Designing a personalized learning experience in Canvas often requires a careful balance between providing specialized support and maintaining a well-organized, manageable course structure. While Canvas Groups and Sections have their function for student organization, Differentiation Tags is a new tool to help you deliver targeted instruction with even greater precision and privacy. What Are Differentiation Tags? Differentiation Tags allow you to create custom labels and assign them to specific students or groups of students. Unlike Sections or Groups, these tags are completely invisible to students. This "behind-the-scenes" layer of organization allows you to categorize students based on specific needs, progress, required accommodations, or any needed way to sort students without creating public-facing labels. Once a student is tagged via the People page, the tags become a selectable option in the "Assign To" field. This means that you can deliver specific assignm...

  Extra Points contributors are interviewing University of Minnesota instructors working to comply with the updated digital accessibility policy effective April 2026. These blog posts highlight the approach they take as they lean into the challenge of revising their course content to be digitally accessible. This post highlights Dr. Olivia Crandell, Assistant Professor, Center for Learning Innovation, Rochester. Interviewer: When did you first start hearing about digital accessibility?  Dr. Olivia Crandell (OC): I think I first heard a general announcement in the fall of 2024, likely in a campus-wide email. However, I didn't give it serious attention until it was actually brought up in a department faculty meeting. It's been about a year since I have had digital accessibility seriously on my radar. Interviewer: What were your initial thoughts, feelings and concerns about the need to make your course materials accessible? My initial thought was that this would be a lot o...