Export Grades to SIS: New Features & Updates

This article documents new features, fixes for issues, and updates in the Export Grades to SIS tool.

November 16, 2023 - New Features

Save Grades

Instructors and TAs in a Canvas course site can now save course grade overrides in the Export Grades to SIS tool prior to export. This allows instructors of record to save their work in progress and return to it later, and allows other supporting instructors to assist with grading. For steps, see How do I save course grade overrides in Export Grades to SIS? (opens new window).

Saved Grade Indicators

Screenshot of example saved grades with icons shown.

Two icons may be displayed with saved grades:

  1. Grade Override Active: A triangle icon will appear with each saved grade that differs from the grade which was calculated automatically based on the grading scheme. If a saved grade is changed to match the value that the scheme would provide based on the student's Gradebook Score, this icon will not be displayed.
  2. View Grade Log: A clock icon will appear with each saved grade. You can select this icon to access a log of grade changes made in Export Grades to SIS.

Admin Access

School and departmental sub-account administrators who assist with courses can access the Export Grades to SIS tool to support instructors using it.

Internationalization Support

Screenshot showing the tool's loading page in French.

Export Grades to SIS now supports internationalization to display text in languages other than English. Pictured above is an example of the tool's loading page in a course site where the language is set to French. The text, "Loading your assigned rosters..." has been translated as follows: "Chargement de vos listes d'étudiants..."

If instructors who set their course site to a language other than English would like to contribute translated text to display when their course is using that language, please contact the Learning Technology Services (LTS) Team and let us know.

For more information about Canvas course language settings, see How do I change the language preference for a course? (opens new window).

Note: If a course site's language setting is the default Not set (user-configurable, defaults to English (United States)), and an instructor sets their preferred Canvas account language to a language other than English, that language setting will also be reflected in Export Grades to SIS. For more information, see How do I change the language preference in my user account as an instructor? (opens new window).

November 16, 2023 - General Usability Improvements and Bug Fixes

The tool has improved usability in the following areas:

  • If a Canvas course grading scheme has been enabled, a warning banner now displays to alert instructors that they may need to update grading schemes accordingly in Export Grades to SIS before they export grades.
  • A pop-up has been added when exporting grades for the instructor to confirm they are ready to submit.

The following bugs were fixed:

  • In some courses with many rosters included, the tool would not load and would time out.
  • If a section's SIS ID included a space, an error page displayed.

November 16, 2023 - Potential Issues for Instructors Using Screen Readers

The following potential issues were identified for screen reader users. These issues will be addressed in an upcoming version.

  • In the Grades tab, the currently-selected option in the Select a roster and Course Grade drop-down menus can be changed using the left and right arrow keys. This can make it difficult for a screen reader user to access and read text in columns of the Grades table other than the Course Grade column.
  • When you need to wait for processing to complete, some of the messages that say, "Please wait," are not currently being read by screen readers. The affected messages include the warning on initially loading the tool that you may need to wait for rosters to be loaded and the prompt after editing a grading scheme indicating that you may need to wait for the grades to be recalculated.
  • In the Schemes tab, when initially navigating to the Threshold field of a letter grade with a plus or minus, the plus or minus is not read. However, the correct grade is indicated after the screen reader describes the threshold without the plus or minus. For example, when navigating into the field to edit the percentage for A+, JAWS screen reader first says, "A threshold," then it follows up with the correct information, "Percent threshold for A+." To work around this issue for now, we recommend waiting for the full "Percent threshold" field label to be read.
  • In the Schemes tab, each grade threshold can be changed by either typing in the Threshold field or using the up and down arrow keys to edit the percentage via a control that a screen reader calls a "spin box." You can enter up to two decimal places for a threshold, but the "spin box" controls use whole numbers. If you type in a percentage with a decimal place, for example, 95.5, the "spin box" control will say it is an "invalid value," even though it is valid and will save successfully.

Note: If you encounter an issue using Export Grades to SIS with a screen reader, please contact the Learning Technology Services (LTS) Team. In your email, please include the screen reader you are using and a description of the issue, so we can try to investigate and address it.