checked off the box by default, even if the instructor did not check it off. This was a mistake, and Canvas has provided clarification about this. With the introduction of this feature, we needed to check the Disallow Threaded Replies setting for some of the Discussions.
At the time of the change, three scenarios were possible:
If an existing discussion was explicitly set to threaded, the Disallow Threaded Replies setting remained unchecked. This indicates that the discussion was clearly created using the legacy Discussions with threading allowed.
If an existing discussion was not set to threaded, but contained threads, the Disallow Threaded Replies setting also remained unchecked and we converted the underlying . This scenario indicates that the discussion was created using the Discussions and students had already added threaded replies.
If an existing discussion was not explicitly set to threaded and did not contain threads, the Disallow Threaded Replies setting was set to checked, regardless if it was a new discussion or not, since this scenario could mean the discussion was either created in legacy Discussions with threading disabled or in Discussions without any threads.
This means, if you created a discussion recently and intended to allow threaded replies but did not have any threaded responses yet, this change would have set the setting to disallow threaded replies. To allow threaded replies again you can uncheck the Disallow Threaded Replies option when editing your discussion. We apologize if this change created any additional work.
Moving forward, all newly created discussions will respect the Disallow Threaded Replies setting. If the setting is unchecked, the discussion will be threaded, while if the setting is checked, the discussion will be not threaded. Additionally, if a discussion is published and contains at least one threaded reply, the Disallow Threaded Replies setting will become locked and cannot be changed.
Line Separation Between Posts
We have heard a lot of feedback from our faculty about the readability of the new Discussions model and how it was hard to discern replies from each other. There are now line separations between each student reply to distinguish better who responds to who.
If you want to read more about what’s New with Discussions, refer to Canvas’s Product blog on New Discussions!
Discussion Summaries
Discussion Summaries is a new feature preview available in Canvas. Discussion Summarization uses a Generative AI model to give instructors (not students!) summaries of the main points, questions, and ideas in a discussion thread. To see an example, please follow the steps below!
To summarize discussion threads, click the Summarize button at the top of the Discussion article.
Prompt the desired area or topic to summarize. You can find some examples here.
What are my student’s goals?
What are the most problematic areas for my students to clarify?
To Generate a summary, click the Generate Summary button.
Please note: This feature must be turned on in the feature flags area of your course to use. To enable this follow these steps
Navigate to Settings
Select the Feature Options tab
Check the Smart Search feature
The Smart Search feature will now be enabled in your course and will be on your course navigation.
Navigation Updates
Smart Search
Smart Search is a helpful tool that makes finding information in your course easier for you and your student. Instead of needing to use exact keywords or special search tricks, you can simply type what you're looking for naturally. Whether it’s just a few words, a question, or even a full sentence, Smart Search understands what you mean and gives you better results.
How to Use Smart Search:
Type Naturally: You don’t need to worry about using specific words or phrases. Just type how you would normally ask or search for something.
Use Any Language: You can search in any language you’re comfortable with—Smart Search supports multiple languages.
Search Anything in Your Course: Smart Search can find content across different parts of your course, like assignments, discussions, and resources.
Example:
Imagine you as an instructor want to find notes on a recent lecture. Instead of searching for “Week 3 lecture notes,” you can just type “What were the main ideas in last week’s lecture?” or “Lecture notes about cells.” Smart Search will recognize what you’re asking for and show you the most relevant materials. The student can do the same thing!
It’s designed to make finding what you need quick and easy, so you can focus more on learning!. Currently, Smart Search can look through the following specific items within your course.
Content pages
Announcements
Discussion prompts
Assignment descriptions
Please note: This feature must be turned on in the feature flags area of your course to use. To enable this follow these steps
Navigate to Settings
Select the Feature Options tab
Check the Smart Search feature
The Smart Search feature will now be enabled in your course and will be on your course navigation.
Gradebook and Speedgrader Updates
Speedgrader Comment Drafts
In SpeedGrader, after drafting a comment and moving on to another student, a Draft pill displays indicating that the comment has not been submitted. This update enhances your experience by clearly indicating when a comment has not yet been submitted.
Message Student Who Updates
In the Gradebook, the default option for Message Students Who is changed to Have not yet submitted. Additionally, the Message Students Who options in the Totals column have updated text. This update follows grammar rules and improves the user workflow by setting the most commonly used option as the default.
Inbox Updates
Add Signature to Messages
When the Enable Inbox Signature Block feature is activated, you gain the ability to configure and include a personalized signature at the end of your messages whenever you're composing them. This feature helps streamline communication by automatically appending your signature, which can include your name, title, contact information, or any other relevant details. By doing so, it enhances the professionalism and consistency of your inbox messages, ensuring that they convey a polished and cohesive appearance.
Please Note: The Enable Inbox Signature Block setting is turned off by default in your Account Settings. This means that you will need to manually enable it if you wish to take advantage of this feature. Once enabled, you can customize your signature to suit your communication style and needs.
Add Auto Response to Messages
When the Enable Inbox Auto Response feature is turned on, instructors can set up automatic replies for incoming messages. This is particularly useful when you’re unavailable, such as during conferences, holidays, or after hours. You can customize the auto-response to inform students and colleagues of your absence and indicate when they can expect a reply. This feature helps faculty manage communication efficiently by providing prompt responses, even when you’re not available. It also maintains professionalism by setting clear expectations for when a follow-up can be expected, reducing the need for multiple follow-up messages.
Please Note: The Enable Inbox Auto Response setting is disabled by default in their Account Settings. You will need to enable it manually if they wish to use this feature.
We hope you enjoy these new Canvas features and if you have any feedback or questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at edtech@fscj.edu.