Canvas updates every 3 weeks with new features and fixes to problems, so sometimes it can be hard to answer “What’s New in Canvas?”. Tim and Jodie presented cool new features and showed off a few that old favorites during the Faculty Winter Sessions on January 17. Here are some of the highlights:

Settings:

Jodie shared the new setting that allows you to show recent announcements on the Course home page. She also let faculty know that it’s okay to change the course name to something easier to remember…no harm to Canvas and it can make identifying multiple sections much easier. Finally, she pointed out the button to Validate Links in Content that will check your course for broken links.

Rich Content Editor:

Tim shared some keyboard shortcuts that we can use within the Rich Content Editor (RCE)  in Canvas. Tim’s favorites were revealing the hidden menu for the RCE by pressing ALT + F9 and inserting links by pressing CTRL + K for the links page.

Grading:

Jodie showed how to exclude an assignment from the course total and also how to excuse an individual student from an assignment. Finally, she pointed out how to you can message students within the gradebook by who haven’t submitted the assignment, haven’t been graded yet, or who score more or less than a certain point value.

Akindi:

Tim introduced AU’s new bubble test solution called Akindi. The system is integrated within Canvas and is able to pull your class roster and also send test scores to the gradebook. Instructors can create test sheets within Canvas and print them at their local scanner/printer. After students have taken the test, the instructor just scans and emails the test sheets to their email and can upload the scans to Akindi in Canvas. This will grade the tests, provide statistical information about the test, and allow instructors to upload the grades into the Canvas gradebook.

Roll Call Attendance:

Jodie showed instructors what their students see when they view their attendance record on Canvas.