[ARCHIVED] Returning student work and unpublishing assignments

[hreitzel]

How are assignments returned to students?

and

I want to unpublish an assignment, but I can't because it says there are still student student submissions, but is this because I don't know how to return the student's work?

[kmeeusen · Accepted solution]

Hi  @hreitzel  Welcome to the Canvas Community!

Yes, assignments cannot be unpublished once a student has submitted an assignment to it, and this is actually a good thing. And there is no way to remove a submission once it is made.

You do not need to "give your assignments back" to your students, as they can view them just fine in Canvas, and can review the grade you posted and any annotations or comments you have made right there in Canvas. And, if your students so desire, they can actually download a copy of their assignment anytime they want. Because of this, you always have a permanent record of the work your students submitted, and the scores they earned - very important stuff in any state with retention laws, which is, of course, all states.

If you want to control student access to the assignment, you can set Available From/Until dates. After that time frame has passed, students can still view the assignment and their submissions, even download them, but can no longer resubmit.  What is the difference between assignment due dates and availability dates? 

You might want to review the Assignments and SpeedGrader chapters of the Canvas Instructor Guide for more help. Or, just come back and ask us, we are always happy to answer questions.

Kelley

[hreitzel]

Thank you so much for your thorough answer. It was helpful.

Holly Reitzel

On Wed, Apr 22, 2020, 2:18 PM Kelley L. Meeusen <instructure@jiveon.com>