What are Canvas Feature Options?
Canvas feature options are optional settings available for instructors to enable or disable as they like in their course settings. Some features may be marked as “Feature Preview” indicating they are not yet fully developed and Canvas is working on improving their functionality and will continue to see updates to their functionality as you use them.
Benefit of using Canvas Feature Options
Canvas feature options provide instructors with additional control and granularity for how courses are configured to help facilitate teaching and learning and engagement with their students. Enabling “Feature Preview” options allows instructors to explore and test new and upcoming Canvas features before they’re fully deployed as default functionality in Canvas.
How can I use Canvas Feature Options?
Once a feature option tool becomes available in Canvas, it is evaluated by OIT’s Academic Technology team. If approved for use in our global instance, the feature will become available to all CU Canvas instructors within their course.
To enable a tool from your course home page:
- Click on Settings.
- Click the Feature Options tab.
- Find the feature option you would like to enable.
- Click the state icon to the right of the tool to toggle the feature on or off for the course.
Feature options must be turned on or off for each course. For more detailed instructions on using new features in Canvas, see the How do I manage new features for a course? tutorial in Canvas Community.
Please Note: If a tool is set as “On,” it is already available in your course. If a tool is set to “Off,” it hasn’t been enabled for CU Boulder yet. If you would like to explore a tool that hasn’t been enabled, contact the IT Service Center at oithelp@colorado.edu or 303-735-5419.
Current Feature Options
Final Grade Override
- Grade Override allows instructors to enter a final grade for students that is different from the grade automatically calculated by Canvas in the Gradebook.
- Learn more: How do I override a student's final grade in the New Gradebook?
Moderated Grading
- Moderated Grading allows anyone with assignment creation permissions to assign one or multiple specific graders to an assignment submission, review the assignment grades before they are released to students, and select which grade should be set as the final grade for each student.
- Learn more: What feature options are currently available for Canvas courses?
Anonymous Grading
- Anonymous Grading requires all course assignments to be graded anonymously in SpeedGrader. Students can view whether or not an assignment was graded anonymously on both the student Grades page and the sidebar of the assignment submission page.
- Learn more: What feature options are currently available for Canvas courses?
Anonymous Instructor Annotations
- When creating an assignment, you can enable anonymous instructor annotations in DocViewer supported submissions. When students view a submission with anonymous instructor annotations in DocViewer, comments do not display an instructor's name.
- Learn more: How do I enable anonymous instructor annotations in student submissions?
Default to New Quizzes
- Instructors interested in New Quizzes are strongly encouraged to reach out to the Academic Technology Consulting team before enabling this feature or transitioning from Classic Quizzes to New Quizzes.
- This feature option sets New Quizzes as the default quizzing engine and removes the ability to create Classic Quizzes. Access will not be removed for viewing content or data for Classic Quizzes. When creating a quiz from the “+Quiz” button it will take you to the Assignment Edit page rather than open the window to Choose a Quiz Engine.
- Learn more:
Discussions/Announcements Redesign
- Discussions and Announcement redesign provide an updated user interface, feature parity with existing Discussions/Announcements as well as additional features for instructors and students.
- Canvas has indicated the redesigned Discussions and Announcements will become the enforced functionality in Canvas and existing Discussions and Announcements will no longer be available after July 20, 2024.
- Learn more:
ePub Exporting
- Allows students and instructors to generate an ePub export of their Canvas course for viewing offline on an ePub compliant device or app.
- Instructors should be aware that ePub exports will download all published course content, including published content within an unpublished module and published course files that have not been linked in student-facing course content.
- ePub Exporting is disabled by default. To enable ePub exports, instructors can follow this guide for enabling course options: How do I manage new features for a course?
- Learn more:
New Quizzes
- This feature option makes Canvas’ “New Quizzes” assessment tool available in the Canvas course.
- Instructors interested in New Quizzes are strongly encouraged to reach out to the Academic Technology Consulting team for additional consultation and training.
- Learn more: New Quizzes Hub
Outcome Service Results to Canvas Reporting
- Allows for Canvas Outcomes results to be made available to Administrative Canvas reporting
- Learn more: What are Outcomes?
Student Learning Mastery Gradebook
- Provides a way for students to quickly view progress on course learning outcomes. Outcomes are presented in a Gradebook-like format and progress is displayed both as a numerical score and as mastered/near mastery/remedial.
- This feature is only useful if Canvas Outcomes are being used in the course
- Learn more:
Support
You may experience issues with feature options. If you do, contact the IT Service Center at oithelp@colorado.edu or (303) 735-4357 to let us know. For consultation on these tools, contact OIT’s Academic Technology Consultants.
