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News collection on simplified Canvas features

Published Nov 10, 2021

Canvas has updated some features to simplify their use. The features that have been updated are the question banks in New Quizzes, the accessibility checker, the notification settings and SpeedGrader which has gotten a comment library.

The simplified features

The following features have changed in Canvas:

  • New way to manage question banks in New Quizzes
  • Comment library added in SpeedGrader
  • Automatic accessibility check in the text editor
  • Simplified use of notifications

New way to manage question banks in New Quizzes

You can now access your question banks in New Quizzes directly from the course menu, in addition to the previous route via a New Quiz. Previously, it was only possible to find the question banks by opening a New Quiz and selecting "Manage question banks".

In addition to the question banks being easier to find, they have also started to be stored per person instead of being stored per course, and have become easy to share. This means that you can always reach the question banks you have created yourself, regardless of which course you are in or in which course the question banks were created. You can also share the question banks with other collegues or courses.

Read more about Create and share an item bank .

Comment library added in SpeedGrader

In SpeedGrader you can comment on submitted assignments by entering your comment in the text box in the sidebar. Now there is a new feature called "comment library" where you can save and reuse regular comments in SpeedGrader.

The comment library is connected to your account, which means that you will find your saved comments in all your courses. You can edit the comments whenever you want, both in the comment library and after you have selected a comment from the library, before the student sees them.

Read more about SpeedGrader in Canvas .

Automatic accessibility check in the text editor

When you type in Canvas text editor, there is a built-in accessibility checker to help you with common accessibility issues, such as color contrast and table headings. The accessibility checker is a button below the text box, with an icon of a human in a circle. Previously, you had to press the button for it to go through your text, but now it will automatically check the text as you type it.

If the accessibility checker finds any problems, the number of problems it finds will be displayed on the button. You still have to press the button and manually go through all the problems it finds.

Note: The accessibility checker only looks for certain types of problems. Even if it does not find any problems, you still need to, for example, make sure that the text is understandable and that the alt texts are well written.

Read more about Digital accessibility - requirements and opportunities .

Read more about Canvas accessibility checker (community.canvaslms.com) .

Simplified use of notifications

Canvas sends you notifications to update you on what happened in your courses; now Canvas has made it easier to edit your notification settings for all your courses. You can now edit notification settings for all courses in the same place as where you edit your default notification settings: under "notifications" in your Canvas account.

To change the notification settings, open Canvas and go to "Account", then "Notifications". Select the correct course from the drop-down list and edit as you wish.

Note: The language of the notification settings depends on the language of the account, not the course, even if you edit them through "course notifications" on the course homepage. The notifications are still sent in the course language.

Read more about Notifications .