What’s New in CarmenCanvas (01/06/2018 Release)

(Read more about this release in the release notes.)

For Everyone:

  • (CVM-Specific) A “CVM Course Schedule” link is now available in the left menu within courses. This will take you directly to the CVM Schedule site.
  • The image picker in the sidebar of the Rich Content Editor now provides a checkbox to mark an image as a decorative image. (This can be used from an accessibility standpoint to indicate the image does not provide relevant meaning.)
For Instructors Only:
  • Updates to the new Gradebook: Ask us how to opt-in!
    • You can now set rules for late and missing submissions. For missing submissions, you can set a default percentage of the total possible score; for late submissions, you can set a percentage that will be deducted from the final assignment score per day/hour, as well as a lowest possible score.
  • Rubric criterion now support extra credit (i.e. excess points above maximum point value specified).
For Students Only:
  • Submissions to graded discussions can now be found under your personal “Submissions” folder.

What Is New in CarmenCanvas (12-09-2017 Release)

For Everyone:
  • The accessibility checker icon has been updated for the Rich Content Editor
  • You can now reply to or forward messages to more than 100 individuals
For Instructors Only:
  • (Ask us about opting into the New Gradebook!)
  • There is now a new button on the Assignments index page to move all items from an assignment group to another
  • Inactive students are now marked as such in the Groups editor

End of Semester is Approaching! Tips on Calculating Final Grades

The Office of Distance Education and eLearning has provided a in-depth guide on getting your students’ final grades ready.

Some commonly asked questions here at the CVM include:

  • What do the icons in my gradebook cells mean? It means that there are be items that you still need to grade; for example, using the SpeedGrader.
  • What do I do with blank cells in my gradebook? Don’t leave them blank!
    • If a student should receive 0 for a missed assignment, you should put 0 in the cell.
    • If a student has a valid excuse for missing an assignment, you should put EX in the cell.
  • How can I give students extra credits? The guide covers several scenarios as well as solutions. Both Teaching and Learning as well as PPS would be glad to help.
  • I have grades in Top Hat that should count toward the students’ final grades … how do I go about that? Please contact Teaching and Learning. If we helped you set your Top Hat course up, we should be able to help you easily sync those grades from Top Hat to Canvas.

What’s New in CarmenCanvas (11/18 Release)

(Complete notes for the 11/18 release)

For Everyone:

  • Emails for Canvas notifications are now better formatted for mobile devices.

For Instructors:

  • The following actions now utilize the new sidebar interface:
    • Moving of course navigation items (within course settings)
    • Moving of modules and module items
    • Moving of people into groups (within the People tool)
  • The new gradebook is coming! The feature can be enabled on an opt-in basis start Spring 2018, and will become default in Autumn 2018. Teaching and Learning will be holding showcases in the following weeks. (More Information)
  • Items that can be duplicated (assignments, graded discussions, and pages) can now be duplicated within a module.
  • Criteria can now be duplicated within a rubric.

What is New in CarmenCanvas (10/28/2017); Also, Exciting Features Coming Soon!

The October 28th release is packed full of features and enhancements for instructors!

For Instructors:

  • The new Accessibility Checker in the Rich Content Editor (RCE) helps you with enhancing your students’ ability, especially those who use a screenreader, to perceive and to process content created using the RCE, such as content pages, activity instructions, and discussion posts. Remember: making your course materials usable and accessible benefits all students. Some issues that the checker currently identifies include: text size contrast, table captions and headers, heading structure, and image alt tags. For more information about the tool, please check out the release notes posted above; for more information about accessibility, please feel free to email us! (Recommended resource on accessibility)
  • You can now copy a discussion.
  • The move-to menu that appears when you copy an assignment or a discussion has been replaced with a sidebar.
  • The Gradebook History page has been redesigned to include filter controls for student, grader, assignment, and start/end date.
For Students:
  • An issue that results in students receiving an error following quiz submission has been resolved.
For Everyone:
  • In the document previewer (DocViewer), you can now collapse and expand longer comments.

