New federal Title II requirements for digital accessibility took effect in June 2024 and will apply to all digital course content beginning April 24, 2026. To help instructors prepare, beginning on Nov. 20 we’re adding Ally—an accessibility scanning tool we’ve licensed and integrated directly into CarmenCanvas. Training sessions for Ally will be available later this month.
Tagged: Learning Systems Update
Introducing Ally: Support for Digital Accessibility in CarmenCanvas
Beth Varcho|November 7, 2025Update: CarmenCanvas Restored
Learning Systems|October 20, 2025As of Monday, October 20, at 7:10 p.m., access to CarmenCanvas has been restored. The system was unavailable due to the global Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage.Ally selected in LMS Accessibility Scanner RFP
Learning Systems|October 13, 2025Following an evaluation during summer 2025, the Office of Technology and Digital Innovation (OTDI) awarded the bid to Anthology for an accessibility scanning tool to be integrated with within the CarmenCanvas learning management system (LMS) and other Canvas instances.
CarmenCanvas Archived Course Labeling
Learning Systems|October 3, 2025OTDI will begin adding an “archived” label to CarmenCanvas courses from previous semesters to help instructors more easily identify current courses that must be made accessible. The “archived” label will be added during autumn break starting the evening of Oct. 15, 2025. All past courses should appear with the “archived” label by Oct. 17.
CarmenCanvas: Gradebook Updates
Learning Systems |September 26, 2025CarmenCanvas has had several new features added to the grading experience.In Gradebook Settings, a View Hidden Grades indicator option is now available.CarmenCanvas: SEI renamed to SSLE
Learning Systems |September 19, 2025The Student Evaluation of Instruction (SEI) has been renamed to Survey of Student Learning Experience (SSLE). In keeping with this, the links in the CarmenCanvas course navigation have been updated.
CarmenCanvas: YouTube Overlay Update
Learning Systems|September 16, 2025Beginning September 22, YouTube videos embedded in your Canvas courses may begin to display ads. This is due to a change made by YouTube. In response, Instructure (the vendor for CarmenCanvas) will display an overlay message warning users that ads may appear. This message will appear before a video plays and must be clicked through by each user.
Differentiation Tags
Learning Systems |August 20, 2025CarmenCanvas now has Instructure's new Differentiation Tags feature enabled.Carmen Files Redesign
Learning Systems |July 22, 2025The Carmen Files page has been redesigned for greater accessibility, intuitiveness and streamlined usage. This change applies to course files and user files. A temporary toggle allows users to switch between the new and the old interface.
Key updates include:
Canvas Update - Permalink for Discussion Entries
Learning Systems|June 6, 2025In Discussions, each reply now includes a copyable permalink allowing users to share a direct link to that specific reply. If the reply is part of a thread, the thread will expand to reveal it.