Canvas updates
ePortfolios marked as Legacy
Canvas ePortfolios are now labeled Legacy in Account navigation. There is also a banner in ePortfolios announcing that the product will sunset June 30, 2026. A new and improved Canvas Portfolios is near release. We will provide guidance and support to help you transition to the new product which has a richer feature set. The new Canvas Portfolios moves beyond Showcase Portfolios and will include Evaluation Portfolios within a course context.
Icons to indicate assignment status in the Gradebook
The Canvas Gradebook has an option to View status for colorblindness in the View Options tab in Gradebook Settings. Enabling the feature adds icons in addition to color to assignments that are Missing, Late, or Excused.
Kaltura updates
Updated guidance for students taking Kaltura Video Quizzes
If you use a Kaltura Video Quiz in a Canvas assignment, in rare cases the student’s video quiz score doesn’t get sent to the Canvas Gradebook. The main causes of this failure are when individual students take longer than four hours to complete the video quiz (including starting and stopping throughout the day) or when they start the video quiz on one device and finish it on another. OIT staff is working with the vendor to increase the number of hours a video quiz can be used. In general, include the following instructions for students:
- Complete your quiz in one sitting in less than four hours.
- During the video quiz, do not change to another browser or device.
Zoom updates
Third-party AI applications soon to be blocked in Zoom
To maintain information security and data privacy, the University of Minnesota will update Zoom and Google Workspace beginning Thursday, February 26th to block a number of unlicensed third-party AI applications. Examples of unlicensed third-party AI applications to be blocked include Fireflies.ai, Otter.ai, Read.ai, OpenAI (ChatGPT), and xAI (Grok). Once this block is in place, these tools will no longer be able to
- Join UMN Zoom meetings
- Integrate with UMN Google Drives and Calendar.
If you have used any of these tools in the past, read more details on this change in the IT news article.
Making course content digitally accessible: An interview with Dr. Vanessa Lee
With the April 2026 compliance deadline approaching, instructors at the University are revising their course materials to meet the updated digital accessibility policy. In this interview, Dr. Vanessa Lee, Professor of Psychology in the College of College of Liberal Arts, Twin Cities campus shares her experience. Read Extra Points, Making course content digitally accessible: An interview with Dr. Vanessa Lee to hear how instructors are navigating efforts to make their digital content accessible.