Under course settings, we can set a course end date. Currently, 'updated_at' is overwritten en-mass with the course_end_date when that day comes. I can no longer tell when students dropped the course - which, in its own right, would be helpful information to know. Additionally, it becomes difficult to know how to handle any blank grades/whether 0's in the gradebook are trustworthy. For example, either the student properly missed an assignment and received a 0, or the 0 was merely auto-populated against the "missing" assignments of an inactive student. The guesswork dilutes post-course analysis of student performance.
It would be great if, upon end date, enrollment API's 'updated_at' was more selective with its update. I'd like all inactive students to retain when they dropped the course, while students who completed the course as active continue to be updated with the course_end_date. This approach would enhance the value provided by the 'updated_at' field post-course with a consistent and accurate meaning: a datetime reflecting when the student's enrollment in the course ended. 0's or blanks are interpretable again, and post-course student performance analysis becomes more accurate.
