What's New in UNM Canvas

UNM Canvas Implementation Updates

This section details changes to Canvas implemented by the UNM team. For information on regular Canvas updates made by the vendor, see Canvas New Releases and Updates (from vendor) section below.

December 2023

  • The Course Evaluations and Surveys (formerly EvaluationKit) Integration has been added to UNM Canvas and is automatically enabled. This new "Course Evaluations" link under the Account menu inside Canvas allows students to access and complete end-of-term course evaluations. Instructors can access the Course Evaluations & Surveys tool the same way, and can use it to download evaluation results, add custom questions to their evaluation (if available), and review response rates and evaluation dates. For more information concerning course evaluations, please visit UNM's Course Feedback website.

November 2023

  • The Sage Vantage integration has been added to UNM Canvas. It is primarily used with the UNM Bookstore's Inclusive Access program. This tool is an intuitive learning platform that integrates quality Sage textbook content with assignable multimedia activities and auto-graded assessments to drive student engagement and ensure accountability.

June 2023

  • The WileyPLUS integration has been added to UNM Canvas. It is primarily used with the UNM Bookstore's Inclusive Access program. This tool allows Instructors to pair their WileyPlus materials to their Canvas course. Instructors can benefit from the assignment deployment functionality, automatic grade synchronization, and more. Students can quickly begin working in their course by registering and then accessing deployed WileyPlus assignments.

May 2023

March 2023

  • Users with the Teacher role can now add and remove TAs and Designers in their current and future Banner and Temp courses to meet a UNM business need through the +People tool. Visit Managing Course Assistants for instructions.

January 2023

  • The plagiarism detection software, Turnitin Similarity can now be enabled for assignments in UNM Canvas. Turnitin Similarity generates reports after checking students' assignment submissions against institutional and online databases. If there are instances where a student's writing is similar to, or matches against, any of the sources, Turnitin will highlight it for instructors or TAs to review.

December 2022

  • Instructors, TAs, and Students now have access to create Emojis in Submission Comments when leaving feedback comments for student submissions in the SpeedGrader and Grades area. This change allows Instructors, TAs, and Students to convey messages through the use of emojis as visual indicators in addition to written comments. This feature is enabled by default, but you can disable it in your course by going to Settings > Feature Options > Emojis in Submission Comments > Disable.

September 2022

  • In order to accommodate development in late-ending courses, Temp courses for each term will now close (become Read Only) on the first day of the following term instead of two weeks after the end of the full term for the Temp course. For example, Fall 2022 Temp courses will now close on 1/16/23, which is the start date for the Spring 2023 term (instead of closing on 12/31/22).

August 2022

  • UNM Canvas was added to a list of systems that IT implemented an interim workaround solution to address business continuity needs. Most HSC users (that also have UNM Main NetIDs) will be able to sign into UNM Canvas seamlessly with their HSC username and password.
  • The Anonymous Grading Feature Option is now available which provides an optional checkbox instructors can select within Assignment details. Selecting the Anonymous Grading checkbox hides student names from graders when they view assignment submissions in SpeedGrader.
  • The Moderating Grading Feature Option is now available. It is disabled by default; to enable it, within your course go to Settings > Feature Options and change the state for ‘Moderated Grading’ to ‘Enabled’. Moderated grading allows multiple reviewers to grade student work and create draft or provisional grades for an assignment. For each moderated submission, the user set as the moderator is the only user who can specify the final grade for each assignment. Note: Once an assignment has been set as a moderated assignment, the option cannot be disabled once submissions have been received.

July 2022

  • The iClicker integration is now available to use in Canvas. Instructors will need to build their course in the iClicker Cloud instructor website to sync iClicker data and rosters with Canvas. Instructors will also need to download the iClicker Cloud desktop software to run synchronous Polling, Quizzing, and Attendance activities. The old application instructors used with Learn will not work.

June 2022

  • Spring 2022 courses have been bulk migrated to Canvas. For more information about migrated courses, visit the Migration Options page.
  • Respondus 4.0 (test creation tool) is now available to use in Canvas. This is different than the Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor (virtual exam integrity tool), which has been available since April 2022.

