Turnitin will be unavailable on Saturday, March 17th from 11am-5pm EST due to vendor maintenance.

The following actions are recommended to prepare for this maintenance outage:

• Instructors are encouraged to set assignment due dates that avoid scheduled maintenance windows for Turnitin services. Originality reports will not be available during this period, but assignment submissions will be accessible.
• Students are encouraged to submit assignments in advance of affected due dates.

Canvas and all other integrated tools will be available and unaffected by this maintenance.

We apologize for any inconvenience this outage may cause. Please direct any questions to [email protected].

Canvas operates on a three-week release cycle through which features are added or updated. Courseware Support posts highlights from Canvas’s production release notes, a link to these notes, and other relevant content to the Canvas at Penn a few days before the production release, which usually occurs on Saturdays. Please contact Courseware Support at [email protected] if you have any questions about an upcoming production release.

3/10/18 Production Release Highlights:

• Profile Picture Gravatar Setting: When profile pictures (user avatars) are allowed for an institution, admins can also allow or disallow Gravatars as a profile-image option. A Gravatar is a globally recognized avatar associated for a user in any website that supports Gravatars. The University of Pennsylvania has decided to disable Gravatars as profile-image options. This will not remove Gravatars from existing profiles, but it will remove the option to add a Gravatar from the “Select Profile Picture” menu.
• Courses Page Design Updates: The “Announcements” page includes an updated design to improve accessibility for all users. Most functionality has not been affected. The following changes have been made to course announcements:
  • The Unread button has been changed to a menu where users can filter between all announcements and unread announcements.
  • External feeds are viewed and managed within a separate sidebar similar to other Canvas features.
  • The RSS feed button has been changed to a link within the “External Feeds” sidebar.
  • Announcements are locked by default and no longer display a lock icon. Announcements that allow comments include a Reply link under the announcement. Users can view and reply to the announcement by clicking the announcement title or the Reply link.
  • Announcements can be specified for a specific section or all sections. The number of sections is visible to all users who are able to view the announcement.
  • Profile pictures display next to each announcement for the user who posted the announcement. If profile pictures are not enabled for an account, the announcement displays a placeholder profile picture.
  • For instructors, the following changes apply:
    • The Add External Feed link has been moved to a link within the “External Feeds” sidebar.
    • The “Announcements” page no longer includes excess whitespace.
    • Delayed announcements are identified in the “Announcements” page and include the upcoming post date and time.
    • The lock and unlock icon for allowing or disallowing comments has been changed to a “Reply” arrow icon.
• Section-Specific Announcements: When creating an announcement, instructors can create section-specific announcements in their courses. When creating an announcement, instructors can select to send the announcement to all sections, one section, or multiple sections. Both the individual announcement and the Announcements page displays the section(s) that can view the announcement. Users will view announcements for the sections where they are enrolled. Note that they can also view the specific sections where the announcement was posted.

Please Note

Updated Announcements features will be released on the following tiered distribution schedule: Monday, March 12th (4pm EST) through Wednesday, March 14th (11am EST). Individual customer accounts will be enabled by engineering teams on an ongoing basis according to account size and Canvas performance.

For a complete production release update, please see:

Canvas Production Release Notes: March 10, 2018

2018-03-10 New Feature Screencast from Canvas LMS on Vimeo.

Access video transcript

The service degradation affecting Turnitin and Turnitin UK has been resolved. During the service degradation, users may have experienced slowness when making or viewing Turnitin submissions. Turnitin has confirmed that the service has been restored to a normal operational state.

We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may cause. Please direct questions: [email protected].

Turnitin and Turnitin UK are currently experiencing a service degradation. Users may experience slowness while making submissions or viewing them.

Turnitin is working to resolve this as a priority. We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may cause. Updates on this issue will be posted to Canvas at Penn. Please email [email protected] if you have any questions.

Yellowdig will be unavailable from 9am-10am EST on Wednesday March 7th due to scheduled maintenance by the vendor.

Canvas and all other integrated tools will be available and unaffected by this maintenance.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please direct questions or concerns to: [email protected]

Some users may have experienced a problem accessing or submitting to Turnitin and WriteCheck today between 1:09 – 2:09 pm. The root cause has been identified and resolved.

We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may cause.Please direct questions: [email protected].

Want to learn how to turn any classroom into an active, collaborative learning space? Register for Leveraging Classroom Spaces for Active, Collaborative Learning (DigPed 003)!

DigPed 003 will take place on Monday, March 12th, 9-10:30am in the Collaborative Classroom (Van Pelt Room 113).

