Important information about comments in the enhanced assignment view

In the enhanced assignment view, students can write comments and attach files using the Add Comment button, even when an assignment is no longer open for submission.

A file attached as a comment is not registered as a new submission. It is therefore not displayed as a new submission attempt in Grades and can easily be missed.

Inform students that they must always use the assignment submission function when submitting a file for assessment. If a student needs to submit a file after the final submission date, you can reopen the assignment for the student if necessary.

Also check your notification settings under Account > Notifications. To avoid missing comments from students, we recommend that you enable notifications for Submission Comment.

Student guides

Background

Assignment management in Canvas has been enhanced with a clearer assignment interface and submission workflow. Students and teachers have access to new features and improvements for managing assignments. These include the ability to create more complex assignments, edit submission and availability dates, use peer review and link assignments to learning outcomes and individual students or groups. The improvements provide teachers with greater flexibility and more control over assignments in Canvas. For an introduction, see the Instructure video below about enhanced assignment management. It shows both the student view and features available to teachers.

Video overview

This video (5:55 min) from @SierraCollegeDistanceLearning on YouTube shows the improvements in both the teacher and student views.

Overview of improvements in the teacher view

Enhanced submission options: Submission types are now indicated by separate icons for greater clarity.
Student annotation: Teachers can enable student annotations in files.
Enhanced rubric functionality: New features include drag-and-drop, grading adjustments and the option to save rubrics as drafts or archive them.
Enhanced SpeedGrader: SpeedGrader has responsive views for different devices and an improved interface for managing more complex assignments.
Bulk download of rubrics: Teachers can download rubrics based on a specific selection.
Submission stickers: Teachers can add stickers to submissions as a form of feedback.