You're Not Alone: Working Around Closed Grading Periods

[Kelvin_Dean]

If your course is in a term that has closed grading periods, hope is not lost. We'll show you how to cope with this.

Creating Assignments (& New Quizzes) Outside of Grading Periods

This is somewhat tricky. For example, you have the following grading periods in the Fall 2017 semester:

Sample grading periods for the Fall 2017 semester. I think schools should update grading periods every semester...

Grading Periods

In this example (How do I add grading periods in an account?), assuming equal weight:

Grading Period Name	Start Date	End Date	Close Date
Quarter 1	2017-07-31	2017-09-01	2017-09-01
Quarter 2	2017-09-01	2017-12-15	2017-12-15
Semester 1 Final	2017-12-15	2017-12-22	2017-12-22

However, it's already 2020, and there's got to be a way to create an assignment outside of those boundaries. Although the Add Assignment button still exists, the assignment won't save correctly due to a closed grading period. So what now?

This is only a concept. We wished that we can choose the grading period that we want, especially for overlapping periods.

Go to the Commons (Best Method)

Canvas Commons offers a wide variety of assignments to choose from. Select the assignment you want to import. Then, do the following:

1. If the imported content is marked as published by the original owner, unpublish it to put it out of view.
2. Duplicate the assignment.
3. Erase all the content from the newly duplicated assignment and change the title to "Unnamed Assignment."
4. Click Save, and the assignment should save properly.
5. Duplicate that Unnamed Assignment and edit it as usual.
6. In the Assign header, click Add.
   1. Since there is a closed grading period by default, you must add a due date. Leaving it blank will still make the assignment fall in a closed grading period, and therefore the assignment will not save properly.
      
   2. The due date cannot be earlier than the dates of the previous grading periods.
7. Click Save to save the newly created assignment.

ANY ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS?
Repeat steps 5-7 for any additional assignments you want to create.

Creating Classic Quizzes Outside of Grading Periods

You can still create Classic Quizzes as usual. However, if you want to add a due date, you must repeat steps 6-7 above.

I hope this helps, and remember, anything is possible!

How to Avoid It Next Time...

Check with your local institution if you want the grading periods to be updated on a regular basis (usually every semester). That way, you don't need to click Add in the Assign To field every time you create an assignment.