Canvas Updates for May 2021

Starting May 15th, 2021, the following updates will be made to Canvas:

 

Auto-Show Closed Captioning

Users can now enable captions to show by default in all Canvas videos. This change allows users to view captions added to videos by default without having to manually enable captions for each individual video.

Note: Videos embedded from third-party tools, such as YouTube, are not supported. Additionally, videos embedded from Canvas Studio videos are not yet supported but will be in a future release.

 

Student Annotation Assignments

Instructors can now use an annotated assignment type to upload a file for students to annotate and submit directly in Canvas.  

This change allows instructors to provide a file as an assignment and allow students to annotate the file directly in Canvas. Currently students have to either print the file and take a photo to submit, or use a third-party tool to complete the submission.

 

Course Templates

A course ID can be designated as a course template for all new courses created in an account. This functionality is supported for both manually created courses and SIS import. 

This change provides a consistent user experience for students and will ensure all base materials are included with each new course by an institution’s admins and/or authors.