Lock All Modules/Assignments/Pages During Certain Times

[JennLong]

Is there a relatively easy way to unpublish or lock entire modules, INCLUDING THEIR ASSOCIATED ASSIGNMENTS & QUIZZES, during certain hours?

For example, I only want students to be able to access modules, pages, assignments, etc. during school hours (8:30-3:30). Outside of those hours, I do not want students to be able to access ANYTHING. (I have my reasons that don't apply to my question here.)

For now, I simply unpublished the module; however, students can still access all of their assignments from their To Do list on the Home page, and I don't want them to be able to do that outside of school hours. HELP!

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi @JennLong ...

One thing you can do (but may not fully meet your needs) is to lock your modules until a date/time that you specify.  When you are on your "Modules" index page, click on the three vertical dots icon (also called a "kebab") to the right of the module name.  Then, select "Edit".  You will find a "Lock Until" checkbox.  You can then select a date and time for when you want to open up that module for your students.  You could keep the items published within that module.

Again, this might not fully meet your needs because there isn't a date/time field where you can specify when to unpublish or not make the module material available again.

For your assignments and quizzes, why not use the "Available from" and "Until" date/time fields?  You could set those up so that those items are only available between the dates that you set in the properties for those kinds of assignments/quizzes.

Do you think any of this might work for your needs?  I know that you said items show up on the "To Do" list, so you might want to test that out as you play around with these settings.

I hope this helps in some way.  Sing out if you have any questions.  Thanks!

[NoahBoswell · Accepted solution]

Hey @JennLong --

I just wanted to add on, your students shouldn't be able to access the assignment if you have it in an unpublished module, so I'm confused how they can still access it. They should get this screen instead (I'll provide an image below).

I also recommend ensuring you have your "Assignments" link disabled on your course navigation so they can't access it that way, either.

Best,
Noah

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi @JennLong ...

One thing you can do (but may not fully meet your needs) is to lock your modules until a date/time that you specify.  When you are on your "Modules" index page, click on the three vertical dots icon (also called a "kebab") to the right of the module name.  Then, select "Edit".  You will find a "Lock Until" checkbox.  You can then select a date and time for when you want to open up that module for your students.  You could keep the items published within that module.

Again, this might not fully meet your needs because there isn't a date/time field where you can specify when to unpublish or not make the module material available again.

For your assignments and quizzes, why not use the "Available from" and "Until" date/time fields?  You could set those up so that those items are only available between the dates that you set in the properties for those kinds of assignments/quizzes.

Do you think any of this might work for your needs?  I know that you said items show up on the "To Do" list, so you might want to test that out as you play around with these settings.

I hope this helps in some way.  Sing out if you have any questions.  Thanks!

[JennLong]

Thank you so much for helping me think through the options for my scenario. I was playing around with the "Lock Until" option, but as you said, it didn't quite meet my need.

However, I am now going back to all past assignments and quizzes, and setting the "Available from" and "Until" date/time fields. I will do that from the beginning of next semester, but since the idea only came to me now towards the end of the current semester, I was trying to avoid doing that for each individual assignment/quiz, etc. A bit tedious at this point, but sounds like that is exactly what I need to do looking back and then going forward. Thank you so much again!

* As an aside, my students (as most nowadays I presume) would rather play around during class time and "I'll just do it at home (read: use AI) later." I'm just trying to mitigate as much of that as possible by having them actually work during class time. 

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @JennLong ...

Thanks for the reply, and I'm glad I was able to help.  I forgot to mention that, if you were not aware, there is a bulk date updater screen (so that you don't have to go into each assignment individually).  Here's a link:

How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor?

I hope this will be of help to you.

[NoahBoswell · Accepted solution]

Hey @JennLong --

I just wanted to add on, your students shouldn't be able to access the assignment if you have it in an unpublished module, so I'm confused how they can still access it. They should get this screen instead (I'll provide an image below).

I also recommend ensuring you have your "Assignments" link disabled on your course navigation so they can't access it that way, either.

Best,
Noah

[JennLong]

ahh yes, I see that now. Thank you! I did discover today that if a student has an assignment open in a tab during the day, close their laptop and go home, they can still access that assignment when they go home and open their laptops. I'm not sure if this is a known glitch or workaround on their part.

[NoahBoswell · Accepted solution]

It might be a secret workaround on their part, but if they go to submit it, it should still fail (that's what it did when I gave it a try).

So unpublishing the module at the end of class or the day should hopefully still work for you!