August 17, 2019 Canvas Updates

August 17, 2019

From August 14 thru August 17, 2019, Canvas will receive a number of improvements and updates as part of the regularly-scheduled upgrade cycle by Instructure. Updates are made regularly to bring new features, improve user experience, and fix bugs. Such updates do not typically result in downtime. In addition, updates have been made to the Canvas Student and Teacher app for iOS devices and Android. Visit the app store for your device to receive those updates.

Highlights 

  • Discussions
    • Students may upload files to Discussions by default in new courses. In courses created after August 14, “Attach Files to Discussions” will be checked by default.
  • Course Settings
    • Unsplash has replaced Flickr as the default image search for course cards.
  • Quizzes.Next – Quizzes.Next is not fully supported by CETL and school/college support. If Quizzes.Next is needed for your course, consult with CETL (cetl@uwm.edu) or your school/college support office to learn more before creating assessments.
    • Assessments can be previewed.
    • Item banks can be shared with other instructors, who will have full edit or delete rights. Permissions will be added in a future Canvas update.
    • Quizzes.Next is changed to New Quizzes.
  • Mobile apps
    • Android and iOS student apps: the assignment details page has been re-designed to show all assignments due, and allow submission.
    • Android and iOS student apps: external tools can be launched from courses. Tools will open in a web browser.
    • IOS student apps: students may submit assignments from third-party apps.
    • Android and iOS student apps: rubric criterion are now visible.
    • IOS student app on tablets: view the Canvas app and other apps in split-screen mode

Learn more

To learn more about this Canvas update, and to see how the changes may affect instructors’ and students’ work, refer to the audience-specific release note links.