In addition, a recent blog post by the Office of Distance Education and eLearning lists some additional enhancements that are coming to CarmenCanvas next semester:

  • With the Office 365 integration, you (and your students) will have the ability to, in CarmenCanvas, create collaborative documents, access and create links to files stored in Office 365, create assignments where students can receive, edit and submit a document stored in Office 365, and more. (More information)
  • A new Gradebook is coming! The basic functionality remains the same, but it will come with new features and enhancements that will help with efficiency. Some items include additional ways to soft filter the columns (including student names), custom per-account colors for statuses such as late and missing, hiding unpublished assignments, cross-hairs to highlight the currently focused cell, late policy automations, as well as reordering the group and total columns. These functionalities will be rolled out in phases, with the first phases being available on an opt-in basis – Teaching and Learning will offer resources and showcases prior to Phase 1 becoming available in January of 2018. 

    New Gradebook with Cross Hairs

  • A newer, faster and better Quizzing tool (codenamed Quizzes.Next) is coming some time during the Spring 2018 semester! This is a complete rewrite of the quizzing functionality, and it will be initially available as an additional assignment type rather than a complete replacement (which will happen no earlier than 2019). See a feature comparison between the existing Quizzes tool and Quizzes.Next in its current form. Teaching and Learning will offer resources and showcases as soon as the new tool becomes generally available.

Quick Tip: Avoiding Issues with Taking Carmen Quizzes Using the Canvas Mobile App

We have been receiving reports of issues with Carmen quizzes when using the Canvas mobile app. While we have not been able to confirm this as a technical issue with our on-campus partners as well as the larger Canvas community, we are continuing to investigate and to monitor the situation.

From a student standpoint, here’s what you can do to minimize issues you encounter:

  • Always check quiz instructions before you start. In a timed quiz, the timer does NOT stop when you jump out of a quiz (by switching to another application on an iPad, closing the quiz to return later, and so on). Your quiz attempt will be automatically submitted when the timer runs out or when the quiz closes.
  • Always make sure your version of the Canvas app is up-to-date. The vendor regularly releases updates to the app with bug fixes and feature enhancements. The latest version is 3.18 for iOS, and 5.7 for Android.
  • For open-book quizzes, consider taking the quiz in a browser. While we have not be able to confirm whether switching between apps on a mobile device would cause issues, this is one of the suggestions that we were able to locate on the Canvas Community site.
  • Consider taking your quizzes in single sitting. While you are able to leave a quiz and resume later, you have enough deadlines to keep track of already. Don’t add another one to your already-full plate.
  • Review the late assignment policies of the courses you are taking. Some courses may already provide guidelines for when a quiz issue occurs in the syllabus.
  • Know that we investigate every report of issues related to quizzes and assignments by pulling access records, submission attempts, and other navigation data.
If you suspect that your iPad is misbehaving, feel free to contact us at CVMOTL@osu.edu; while we cannot resolve all issues, we may be able to point you in the right direction.

What’s New in CarmenCanvas (2017-09-16 & 2017-10-07 Releases)

You have noticed many visual changes in CarmenCanvas since the last “What is New in CarmenCanvas” entry! There were large lists of bug fixes in these two releases; below is a sub-list of changes that we would like to highlight.

(For additional information, visit the 2017-09-16 and 2017-10-07 release notes)

For Instructors Only:

  • Did you know that Canvas has a built-in course conferencing tool for running remote synchronous class sessions among individuals enrolled in the course? The Conference tool received various enhancements in the 2017-09-16 release, including an interface update, ability to allow student download of presentations, download public chat logs, full-screen mode, multi-user whiteboard, and shared notes.
  • Rubric criteria ratings can now be defined with point ranges,. Previously, entering a point value not specified by a rating would not trigger selection of a rating.
  • Published/unpublished icons have been updated.

