The Sheridan Center’s Digital Learning and Design (DLD) team is pleased to share the following important learning technology updates as you prepare for the Spring 2026 semester.
As we look ahead to the new term, we are excited to run two new tool pilots and to begin enabling newly available AI-powered features within Canvas to support your teaching and course development. You will find more details on these initiatives and other tool changes in the sections below.
In solidarity, as the Brown community grieves recent events, the Sheridan Center has compiled resources on their website for instructors with questions about teaching after a tragedy
DLD Pilots for Spring 2026
Introducing Wooclap-A Live Polling tool available through Canvas
The Learning Technologies team is committed to finding the best tools to enhance student interaction and engagement. While course sites currently leverage polling features available in tools like Top Hat and Zoom, we are exploring a dedicated solution for real-time polling and surveys.
We are pleased to invite faculty and staff to participate in the Spring semester pilot for Wooclap, a highly regarded polling solution that integrates directly with Canvas. You can read more about Wooclap in our “What is Wooclap” article.
Your feedback would be most appreciated during this trial period. Please share your thoughts by emailing [email protected] or you can submit feedback on this form about Wooclap.
Norvalid-Validate Original Student Writing
Norvalid is a writing evaluation tool that is focused on “evidence of a student's own writing rather than evidence of others' writing.” Rather than seeking to detect AI writing, Norvalid looks to determine if the student submissions are authentic, by comparing them against other writing samples from that same student. The application will also read the student’s paper and ask them targeted questions about the contents, to validate authorship and to reinforce their own understanding.
If you’re interested in exploring this tool, please email [email protected].
Updated Canvas Features
Explore Available AI Ignite Features in Canvas
We are excited to announce that some new Canvas AI (or IgniteAI) features are now available as "opt-in" tools for Spring 2026 course sites.
To ensure instructors have full control over their course environment, these features are not turned on by default. You can choose to enable them within each of your course sites’ settings area if you wish to leverage them. As with any generative AI tool, you should always confirm the validity and accuracy of the content being generated.
What’s Available?
- IgniteAI Question Authoring for Quizzes: Speed up your assessment building in Canvas’ New Quizzes tool by using AI to generate quiz questions based directly on your course content.
- Related resources from Instructure:
- IgniteAI Summaries for Discussions: Quickly get up to speed on long student threads with AI-generated summaries that highlight key themes and contributions.
- Related resources from Instructure:
- IgniteAI Translations for Discussions, Inbox, & Announcements: Break down language barriers and support inclusive communication with integrated translation tools for course messages and posts.
Surveys now available in Canvas New Quizzes
Surveys are now officially available in Canvas’s New Quizzes! This update brings one of the most popular features of Classic Quizzes to the more modern New Quizzes interface.
While Classic Quizzes remains the default at Brown, we encourage you to explore New Quizzes if you have been waiting for survey functionality to make the switch. You can choose your preference each time you create a new quiz.
Important things to note:
- Within New Quizzes you can now create graded or ungraded surveys and enable anonymity.
- While you can view survey results in the Canvas "Reports" tab, CSV data exports for New Quizzes is not available yet but planned for a future release this year.
- If you need a spreadsheet of survey responses right now, please continue to use Classic Quizzes.
Ready to try it out? Learn how to get started: How to Create a Survey in New Quizzes
Canvas EPortfolio Feature Retired, Jun 30, 2026
Please be advised that the Canvas ePortfolio feature tool will no longer be available starting on June 30, 2026.
To ensure you do not lose any of your work, we strongly recommend that you export your existing content before this date. After June 30, these tools and any data stored within them will no longer be accessible.
If you have any questions or need assistance with the export process, please email [email protected].
Canvas Integrated Tool Updates
Pope Tech Accessibility Tool
In Fall 2025, DLD made Pope Tech available in Canvas to help faculty improve course accessibility. Use the resources below to get started. If you have questions regarding this tool or course accessibility in general, please email [email protected].
Resources
- What is Pope Tech? (Canvas @ Brown)
- How Do I Use the Pope Tech Canvas Course Dashboard? (Canvas @ Brown)
- Pope Tech Canvas Documentation (Pope Tech)
- Video Resources:
DLD Learning Technologies Canvas Support Resources
Whether you are exploring the new features listed above or finalizing your Canvas site, our team is here to support your teaching goals. Please review our following offerings.
Canvas Office Hours & Consultations
DLD will once again be offering 15-minute Canvas Office Hours starting January 16th and throughout shopping period. Please use this scheduling link to find and book your session.
If you have more complicated questions about Canvas or need assistance with a DLD supported tool, we still have our 30-minute full consultations which you can sign up for on our DLD consultation page.
Join the Canvas Community@Brown
Canvas Community@Brown is a resource site that features the latest news about Brown's Canvas environment as well as being a hub for Canvas information including quick links to articles answering the most frequently asked questions as well as our previous updates articles linked on our DLD Learning Technology Updates and Release Notes page.
To start exploring the community, please visit the Canvas Community@Brown page.
Rather have Canvas news directly sent to you, please join the Canvas Community listserv to receive a monthly digest.