New tool and updated features in Canvas
Differentiation tags are now added as a new tool in Canvas. These are labels that the teacher can attach to students in order to, for example, facilitate communication and provide them with material and content. In addition, E-learning has developed a template for an attendance quiz in Canvas. Other Canvas-related updates includes that surveys can be created in New Quizzes, grades can be scheduled when to be published. Login will also be required for accessing file download.
Differentiation tags in Canvas
The differentiation tags feature is now available in Canvas, allowing teachers to create their own, flexible student sets within a course. A differentiation tag is a label that you as a teacher attach to one or more selected students in the course to direct them materials such as assignments, quiz and modules. The tags can be used to send these students targeted communication via the Inbox and to filter the gradebook. The tags does not affect the sections of the course and are not visible to students.
By using differentiation tags, you can make adapt teaching and assessment in Canvas with greater flexibility than groups and sections allow.
Not replacing groups
Differentiation tags do not replace groups for collaborative or group assignments, instead they are used when you as a teacher want to assign certain students selected information or material without being visible to other students. The tags are course-specific and must be re-created in each new course.
Read more about Differentiation tags in Canvas
Attendance quiz
You can now download a template for an attendance quiz in Canvas and use it to easily take attendance and register it directly in Canvas, for example during mandatory course sessions. This can be useful in situations when it is difficult to take attendance manually. The purpose is to ensure that only students who are physically present can access the quiz. The attendance quiz allows you to keep the quiz open for a limited period of time during the session and an access code can be required to complete the quiz.
You can easily create several copies of the attendance quiz, one for each session. You can also group your attendance quizzes.
Read more about Attendance quiz at Learning resources in Canvas Commons produced by E-Learning
Surveys in New Quizzes
A requested feature that now has been added is the option to create surveys in New Quizzes. As a teacher, you can use these surveys to simplify the process of obtaining feedback from students and to make it easier to evaluate their understanding. The surveys in New Quizzes can also be used to encourage students to reflect on their own. You can choose whether the survey should be anonymous or non-anonymous and whether it should be graded or not. Surveys can also be created directly in a module in the same way as assignments and quizzes are added.
The results of the survey can be found under "Reports" under the moderation tab in New Quizzes.
In the survey, you can use these New Quizzes question types: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer, True/False, Fill in the Blank, Essay, File Upload. Surveys created in Classic Quiz can be migrated to New Quizzes..
Read more about surveys in New Quizzes in "How do I create a survey using New Quizzes?" (community.instructure.com)
Schedule Release Date of Grades
You can now schedule the release dates of grades in Canvas by using "Grade Posting Policies”. As a teacher, you can use this feature to schedule when the grades are going to be visible. You can choose to publish the grades and comments together or as separate schedules. This gives the teacher a greater opportunity to adapt and manage feedback and when it should be given.
Read more about scheduled release dates of grades in Canvas Release Notes (2025-12-13) (community.instructure.com)
Login will be required to download files
From March 25, 2026, files will only be accessible for download by logged-in users in Canvas. The reason for this is that file management will be more secure, as only authorized people can access the files. In addition, the file owner will have improved control over who is using the files.
KTH IT-support has asked Instructure (1st of March 2026) for clarification in regards to extent of this change. This page will be updated when IT has obtained more information.
If you have files that need to be downloadable without logging in, upload the files to your OneDrive and share a link to the files in Canvas.
Read more about access to files at Modernizing Our Files API for Enhanced Security and Performance (community.instructure.com)