Canvas Highlights for November 18 and 21, 2020

Pen writing on ruled paper

Instructure will update Canvas code on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 and release updates on Saturday, November 21, 2020. 

The New RCE (Rich Content Editor) receives noteworthy new features on November 18.

  • The sidebar that opens on the right side of the window when users insert course links and existing images, media, and documents remains open until the user closes it, and the editor window narrows to show the entire page body while the sidebar is open. This should make it easier to add multiple links, images, etc.
  • The sidebar has a search bar to help users find existing course files. The search bar is not available for course links.

Edit November 30: Instructure decided to delay the change to store recorded and uploaded media in course, user, or group files after initial post. After November 21, Canvas will store video and audio files that users add via the New RCE’s Upload/Record Media option in course files (or group files or user files depending context and role). The files should be easier to find and reuse, but they will also count against course files storage quotas. Files recorded or uploaded before this change will not be affected. We continue to recommend adding multimedia using Canvas Studio because Studio has no storage quota, offers analytics for viewing activity,  offers more features when recording new media, and includes a commenting feature (which may be toggled on or off).

Click here to view the full Canvas code deploy notes for November 18, 2020. Click here to view the full Canvas release notes for November 21, 2020. The full notes contain more details about these and other changes, a link to a screencast explaining some of the changes contained in the release, a comments section, and role-specific user summaries. You can join in the discussion if you log in to the Canvas Community.

Production feature releases arrive on the third Saturday of each month. Click here to view release notes on Canvas Community. Instructure also lists noteworthy changes planned for future releases.

Header photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash