Category: Canvas

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Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2025

What is Global Accessibility Awareness Day?

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is an international event intended to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital accessibility and inclusion.

This year the event will be held on 15 May 2025.

To honour GAAD, we will be posting a series of blog posts and videos highlighting issues and provide guidance on accessibility issues (more on that later in this post).

Let’s begin by exploring what digital accessibility means, identifying the individuals it affects, and challenging common misconceptions about accessibility.

What is Digital Accessibility?

Digital accessibility refers to the ability of people with disabilities/impairments to independently consume and/or interact with digital.

This can include web content and applications (including on mobile devices).

The Diverse 21st Century Learner

Digital accessibility is often perceived as a set of practices aimed solely at helping individuals with disabilities. However, accessibility is much broader and benefits everyone, regardless of their abilities or circumstances. By incorporating accessibility into digital design, we create inclusive environments that enhance usability and convenience for all users.

Our learners come from a wide range of backgrounds, each with unique needs shaped by their individual circumstances. Unfortunately, these needs are sometimes overlooked, particularly in terms of accessibility.

These learners could include:

Learners with Visible Disabilities

This can include individuals with visible disabilities, such with mobility impairments, visual impairments, or hearing impairments.

Learners with Invisible Disabilities

This could include users with invisible disabilities, such as cognitive impairments, mental health conditions, or chronic illnesses.

Learners with Temporary Disabilities

Users experiencing temporary disabilities, such as a broken arm or temporary vision impairment.

International Students

Students from different countries who may face language barriers and cultural differences.

Professionals Seeking more Education

Working professionals looking to further their education.

Learners with Different Preferences

Users with specific preferences, such as those who prefer dark mode or larger text.

Parents

Parents who may be juggling multiple responsibilities and need efficient and accessible digital tools.

Commuters

Individuals who frequently travel and use digital tools on the go.

Learners Who Use Mobile Devices

Users primarily accessing digital content via mobile devices.

Offline Users

Users who prefer or need to access content offline due to limited internet connectivity.

With knowledge of who our potential learners could be, we can help create digital content that is accessible and helps towards meeting their needs.

What is Happening This Week

To help our colleagues and students at Newcastle to engage with accessibility content, colleagues in the Learning and Teaching Development Service (LTDS) are going to be sharing blog posts each day during this week on Digital Accessibility.

Schedule of Posts

  • Tuesday 13th May 2025 – Document Design Fundamentals
  • Wednesday 14th May 2025 – Creating Accessible Videos in Recap (Panopto)
  • Thursday 15th May 2025 – Anthology Ally in Canvas
  • Friday 16th May 2025 – Accessibility Resources Available at Newcastle University

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Save the Date: Digital Education Technologies Showcase Day 

The Learning Enhancement and Technology Team in the Learning and Teaching Development Service (LTDS) are hosting a Digital Education Technologies Showcase Day on Monday 1st September 2025 between 12 and 3pm in the Boilerhouse.

This is a fantastic opportunity to meet the teams and people behind our Digital Education Technologies here at Newcastle. This will include: Canvas, ReCap, Vevox, Inspera (Digital Exams), Assignments (Canvas, Turnitin and New Canvas Quiz), Buddycheck, NULA, NU Reflect, AI, H5P, as well as the Numbas Team, Digital Adoption (M365 and Adobe) and Library Reading Lists Team.

This event is aimed at both academic and professional services colleagues already using these systems who want to take that step further, as well as new colleagues who want to learn about the digital technologies available.

The event will take place as a drop in, so you don’t need to sign up. If you would like to make any suggestions around what you would like to see at the event, please complete our Microsoft Form.

More information will be shared about this event over the summer.

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Canvas October 2024 Updates

Over October there have been a series of updates to various features within Canvas including New Quizzes, Assignments and Discussions.

In this blog post, we will cover what is new in Canvas for October 2024.

How to Navigate this Update

This update is broken down into pages dedicated to updates for each of the Canvas Features.

By selecting the page numbers below, you will be taken to the update for each Canvas feature.

Included in this update is:

New Quizzes Updates (Page 2)

  • Add Time to Existing Quiz Sessions
  • Manage Student Result View
  • Submitted Date Displays in Moderate Log
  • Attempt Log Stopped Viewing the Canvas Quiz Page

Assignment Updates (Page 3)

  • Assign to Interface Change – “Assign To” Location Change

Discussions Updates (Page 4)

  • Edit button added to Discussions Index Page
Pages: 1 2 3 4
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Inbox Updates 

Over the summer there have been a series of updates to the Inbox within Canvas.

In this blog post, we will highlight some of the key changes to the Inbox and how you can utilise these changes in your courses.

Video Overview

Add Auto Response

All users can now create an Auto Response message in the Canvas Inbox. This works similar to an email Out of Office message however this only within the internal messaging system in Canvas.

An example of this can be found below:

To do this:

  1. In the top left corner of the Inbox, select the cog icon
  2. From the dropdown menu select “Response On”
  3. Add the Start and End Date
  4. Add a Subject
  5. Add a Message
  6. Select “Save”

Add Signature to Messages

All users can now create a personalised signature on their Inbox messages in Canvas. This works similar to a signature in Emails and is assigned to internal messages in Canvas.

An example of this can be seen here:

As you can see above, my contact details have automatically been added to my message.

To do this in your own inbox:

  1. In the top left corner of the Inbox screen, select the cog icon
  2. Select the “Signature On” button
  3. Add your personalised signature in the box provided
  4. Select the “Save” button
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Announcement Updates

Over the summer there have been a series of updates to the Announcements feature within Canvas.

In this blog post, we will highlight some of the key changes to Announcements and how you can utilise these changes in your courses.

Video Overview

Mark All As Read Button

In Announcements, a Mark all as read button is available.

This update allows users to quickly and efficiently mark all announcements as read. Previously, each message would need to be manually marked then a bulk action applied. With this update, all messages can be marked as read with a single button click.

Notification for Changed Content

In Announcements, instructors can notify students when an announcement has been updated.

This feature prevents missed information, allowing users to respond promptly and appropriately to the new information.

Previously there was no way to alert recipients that there had been a change to an announcement other than posting the message again or sending another message informing students of the change.

Availability Dates

In Announcements, the delayed posting field is changed, in addition to the Available from field, instructors can add Until dates.

The update enables instructors to specify a date when the announcement will no longer be visible to students.

Announcements Timestamp

In Announcements, the Created date is hidden from students, and the Last edited date is only shown if the announcement was edited after being published. Additionally, the Posted date now reflects when the announcement became available.

This update helps prevent any confusion between the Posted and Last edited dates for students.

In the above screenshot, we can see in the teacher view, we can see the creation and the posted date (point 1).

In the student view below, we can see that we only have the posted date (point 2).

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SpeedGrader Updates

Over the summer there have been a series of updates to the SpeedGrader tool within Canvas to improve the ability to provide feedback.

In this blog post, we will highlight some of the key changes to the SpeedGrader and how you can utilise these changes in your courses.

Submission Comment Drafts

In SpeedGrader, after adding a submission comment, if this has not been saved, a Draft pill displays indicating that this comment has not been saved and a warning message is presented alerting the teacher that the comment has not been saved.

Previously there was no clear indication that a comment had been submitted and this would lead to students not seeing comments/feedback in their assignments.

With this update, it is clear for a teacher to see the status of a submission comment.

You can see in the example below that the submission comment has not been submitted and we have a draft pill alongside our comment:

When we press submit on this comment, the draft pill disappears which means the comment is visible to the student:

Rich Content Editor (RCE) In Submission Comments

In SpeedGrader, some Rich Content Editor (RCE) features are available when using submission comments. The available RCE features include:

  • Heading
  • Bold
  • Italic
  • Underline
  • Font colour
  • Insert Hyperlink
  • Bullets

This allows teachers to style feedback and provide further resources via linking. In the example below, you can see a link is provided to further resources to assist the student:

This functionality is available at the top of the submission comments box as demonstrated below:

Equation Editor in Submission Comments

In SpeedGrader, an Equation Editor function has been added to the Rich Content Editor. This feature enables instructors to incorporate math equations into their submission comments.

In the below example, you can see the new equation editor function within the submission comments in SpeedGrader:

Randomise Students in Submission List

In SpeedGrader Settings, instructors now have the option to randomise the order of students within each submission status. This update helps mitigate grading fatigue and biases by ensuring a random sorting of students. Additionally, it enhances grading efficiency by maintaining this random order within submission statuses.

Below are step by step instructions on how to do this:

  1. In the top left corner of the SpeedGrader, select the cog icon
  2. From the dropdown menu select “Options”
  3. Within SpeedGrader options, select “randomise students within a submission status”
  4. Select the “Save settings” button

Please note that when the randomised students, the preference is saved as the default in the browser for the course. When logging in on another device, instructors must select the sort by options again.

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Digital Assessment Upcoming Training Webinars

The Digital Assessment Team in LTDS have various training webinars covering our Digital Assessment tools starting in the next few weeks.

You can check out the full list of sessions, dates/times and the links to book in our list of sessions.

Inspera Digital Exams

Inspera for Professional Service colleagues

6 November 2024, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM

Creating and managing exam questions in Inspera

2 October 2024, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

7 November 2024, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Marking an Inspera exam with auto marked questions

16 December 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

22 January 2025, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Marking and moderating an Inspera exam with manually marked questions

17 December 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

23 January 2025, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Digital Assignments: Canvas and Turnitin

Creating and Managing Digital Assignments

2 October 2024, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Online Marking & Feedback (Canvas)

4 December 2024, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Online marking and feedback (Turnitin)

11 December 2024, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM

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Canvas Best Practice – Remove Any Unused Navigation Links

Do you get frustrated when you click on a link and no content appears?

If you don’t hide inactive links on your Canvas courses, your course visitors could be clicking on links that have no content.

Your course navigation bar in Canvas should only include links to active items.

Hiding unused navigation links in a navigation bar has several benefits:

  • User Clarity: When showing only inactive navigation items, users might mistakenly click on items with no content. Hiding non-active items prevents confusion and frustration when no content appears.
  • Cleanliness: By hiding unused links, you declutter the navigation bar, creating a cleaner and more visually appealing menu.
  • Canvas Mobile App: As all links are displayed in the Canvas App, by including only active items, you will improve the usability of your course navigation.
  • Accessibility: Hidden links are less distracting for screen readers and visually impaired users. It ensures that the focus remains on relevant content.

This is also a requirement in the Newcastle University Canvas Baseline.

The below video from the Canvas Baseline Requirements guidance demonstrates how you can do this in your course:

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Canvas Best Practice – Using the Rich Content Editor (RCE) to style your content

The Rich Content Editor in Canvas offers a straightforward and efficient method for building content in your Canvas courses.

The Rich Content Editor is available in:

  • Announcements
  • Assignments
  • Discussions
  • Pages
  • Quizzes
  • Calendar

The Rich Content Editor allows for the embedding of various elements such as videos, images, other types of media files, course files. Additionally, it enables the creation of tables and lists. You are also able to link to content within your courses and to materials outside your course via hyperlinks.

The Rich Content Editor allows you to bring all your content together in one place.

In this blog post, we will show you examples of how to can use this in Announcements, Assignments, Discussions, Pages and Quizzes.

This short video from Instructure, you can see how to use the RCE in Canvas:

An example of using the RCE in Announcements

Links can be incorporated into your announcements to guide students towards specific resources you wish to highlight.

In the example provided, we prompt students to review a pre-lecture task located on a Canvas page. By including a direct link (highlighted as 1 below), students are navigated straight to the resource, eliminating any potential confusion. This ensures that all necessary resources are conveniently provided within the announcement message itself.

An example of using the RCE in Assignments

Essential resources for the assessment can be made readily accessible to students by providing pertinent links. These may include links to guidelines, policies, and additional support such as discussion boards.

In the following example, we have incorporated a link to a discussion board (1), enabling students to anonymously pose questions about the assessment. Additionally, we have included an email link (2) for direct communication with the module leader. Links to school policies and university regulations, such as student progress and plagiarism, are also provided.

By consolidating all necessary information for the assessment in one place, we eliminate the need for students to search elsewhere.

This approach promotes clarity and guidance, ensuring that students fully comprehend the expectations and requirements of their assessment

An example of using the RCE in Quizzes

In the Quizzes section, you have the option to include links that can assist students with their assessments. These could be links to the content that will be evaluated or to technical guidance.

In the given example, we are notifying students that the assessment will be based on the Week 1 Lecture (highlighted as 1). Additionally, a link for technical support (highlighted as 2) is provided for their convenience.

An example of using the RCE in Discussions

Links to the discussion topic and technical guidance on utilising Canvas Discussion boards can be incorporated. This approach is beneficial as it equips students with all the necessary resources for active participation in the discussion, while also providing context to the discussion topic.

In this instance, we are offering a link to the module corresponding to the current teaching week (highlighted as 1). This serves to give students a prompt for the discussion and context for the topic under discussion. Additionally, we provide technical guidance for utilising discussions (highlighted as 2).

An example of using the RCE in Pages

Using the RCE in Canvas Pages

Leveraging the Rich Content Editor (RCE) in Canvas Pages, you have the flexibility to enrich your teaching materials with a diverse range of content items. This includes not only links to course-specific content and videos, but also resources like PowerPoint presentations and external webpages.

In the below example

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Canvas New Feature – Find and Replace in the RCE

Overview

Canvas, our Virtual Learning Environment is constantly evolving to enhance user experience and functionality. Each month we inform you via this blog what changes are taking place, how they will impact users and how to make the best out of this new functionality.

In this blog, we will look at the new Find and Replace tool in the Rich Content Editor.

Rich Content Editor – Find and Replace

What is this new feature?

A find and replace tool has been added to the Rich Content Editor (RCE). This will be similar in functionality to Find and Replace your would find in Word Processing applications like Microsoft Word.

As this is a Rich Content Editor enhancement, you will be able to use this in the following areas of Canvas:

  • Announcements
  • Assignments
  • Discussions
  • New Quizzes
  • Pages
  • Quizzes

How do I use this Find and Replace Tool?

  1. Access the Rich Content Editor:
    • When editing a Canvas page, discussion post, or any other content, click the Tools drop-down menu in the Rich Content Editor.
    • Select Find and Replace from the options.
  2. Search and Replace:
    • In the modal that appears, enter the text you want to find in the Find field.
    • Enter the replacement text in the Replace field.
    • Click Replace to replace the first occurrence, or Replace All to replace all occurrences.
  3. Keyboard Shortcut:
    • You can also use the keyboard shortcut:
      • Mac: Command + F
      • Windows: Control + F

Video Demonstration