Adjust all assignment and quiz dates on a single page

The Problem:

Managing dates one item at a time is tedious when you are planning an entire semester. This is true for new classes, but also for existing classes since the ability to globally adjust imported dates never works for the way my institution designs new semesters.

 

I would like a spreadsheet format that shows all date related events on one page. I could then set up all events and synchronize them where necessary. This could be an online form, or the ability to download a csv template and reupload the dates.

 

I have attached a simplified snapshot of this kind of spreadsheet.

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

Please read through the Ready Release Notes (2020-04-18) 

172 Comments
lhenning
Community Novice

Hi Michael,

What you describe as the issue you would like resolved is very similar to ideas I submitted (with help) this past week.  They have to do with being able to view activities' and announcements' names, text content, and due dates. Perhaps you would want to take a look: ​  ​  ​ @

I would be interested in your input!

Regards,

Lindsay

scottdennis
Instructure
Instructure

Just a reminder that this idea will open for vote on August 5th, which is one week from tomorrow.

Renee_Carney
Community Team
Community Team

This idea is now open for voting.

harris60
Community Contributor
Author

Thanks for the note Lindsay. Yes in general I would like the ability to manage courses in bulk so that I don't have to edit every item individually.

It looks to me like your idea would be very helpful in this respect. The only addition to your idea (I'm not sure it's in your idea?) would be that I would like to be able to edit as well as view the fields in the expanded view.

lshnayde
Community Novice

I think the idea about adjusting all dates (due, available from etc.) for multiple assignments on one editable page is extremely important. Every time I copy an existing course into a new semester, I have to change all those dates for quizzes, discussions, and other assignments, and it is the most time-consuming part of getting the course ready for the next semester.

If it is easier it would also be okay if Canvas creates one editable page for each type of assignments (one for quizzes, one for discussions etc.).

scottdennis
Instructure
Instructure

Regarding, "I have to change all those dates for quizzes, discussions, and other assignments, and it is the most time-consuming part of getting the course ready for the next semester." do you click and drag via the calendar, or what method are you using to change your dates?

lshnayde
Community Novice

Scott,

No - I have not tried to click and drag dates via the calendar. I just go to each assignment, click "edit" and change the dates.

Are you saying that using the calendar drag and drop is faster? If so, I'll try that.

However, it looks like calendar only includes the due dates, but not the "available from" or "available until" or "lock before" dates, so that would be only a partial solution...

scottdennis
Instructure
Instructure

That is correct Leonid.  If you need to set multiple dates per assignment, you still have to click into each one.  It would be nice if we had something like we used to have in ANGEL; a single page with all the assignments listed as the Y axis and the various date types listed as columns.

linda_reeves
Community Novice

This is HUGE.  It's a nightmare to set up the classes.  "Click and drag" results in a lot of problems,  because that only gives a due date.  We also need a start date, and an "available date" end,  which is not always the same as the "due date." 

awilliams
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

I really like the idea of working this in to the drag and drop functionality of the calendar. Quite often faculty need to refer to a calendar anyway to make sure they are putting the correct date for the day of class. It should be possible to keep any offsets for lock dates and differentiated due dates assuming the user or section exists in the new course. The relevant feature idea for that is