Canvas updates: Apply score to ungraded, default due time, speedgrader emoji, & downloading all work

Here are some handy features in the latest Canvas update. Some of these features needs to be turned on by your Canvas administrator. If you don’t see this feature in your instance of Canvas, ask your Canvas administrator to flip the switch.

Apply score to ungraded

While we’ve been able to mark all ungraded work with a default grade by clicking the 3-dot kebab icon for each Canvas gradebook entry, we now have the power to do that across the entire gradebook in one fell swoop. Click the 3-dot kebab icon next to Total in the Canvas gradebook. Use your new-found power only for good.

Default due time

In course settings, we now have a default due time. Our local Canvas administrators have set the default time to 11:59 pm. You can choose other times as a default, but they’re all top of the hour times. If you want one of those, select it, then click the “Update Course Details” button. When you create a new something with a due date, by default, this will be the time that is entered—thus “default due time.” In your assignment/discussion/quiz/page, even though that time pops in as the default, you can change the time in each assignment/discussion/quiz/page to whatever you’d like.

If you want more options than these default times, check out this blog post.

Speedgrader emoji

Canvas has added clickable emoji to the Speedgrader comment box. To choose from the entire emoji library, click the faded smiley face in the bottom right corner of the Speedgrader comment box. In the bottom left corner, choose from thumbs up (whose meaning differs radically by culture; use with caution—or intention; you do you), clapping, and smiley face. While the thumbs up will always be there, the second and third emoji options will change to your most recently used emoji. Yes, your students also have access to these same emoji options.

Students can download all of their coursework, even from concluded courses

Students can download all of their submitted coursework—even from courses from previous terms that are now closed to students, such as assignment files and assignment textbox entries (but not discussion posts or quiz results). The files are the ones the students submitted. Instructor annotations are not included. To download (almost) all of their work, students click on Account and select Settings. On the far right is a “Download Submissions” button. Canvas will download the work into a zip file. The zip file will contain folders for each Canvas course the student has taken, with each course folder containing the work students submitted.