Faculty-loaded files into Assignments and Quizzes / visibility settings

[dbdbdb]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

For more information, please read through the Canvas Deploy Notes (2020-11-18) - Canvas Community 

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Hello,

When faculty upload a file into an Assignment or Quiz that has a future available date set, the file is, by default, stored in the Files area immediately with a setting of published (unless faculty go and then change the file's permissions to "only students with the link" or put it in a Files area folder already set up with this permissions level).

As we have faculty who have the Files area visible to students, this can allow a student to view the uploaded file before its intended available date. As well, my understanding is that students using the mobile app get a Files notification sent to them, unless the faculty member first uploads it into a Files area folder with permissions of "only students with the link."  

Ideally, the uploaded file's availability should align with the assignment or quiz into which it was uploaded. I can see reasons why the file may want to be visible to students after the due or until date of an assignment or quiz has passed, but I see a lot of benefits to aligning the first-available date.

Thanks,
David

[martin_ma]

Totally support this idea. I would recommend having admin user to choose what the default setting is for each course as some users might actually prefer the default to be published. But for others, if we can change the default to offline, it would be a safer option when we upload sensitive documents such as online test questions so that students don't get a peak before we modify the settings.

[RobDitto]

Rated 5 stars! Great idea, @dbdbdb.  I've always hoped it would become possible for the upload function in the New Quizzes rich content editor to allow inserting files whose availability is managed along with the quiz, never shown to students separately in Files. 

[RobDitto]

@dbdbdb , @martin_ma and others supporting this idea, also consider rating or commenting on this closely-related one:

• New Quizzes Stimulus PDF  

[Stef_retired]

Comments from Instructure

Files uploaded to an assignment default to a hidden status. These files are added to the Files page in the Uploaded Media folder. This change ensures all file assets for assignments are not visible to students unless they have a link per the assignment. Additionally, notifications are not sent to students regarding hidden files.

For more information, please read through the Canvas Deploy Notes (2020-11-18) - Canvas Community