Reading Time: 2 minutesLast week, we took a moment to review the current status of Assignments in Canvas. This week, we’re turning our focus to Discussions. We’ve talked about Discussions a few times over the last several months because of some big updates to the tool. We’ll be going over those and more today! Discussion Checkpoints Canvas has finally added multiple due dates for discussions with their Discussion Checkpoints update earlier this year. Now, you can set one due date for students to submit initial replies to the prompt and a second due date for students to submit replies to other students. There was a moment of oddness with how…
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State of Canvas 2025: Assignments
Reading Time: 2 minutesNow that we’ve hit the summer and have half a moment to breathe, we’re going to take the next few weeks to do a comprehensive review of various elements of Canvas. We’ll be taking a look at the current state of the tools, highlighting any major changes that have been made recently, and looking forward at Canvas’ roadmap and future changes. This week, we’ll be looking at Assignments in Canvas. Out of the posts we have planned, assignments is the most “stable” at the moment – we’ve had some changes across the last year, and there isn’t anything huge on the horizon (at the moment). So, let’s…
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Microsoft Teams/Canvas Integration Is Changing – Current Tools Leaving in June
Reading Time: < 1 minuteMicrosoft recently announced that they are in the process of updating some of their LTIs – and the Teams Classes and Teams Meetings LTIs are at the top of the list. Both of these tools in their current iteration will stop working in Canvas June 15, 2025. Microsoft is working a “new, unified experience” that consolidates the capabilities of both of these tools, but there is no further information on this so far. Since we do not know when exactly Microsoft will release new tools, there are some simple workarounds to use after June 15. If you are using Teams Classes, your Team will still exist…
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Three Tips for Checking your Canvas Gradebook before Submitting Final Grades
Reading Time: 2 minutesFinals are soon approaching, so it’s time to start wrapping up your courses and preparing to submit your grades. Submitting grades is a quick process, but there are a few items you’ll need to do before you click that button. 1. Check your course grading scheme You should have a grading system in your syllabus with the values defined for each grade letter. Canvas can display that letter grade to both you and your students, but you need to make sure you have this setting enabled with the correct values set. 2. Check your grade breakdown The grade breakdown is different from the grading scheme! Go to the…
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Canvas Update: Multiple Due Dates for Discussions
Reading Time: 4 minutesCanvas has brought a new and highly useful update to discussions – instructors are now able to set separate due dates for initial responses and additional responses. This update released January 18, and the change isn’t limited to just due dates. Instructors can also set separate point values for initial responses and additional responses. Does this feature work with EVERYTHING in Canvas? Before we jump into the “how,” there’s a couple of restrictions for where, when, and how this new feature can be used. Setting up discussion checkpoints Using discussion checkpoints is simple – you only need to toggle on one setting, then add the…
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Canvas Updates: Accessing SpeedGrader for New Quizzes
Reading Time: 2 minutesIn its May 20 update, Canvas has made it easy to access SpeedGrader for a New Quiz. Previously, you’d have to find the New Quiz in the gradebook or in your “to-grade” list to get to SpeedGrader. Now, you can access it through just about anywhere you can access a New Quiz in Canvas – including inside the build pages for the New Quiz itself! From Canvas modules or the Quizzes/Assignments pages, click the three dots for the quiz and select “SpeedGrader” from the drop-down. From both the New Quiz overall settings page and the “Build” page where you can edit the quiz questions, you…
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Canvas Updates: Rich Content Editor
Reading Time: 1 minuteIt’s been a bit since we last wrote about Canvas updates, but some cool things have been happening. Canvas is always working on tweaking or adding things (you can keep up with them in the Canvas Release Notes!), but today we’re focusing on what’s changed in the Rich Content Editor (RCE) over the past few months. Access to detailed word/character count statistics The RCE displays word count at the bottom of the editor, but it’s expanded that functionality a bit. Now when you click on that word count, Canvas will pop a window and show you detailed word and character count. Dragging-and-dropping/pasting of content Previously, to add…