For Everyone:

  • Email notifications from Canvas are now shown to be from the course instead of from “(Instructure) Canvas”

Quick Tip: Staying on Top of Your Course Due Dates

With many assignment and quiz due dates to juggle, it is very important for you, the students, to know how to handle them effectively. Fortunately, Carmen helps you to do that through multiple ways:
  • The right sidebar on the Dashboard page (link on the left menu once you get past the landing page) shows the following:
    • To Do shows all assignments with a due date in the next seven days
    • Coming Up shows all assignments and events that will take place or start in the next seven days
    • Recent Feedback shows any feedback that you have received from your instructor during the last four weeks
  • On each course’s homepage, the To Do, Coming Up and Recent Feedback sections are also displayed in the right sidebar.
  • Each course also has a calendar that will display any items with date(s) attached to them, such as start and due dates. The Calendar tool aggregates the calendars of the courses that you are actively enrolled in.
  • Finally, due dates are also listed on most syllabi that is provided to you on or prior to the first day of classes. If you need additional organization and/or reminders, it may be a good idea to record them on your personal calendars, to-do lists, etc..
As always, if you have questions regarding study strategies, please feel freeom to email us at CVMOTL@osu.edu.

Ed Tech Q&A for Students (9/8/2017)

Q: I am not seeing a course that I’m enrolled in on the Carmen landing page.

A: Some individuals’ Carmen landing page may be experiencing issues synchronizing enrollments from the Student Information System (SIS). If you are not seeing courses that you are enrolled in, please try the following:

  • Click the “CarmenCanvas Dashboard” link at the right side of the Carmen landing page. This will take you directly into CarmenCanvas to the Dashboard page, on which you can access the courses that you are currently enrolled in.
  • To fix the issue, please contact the main campus IT help desk via 8-HELP (688-4357) or carmen@osu.edu.

Q: In Carmen, how do I submit an online assignment?

A: Canvas Guides provides a series of excellent resources:

As always, it is your responsibility to confirm that your assignment has been successfully submitted prior to the deadline.


Q: How do I turn off auto-correct/auto-capitalization/etc. on my iPad for an ExamSoft exam?

A: You can adjust keyboard settings under Settings –> General –> Keyboard. (More Information)


Q: How can I tell how well I need to do in my course in order to get a/an [letter grade]?

A: On the Grades page, you are able to not only view your current grades, but also enter “What-If Grades” to approximate your final grades. Please also be mindful of the “Calculate based only on graded assignments” checkbox, as the final grades shown with this particular feature enabled may be inflated.

For more information:


Q: Lecture captures are not playing on some computers!

A: Currently, lecture capture videos are served to PCs/Laptops in Adobe Flash format. Since Adobe Flash is set to be retired in 2020, major browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have begun to disable Flash by default. Due to security concerns related to the plugin, we recommend that you enable Flash on a site-by-site basis, and only if absolutely needed:

Ed Tech Q&A for Students (9/1/2017)

Q: I’m new to OSU! Where can I get additional training for Carmen?

A: The Office of Distance Education and eLearning provides a wonderful Start of Term Checklist, which lists various resources from which you can get more information regarding using Carmen. You are also welcome to email us at CVMOTL@osu.edu and/or stop by VMC 0076A for help.


Q: In Carmen, how can I check to see that I have answered all quiz questions before I submit?

A: In both the web and the mobile versions, Carmen provides you with a list of quiz questions which indicates which questions you have answered, and which you have not. You can also use this list of flag any questions that you would like to skip for now and revisit later. (More information for web, mobile app). Carmen also seeks additional confirmation if you try to submit a quiz with unanswered questions. Please note your unfinished attempts will be automatically submitted when the time is up in a timed quiz, or when the quiz is closed. It is always a good practice and your responsibility to check whether you have answered all questions before submission.


Q: Lecture captures are not playing on some computers

A: Currently, lecture capture videos are served to PCs/Laptops in Adobe Flash format. Since Adobe Flash is set to be retired in 2020, major browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have begun to disable Flash by default. Due to security concerns related to the plugin, we recommend that you enable Flash on a site-by-site basis, and only if absolutely needed: