If you have not logged into Canvas since May 2025, let's catch you up so you can hit the ground running this fall. This post is excerpted from a group presentation (Video 47:24) at the August 13th Canvas Investigations. Timestamps next to headings will link you directly to that topic in the recording.
Enhanced SpeedGrader 3:33
Instructors can enable "Performance and Usability Upgrades for SpeedGrader". It's great for large enrollment courses because it loads fast and offers better section and student navigation.
CAUTION: The font looks retrograde and the mini RCE lacks buttons for Image upload, Math editor, the option 'course link' under the link button. If those issues are critical, deselect "Performance and Usability Upgrades for Speedgrader" in the course (provided it is not forced on at the sub-account level) to roll back to the legacy SpeedGrader.
Discussion Checkpoints 5:29
Discussion Checkpoints are now available. If you wish to use Discussion Checkpoints, ask an academic technologist in your college to enable it in your sub-account. Once enabled, you can create a graded discussion.
CAUTION: Discussions with Checkpoint due dates do not display on mobile to do list so instruct your students to check Canvas desktop for Discussion due dates.
Badges 11:27
The free digital badging feature in Canvas is being deprecated by the vendor. If you are an issuer, you received an email in June from Instructure, the maker of Canvas. Export your badging data before Dec 31, 2025, and reach out to Technology Help if you need assistance.
Namecoach and Profile Pronunciations 12:30
NameCoach will be available for at least for another year. Additionally, we enabled Profile Pronunciations where users can go to their Canvas Account Profiles and add the phonetic spelling of their name. Profile Pronunciations does not support recording your name and is not an equivalent to NameCoach.
The State of AI in Canvas 15:10
There's a lot of excitement about the new AI tools coming to Canvas! As with all new features, we don't enable them automatically. New features go through a governance process to ensure they meet not only our University's security and privacy requirements, but also that it's a good fit for our community's needs and goals. If a feature is approved, we time its release with communications and term breaks, so that users are well-informed and not disrupted. Subscribe to the Teaching with Technology newsletter to learn about new features coming to Canvas.
Disabling Canvas Media option 16:14
On January 1, 2026, we will remove the Record/Upload Media button from the Rich Content Editor (RCE) toolbar.
Why disable Canvas media? There are no analytics, media is out of reach of our retention strategy, uploads contribute to course bloat, and files exacerbate an administrative challenge related to copied content. Most of all, media does not meet accessibility requirements and there is no easy ability to make them accessible. Instead of uploading media to Canvas, you should Add Media Using Kaltura by selecting the dedicated button on the RCE toolbar.
Course Retention 18:52
In October 2026 we will begin an annual practice of deleting academic courses older than 5 years. Courses will be marked for deletion in the user interface (UI). A comprehensive change management plan that covers Canvas, Kaltura, and Zoom is in the works. We will provide guidance for how to adapt to an environment where courses and media have a lifecycle.
Redesigned Files Page 21:45
The Files tab in Canvas has been updated to support bulk actions and provide a consistent look and feel with the rest of the platform. If you're not ready to transition, a button is available to Switch to Old Files Page through the end of the year.
Dyslexia Friendly Font 22:32
Users can toggle a setting to Use a dyslexia friendly font in Account > Settings. All user interface elements and content will use the font.
DesignPLUS Sidebar 23:21
The DesignPLUS sidebar is the default and you can no longer regress to the legacy toolbar. The vendor ends support for the legacy sidebar on December 31, 2025. After that, content built using legacy code won't break, but may deteriorate over time. Transition to the new sidebar.
Kaltura 26:01
User interface upgrade
In Kaltura in Canvas and MediaSpace, areas of the user interface have been upgraded. It's simpler, more responsive, and offers new capabilities. We're updating our documentation to reflect these changes. Some highlights:
- In My Media, media owners can select multiple items, then add collaborators or the change owner in bulk.
- On the Upload page, users can upload multiple files at once.
Starting in May 2025, professional captions are performed by 3Play Media and should result in higher quality captions.To arrange for services to be billed back to an EFS Chartfield String, refer to Kaltura: Request Additional Captioning Services.
Honorlock 35:00
After the retirement of Proctorio in May 2025, the we scanned past Canvas courses for “junk code” left behind in the Rich Text Editor (RCE) of both Classic and New Quizzes that had previously used Proctorio. Any quizzes that used Proctorio have a tagline before the title “Proctorio Removed” to help instructors which quizzes were impacted.
Look for this tagline to determine which assessments may need to pivot to Honorlock for proctoring.
FeedbackFruits 40:11
After a Spring 2025 pilot of the FeedbackFruits (FbFs) Interactive Study Materials tools, these tools are now available in Canvas including: Interactive Documents, Interactive Videos and Interactive Audio. These tools allow students to interact with course documents, videos and audio —answering questions, annotating content, and responding to prompts in real-time, either individually or collaboratively. Students answer practice questions and add annotations (personalized comments) directly within assigned audio. On August 5th a Train-the-trainer session was on for IDs/ATs. Resources from this session include a:
An instructor training is open for registration and is coming September 24th.
Generative AI
Resources for Instructors 41:53
Instructors have many questions about the use of GenAI in teaching. There are two new resources that specifically strive to address instructor questions:
New GenAI Tools 43:00
This summer OIT launched two new generative AI tools Google Gemini and NotebookLM. Both of these tools are opt-in.
- Google Gemini is an AI assistant available to all University of Minnesota students, faculty, and staff. Access to Google Gemini is by opting in. See Gemini: Guidance for Instructors
- NotebookLM is a research and note-taking tool powered by Gemini with Enterprise Grade Data Protection. Access to NotebookLM is by opting in. See NotebookLM: Guidance for Instructors
Generative AI Literacy resources 45:33
- GenAI + U: An Instructor’s Guide to AI Literacy
- GenAI+U: a student learning experience - resource instructors may wish to share with their students
Acknowledgements
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