What's New in Canvas

Contact Instructional Services with any questions about the following.

New for Fall 2024

Discussion Checkpoints

Canvas Discussions have been getting more redesigns, including distinct due dates and scores for posting and replying to peers posts! This new feature is available when using Graded discussions.

See Overview Video

See the Discussion Checkpoints FAQ

The graded discussion instructor options that show the new checkpoint features.

Fall 2024

Text Editor Find and Replace

The Canvas rich text editor now has a Find and Replace tool to assist with updates:

The Rich Text editor tools showing the Find and Replace option under the Tools menu.

Fall 2024

Assign a Module or Page

With Canvas' updated 'Assign to' options, you can now create materials that are displayed to some users and not others:

Expanded 'more' menus on a Module and page to show the 'Assign to' option.

This can be helpful for merged section courses that have minor differences, or for co-curricular sites to manage content visibility.

Randomize Students in Speedgrader

An analysis by University of Michigan researchers of more than 30 million grading records from U-M finds students with alphabetically lower-ranked names receive lower grades.

Read the full article in the University Record

Break the mold by reviewing Speedgrader submissions in random order. Once in Speedgrader:

Click the 'Settings' represented by a gear icon and choose 'Options'
Expand the drop-down menu of options to select 'randomize students'
Click 'Save Settings'

Selecting 'randomize students' from the Speedgrader options

Fall 2024

Discussions Redesign

Discussions have a new look!

Fall 2024

Discussion Summary (AI-generated)

This is an opt-in feature that is only visible to Instructors and TAs and must first be enabled in your Course Settings under the 'Feature Options' tab.

The Enable option under Canvas Settings Feature Options

By enabling this option, Discussion threads have a “Summarize” button that will use generative AI to generate a summary of key points and questions in the thread.

Once generated, summaries may be refined by passing a description of desired outputs (e.g. “concerns about grading policy”), or be regenerated.

See the Help Guide

Learn more about what's behind the scenes of this tool:

Fall 2024

Reorder Rubric Items

Change the order of your scoring rubric on graded items using this new feature!

To modify an existing rubric, navigate to the assignment and click the pencil icon on the rubric.
Select the 'Make Rubric Sortable'
You should now see up and down arrows along the left-hand side of each rubric criterion. Click to move that item up or down in the rubric order.
When finished, save your changes by clicking 'Update Rubric'

Learn more about designing effective Rubrics.

Winter 2024

Review Past Updates

DesignPlus Canvas Styling

This add-on allows us to elevate the look of our SPH Canvas sites while improving site accessibility.

See what's possible in our Gallery

Fall 2023

Zoom 1.3

The Zoom integration into Canvas has been updated and is now labeled Zoom 1.3. See how to add this to your course menu.

This update will not change the Zoom interface for meetings or scheduling in Canvas. However, there are several new features, including the ability to:

Create breakout rooms from a course roster or Canvas Course Group
Sync meeting attendance reports with the Canvas Gradebook
Sync poll results with the Canvas Gradebook to count as an assignment

Fall 2023

People - Student Cards

Use the 'Student Cards' option to switch the Canvas course roster into a Photo Roster. Note that unlike the Photo Roster in Wolverine Access, only students that have uploaded a profile picture to their Canvas profile will have a photo.

Student Cards button circled in the upper right of the People page.

This is a feature of the DesignPlus styling tool.

Fall 2023

Pages: Set Publish Date

Canvas now allows you to schedule your pages to publish based on a date set at the bottom. (Note that the date is grayed out on Pages that are already published.)

Existing Canvas page in 'Edit' mode. At the bottom is a 'Publish At' field where a date can be entered.

Learn more about Pages from the Canvas Guides.

Fall 2022

Speedgrader: Word Count

Assignments set to the 'Text Entry" submission type will now display a word count to the instructor or grader in the Speedgrader view. This is not available for any other submission type, including discussion posts.

Speedgrader view with a text submission. Below the submission timestamp is a Word count.

Fall 2021

Course-Specific Notifications

Adjust notifications you receive now in two places:

From the 'View Course Notifications' button on any course Home page
New: from your Account > Notifications menu

Notification options under the Account menu in Canvas now show a drop-down menu to change for all courses or just one.

Fall 2021

Name Coach Roster

This tool allows all Canvas users to create an audio-recording of their name to assist with pronunciation for instructors and classmates. This is now enabled in all Canvas sites, and recordings can be added from the Name Coach Roster in any course, or from your Canvas Account menu. Visit the Help Documentation for this tool.

Fall 2021

Speedgrader - Comment Library

Instructors and graders can save frequently used comments in Speedgrader to use across multiple students and assignments.

Spring 2021

Speedgrader - Reassign

Speedgrader now offers a "Reassign" button to request a student resubmit the assignment. Requires that the assignment has a due date, the assignment allows multiple attempts, and a feedback comment has been left.

Winter 2021