[Discussions] Multiple Due Dates (checkpoints) for Discussions

[chriswhite]

This idea has been developed and is On Canvas Beta •  How do I access the Canvas beta environment?

For more information, please read through the Canvas Release Notes (2025-01-18) 

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With the way that many schools set up forum discussions and require "check-ins" to the forum throughout the week, it would be great if we could include multiple due dates in the discussion activities. For instance, I have classes that require everyone respond to the prompt by Thursday night and respond to at least 2 peers by the following Sunday. Being able to remind students that they have responses due, especially if we could scatter responses over multiple days, would likely increase participation.

[akhuebel]

Echoing the calls for an update on where this feature idea is.  Currently trying to grade 50 posts and replies and having to keep track on paper who turned in the initial post on time.

[ashlei_snead]

Disregard this statement. I noticed my post was merged this morning. I was confused so I contacted CANVAS again. The representative I just spoke to this morning said everything of the same topic gets merged so, at this point, it's a long waiting game. It's extremely frustrating that CANVAS refuses to see how important this is. We don't need workarounds, we need it as a feature. 

Hey everyone! I just spoke to a CANVAS rep and they told me to submit a an idea ticket here: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/forums/postpage/board-id/ideas/search-before-post-mode/true Apparently, the more people who request it, the better and faster it works. So post away, not on the same thread. I posted already.

[ashlei_snead]

Almost every professor has a student submit on one day of the week (typically Wednesday) and then they need to respond to at least two peers by the end of the week (typically Sunday). We have tried the workaround by adding due dates to calendars but this takes up too much time. It would be great if everyone student could have a mandatory day one submission for their discussion and a cut off date for their responses to their peers so it automatically gets added to their to-do list and calendars without staff or students having to remember. 

[sylvia_read]

We need a Canvas features that allows for discussions to have multiple due dates. One due date would be for the original post and the other would be for responses to the posts of others.

[SarahBlack]

To get around this, I have had to put two due dates for each discussion in my syllabus, then grade discussions once after the due date for the initial post, then go in and change the due date, and then after the due date go in and change the points required, then grade it again.  If I chance the number of points at the same time I change the due date, then suddenly students are failing the assignment, so I have to wait until I am ready to grade it to change the points possible.

It's doable but can be confusing for students to have a due date not passed but see that they have all of the points.

[baldwinsh]

Please allow us to have multiple due dates for one assignment.  This would be particularly useful for Discussion Boards which typically have a mid-week initial post requirement and an end-of-week responses-to-other-posts requirement.  I know there has been discussion on this for several years now, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere!

Also, if a student has a project they are doing either individually or as a group, multiple due dates could be useful there too.

Thank you!

[dodde]

To be honest, it is amazing to me that this suggestion was posted more than 5 years ago and nothing has changed. I just wrote to a customer service representative suggesting this change. They said that nobody had suggested this before and that I should post my suggestion on this idea board. 

I'm not surprised that so many students had this idea before me. Like many students, I rely primarily on the Canvas Dashboard to keep track of my assignments. With discussion posts in particular, my professors have only chosen one due date to assign both our initial discussion posts and responses to peers. It would make my life a lot easier if professors had the ability to use multiple due dates on the same assignment.

[JK16]

For a Discussion, it would be immensely helpful to be able to post 2 due dates:

1) for students to enter their initial contribution to the discussion

2) for students to replies to other classmates.

As is, if they are doing the assignment last minute, and they enter their initial contribution, they don't have time before the due date to respond to other students who are also working last minute. It would be helpful to have these due dates about 3-4 days apart. 

THANK YOU!

[wboswell]

This is still a massive issue and needs to be resolved. Students struggle with doing discussions because this isn't an option. 

[hlovett]

So many of our faculty members have requested this feature for discussions. It would make grading so much easier and it easier for students to track what is due and when.