UBC’s Canvas Project Team is excited to provide you with an update on our progress in implementing Canvas. For Winter Term 2, we’ve been focused on improving Canvas functionality, adding new features and tools to Canvas, and transitioning courses over from Connect.
New features and tools
Following testing and validation, a number of new tools and features were added to Canvas on December 14 and December 21.
Five additional tools can now be used with the Canvas platform: CoursEval, iPeer, PeerScholar, UBC Blogs, and Webwork. To view the current list of implemented and planned Canvas tool integrations, please visit the tools page on the Canvas website for UBC instructors.
Several enhancements have also been made to Canvas:
- The People page has been activated for students. This enables full functionality of Canvas’s Groups tool. If you choose to enable the People page in your course, your students will be able to create their own study groups and to self-enrol in groups you create in Canvas. Learn more.
- If you teach non-credit courses, you now have the option of enabling self-enrolment. Once enabled, your students will be able to self-enrol in your non-credit class, provided you send them a “join URL.” Visit the Canvas Guides for more information.
- Threaded discussions have a new look. Vertical bars have been added to the left side of threaded posts to indicate the level of response. Learn more.
Beta features added to Canvas
Two new features that are currently in beta testing have been made available in Canvas: Quizzes.Next (beta) and Canvas’s New Gradebook (beta). While these tools offer some promising new features, please be advised that they’re both still in development and may not perform as expected. Please contact the Learning Technology Hub or your faculty’s Instructional Support Unit if you have questions about using these tools in your courses.
More work is needed
Due to unforeseen issues, Turnitin has not yet made it into the Canvas production environment. The Canvas Project Team will be performing investigations for this integration and will update the Canvas Tools page once we have a new timeline for deployment.
Training and support
If you’re new to Canvas or would like help taking your Canvas course to the next level, please check out the training and support that’s available to you. We also invite you to share your thoughts about Canvas with us at any time using our feedback form.
Note: This project update was last revised on December 21, 2017, following an update to Canvas.