May 2022

  • Section Groups are now available in UNM Canvas for instructors who wish to merge two or more sections into a single Canvas course. Section Group requests should be submitted at least one week before your class will start .Visit our Section Groups page for more information, including important caveats to consider when grouping and the major differences between Learn and Canvas Section Groups.
  • Ally is a content accessibility tool that is now integrated with Canvas. It provides feedback to instructors on items in their course and how to make them more accessible. It also generates alternative formats for students to view content.
  • RedShelf is a textbook aggregator tool that is now integrated with Canvas. It is used to provide access to Inclusive Access course materials instructors set up with the UNM Bookstore.
  • The ability to have SCORM content is now available . Please see our warning on the SCORM page before loading any SCORM packages in Canvas.
  • Several publisher integrations have been added to Canvas. These are primarily used with the UNM Bookstore's Inclusive Access program:

April 2022

  • Banner courses for Summer and Fall 2022 are now available in UNM Canvas for instructors to develop or copy from a Temp course. Online and hybrid courses are automatically added to the system, and web-enhancement is available for face-to-face courses. Section Grouping is not yet available. If you are an instructor and plan to group your sections in Canvas, we strongly recommend you develop content in a Temp Course until the Section Group Request Form is ready. If you only build in your Banner course, you will lose access to that content in the original course once the sections get grouped.Courses are added to UNM Canvas in an “unpublished” state. Students will have access to courses in Canvas once instruction is scheduled to begin and the instructor publishes the course .
  • Respondus LockDown Browser (and Monitor) is a virtual exam integrity tool that is now integrated with Canvas.
  • LibGuides are subject, course, and topic guides created and curated by UNM librarians that you can now integrate within your Canvas courses.

March 2022

Canvas New Releases and Updates (from vendor)

Canvas is a cloud-hosted system with multiple updates per month. For the most up-to-date information about Canvas, please see Current Canvas Releases & Deploys.

Some new features in Canvas do not get included in the regular Canvas release and deploy notes and instead have their own set of release notes and user groups. Please see Additional New Features for more information.

Please note that there will be differences in our instance of Canvas. Some tools may not be available in our UNM Canvas instance and the system may be configured differently in some areas, especially when it comes to available course settings that interact with Banner data.

Additional New Features (from vendor)

Some new features in Canvas do not get included in the regular Canvas release and deploy notes and instead have their own set of release notes and user groups. Below is a list of the current new features and resources for those.


New Quizzes

New Quizzes is a quiz engine that integrates with Canvas as an LTI tool and replaces the Classic Quizzes functionality that has historically been used in Canvas. This feature is turned on as an option in UNM Canvas. When building a quiz in a course, you will have the option to choose between a Classic Quiz or New Quiz. Visit our New Quizzes page for more information.
New Quizzes: Join the User Group | View the latest Release Notes

Discussions/Announcements Redesign

Instructure’s Discussions/Announcements Redesign offers opportunities to bolster collaboration through modern, flexible discussion features. The Redesign currently provides a cleaner UI for improved accessibility. It also introduces features like split and inline views, quoting functionality and @ mentions, and new sorting and filtering options. The Redesign is available and can be enabled within courses.
Discussions/Announcements Redesign: Join the User Group | View the latest Release Notes

Assignment Enhancements

Assignment Enhancements is an update to the Classic Assignment Details page that improves the assignment interface and submission workflow for students. This is the default option enabled across all courses in UNM Canvas, but instructors can choose to revert back to the older assignment interface if needed.
Assignment Enhancements: Join the User Group | View the latest Release Notes


New Analytics

New Analytics allows instructors to track average course grades for student submissions using an interactive chart graph or table. Data is for viewing only and cannot directly be changed. This is the default and only option enabled across all courses in UNM Canvas. The older analytics tool is not available in our instance.
New Analytics: Join the User Group | View the latest Release Notes