Apps and Tools / Canvas · April 14, 2022

New April Canvas Updates

Below are the changes and updates for Canvas starting April 16th. 

Change Default Due Time 

You can change the default due time for your courses. Go to Account Settings or Course Settings and change the time that fits your course’s needs.

*The new default due time will not update existing assignments with due dates already set. 

Apply Score to Ungraded Assignments

A new option in the gradebook allows you to apply scores to ungraded submissions all at once. The options menu from an assignment group or the Total column in the Gradebook allows instructors to select to Apply Score to Ungraded.

You can change the grade for ungraded submissions and click the Apply missing status.

For full details about this new update see Feature Option Overview: Apply Score to Ungraded Assignments.

“This Course” Item Bank Filter

In New Quizzes item banks, the This Course filter has been added to the filter options. This new filter displays existing item banks within the current course. This also will be the default filter when navigating to Item Banks from within a course.

New Icon Maker with the Rich Content Editor

This new update provides an easy alternative route to using images and tables as buttons for course navigation. Now, The Rich Content Editor allows instructors to create simple icons for their courses. Using the canvas presets, you can customize icons right in the content editor. The best part, every icon you create will be put in an “icon library” making it easy to get to.

Visual Cues help students reduce their working memory load and makes your course accessible for ALL students.

Below are some simple ideas you can start using right now. All you have to do is insert the icon and then add a course link on the image. You can easily change the link so you won’t be locked in every time you use the icon.

  • Use the same icon for classwork, but change the link each day
  • Add a visual cue for a homepage button and add it to all your pages and assignment
  • Create an icon for translation resources and use that not only on your homepage, but all your assignments
  • Get in the practice of making sure your notes are on your canvas so you can create an icon for Notes so students can’t make the excuse “I don’t have the notes”
  • Ask your students what icons they want and have them help you design it. You will probably be surprised with their good ideas

Read more on how to use common icons from this blog post

In the Rich Content Editor, click the Icon Maker icon.
Customize your settings.
Once you save the icon and insert, it will look like this. You can also insert saved icons so you don’t have to keep making them.

? Emojis in Submission Comments

When adding submission comments, instructors and students can add emojis using the Emoji Picker within canvas. When this feature option is enabled, you can add emojis to comments in SpeedGrader using the emoji icon available in the comment box, see picture below.

Students can also add emojis in their submission comments (Emojis with negative connotation are not available). This new update encourages the use of visual indicators such as emojis to help convey messages in addition to written comments. Who doesn’t love emojis ? ? ?

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