Upon completing this workshop, you will be able to:

• Use tips on learning space design to quickly and easily adapt any space for collaborative learning
• Design collaborative in-class activities suitable for their own lesson goal(s)
• Integrate collaborative in-class activities with technology

We look forward to seeing you at DigPed 003! Learn more about the Teaching+Tech workshop series. 

Image borrowed from https://minutehack.com/interviews/zappar-our-piece-of-the-100-billion-augmented-reality-pie

Join us for a hands-on workshop to create mobile augmented-reality experiences using ZapWorks. In this 1.5 hour session, you will have the opportunity to experience and critique Zappar, a vision-based AR mobile app that adds a layer of digital content to images and brings them to life, as well as create and share content through ZapWorks, a tool used to make augmented-reality experiences for Zappar.

The Creating Mobile Augmented Reality with Zappar and ZapWorks workshop takes place on Tuesday, February 27th, 1-2:30pm in the Collaborative Classroom (Van Pelt Room 113)

Register today!

Please note: In order to participate fully, you will need a smart phone or tablet that can run Zappar. Each workshop participant will be assigned a temporary ZapWorks account that will expire two weeks after the workshop is completed.

This workshop is part of the PennImmersive initiative of Penn Libraries and Penn’s Year of Innovation.

Ready to blend your course but not sure how to pick the best technology? Register for Mixing It Up with Tech: Turning a Course Activity into a Blended Learning Experience (DigPed 002) to experiment with a variety of tech tools and to learn how to purposefully use these tools for teaching, research, and learning!

DigPed 002 will take place on Tuesday, February 20th, 1-2:30pm in the Collaborative Classroom (Van Pelt Room 113).

In this workshop, you will experiment with tools such as:

• Poll Everywhere:  a web-based polling tool that accepts responses via mobile devices and browsers (no clickers needed)
• Canva: a free graphic-design tool that can be used to create infographics, flyers, and other materials
• Google Cardboard: an inexpensive lens used to view virtual-reality content on an iOS or Android device via mobile apps
• Zappar: a vision-based AR mobile app that adds a layer of digital content to images and brings them to life
• Qualtrics: a survey tool with advanced features like branching-logic settings and multiple question types
• And more!

We look forward to seeing you at DigPed 002! Learn more about the Teaching+Tech workshop series. 

Canvas operates on a three-week release cycle through which features are added or updated. Courseware Support posts highlights from Canvas’s production release notes, a link to these notes, and other relevant content to the Canvas at Penn a few days before the production release, which usually occurs on Saturdays. Please contact Courseware Support at [email protected] if you have any questions about an upcoming production release.

2/17/18 Production Release Highlights:

• GPA Scale Grading Type Removal: In an assignment, GPA Scale is no longer included as a grade-display option in the Canvas interface. This change supports upcoming grading-scheme enhancements in the New Gradebook. GPA Scale assignments can still be created through the Assignments API, though the existing GPA Scale parameter has been deprecated. Any existing assignments set to a GPA Scale will not be affected with any grade calculations.
• Individually Graded Group Assignment Comment Options: When an instructor creates a group assignment with individual grading, the group assignment includes specified options that clarify how to send submission comments. For student roles, this change applies to the assignment submission page and the submission details-page sidebar. Students can choose whether they want to send a comment to the instructor only or to the whole group. For instructor roles, this change applies to the submission details-page sidebar, the Gradebook-comment window, and the SpeedGrader sidebar. Instructors can choose whether they want to send a comment to the student only or to the whole group.
• Autocomplete Courses Menu in Conversations: The Conversations Courses menu has been updated as an autocomplete menu. This change improves accessibility for all users. This menu change is also located within the Compose Message window. Users can either scroll to locate a course or group, or they can start to type the name of the course or group in the text field and click the full name when it appears.
• Course Home Page Student View Button: The Course Home Page includes a Student View button. This change allows instructors to access student view without having to open Course Settings.
• New Scheduler Design Updates: In the Calendar, the Scheduler appointment group editing window includes minor design updates to the date and time fields.
• Module Files Download Icon Update: In Modules, the download icon used for a file added as a module item has been replaced with the attachment icon. This change clarifies user expectations when displayed in a page and helps align consistency throughout all Canvas areas and mobile apps.
• Terms of Use Terminology Update: Terms of Use has been renamed to the Acceptable Use Policy. Any link, window, or page in Canvas that previously referenced Terms of Use has been updated to reflect this new terminology. The Acceptable Use Policy link displays in the Canvas footer in the Login page and the Dashboard.

For a complete production release update, please see:

Canvas Production Release Notes: February 17, 2018

2017-02-17 New Feature Screencast from Canvas LMS on Vimeo.