incorrect "adjust dates" while importing a course

[cliff_cunningha]

I provide support for Canvas usage on University of Wisconsin-Madison. A faculty member teaches the same eight-week course every summer. And, we are having problems with the "date adjustment" feature during the course import.

Are there any documents, or recommendations about how to best use that feature?

[SusanNiemeyer · Accepted solution]

I'm sure that there are documents available. Just check the Canvas Guides.

As an instructor, I have found that "removing" the dates and starting over has worked better than "shifting" them. When I have tried to "shift" the dates, there have always been issue with holidays as well as general glitches. It's not going to be "foolproof."

If an instructor has "shifted" the dates, the best solution is to click on "Assignments" and then the three dots in the upper righthand corner. In the dropdown menu, click on "Edit Assignment Dates." This brings up a list of all of the assignments, and multiple dates can be changed at once.

[cliff_cunningha]

This suggestion (accepted solution) is what we are already doing. My hope in posting the question was to get some more clear guidance on how to better leverage the feature to benefit. (There is one dedicate Canvas Guide... but, it only provides ideal behavior.)

FWIW, I did a very controlled test, and I could not get the "adjust dates" feature to act properly.

• Two course shells.
• Each, five days long.
• First course had four assignments.
• Each assignment due on the first, second, third and fourth day of the five-day class, respectively.
• Imported the contents of first course shell into the second course shell.

The resulting due dates in the second course shell were either (depending on variables chosen)... a) the very same due dates that they were in the first course shell, or b) different dates, but out of sequence, and extending beyond the last day of class.

So, if the feature doesn't work in the most controlled of circumstances... and, the "accepted solution" is to ignore it and enter due dates manually... then, I ask the feature be removed. That will save future Canvas users (and support staff) thinking about the feature or trying to make it work.

[Dougpy]

How much aggregate time wasted at every Canvas school? Shifting dates from a Wednesday quarter start, to a Monday start should be easy for users! EVERY department teaches the same courses over and over again. Please fix this!

[gnoack]

I've found I get decent results by skipping the first field and only entering dates for the new course. I haven't tested this to compare, it's just my experience. 

Then, to fix any incorrect dates, I use the calendar to drag and drop assignments to their correct due dates an/or the Edit Assignment Due dates.

You'd think if the semester was the same amount of days and weeks it would just work, but I haven't had that happen yet.  Still, it's better than having to adjust all of the assignments. 

[SusanNiemeyer]

Bumping this one up. I hope that the Canvas folks can address this. @greydon  @igustafson @ColtonSwapp 

[Chris_Hofer]

@cliff_cunningha ...

Have you reported this issue to the Canvas Help Desk folks so that they can create a ticket for it and investigate on their end?  Maybe there are other Canvas users that are also experiencing similar behavior as well and have already submitted a ticket (in which case, they would attach your issue to the existing ticket item so that you are notified when the possible issue has been resolved).  Just a thought for you...

[hshaw1]

@cliff_cunningha @Chris_Hofer et al: It's September 2022 and I'm still experiencing this problem. When you refer to the Canvas Help Desk, is that something that an individual (me?) can do or that Canvas reps at institutions (like Cliff) would do? Thank you.

[Chris_Hofer]

@hshaw1 ...

Each school that uses Canvas as their LMS has a little bit different setup for getting Canvas support.  For example, at the Technical College I used to work for, they had "Tier 1" support which meant that they paid for Canvas help desk staff to take phone calls, e-mails, and chats for support.  Other schools send people to an on-campus support team, and then sometimes those tickets are then forwarded on to Canvas Support...depending on the situation.  Here are a few links to help:

• How do I contact Canvas Support?
• How do I get help with Canvas as an instructor?
• How do I get help with Canvas as a student?

Let Community members know if you have any other questions...thanks!

[MichaelGilliam]

ONE Solution - Better Answer: If shifting the due dates is NOT working, go to the course settings you are trying to copy. Make sure Course participation in the settings is set to "course" and that the Start and End dates appropriately correspond/match the term assignment due dates of that course. If these do NOT match, then the due dates will not adjust to the new term when you try to import. 

For example, oddly my Canvas Start/End dates were set for the Summer term, but the assignments in the page corresponded to the Spring term. This misalignment is what caused the dates to NOT adjust when I tried to import material from this Canvas course. 

Once I got this align, importing from this course with dated due dates worked perfectly. 

Way faster than adjusting individual due dates for all the assignments. 

[Chris_Hofer]

@MichaelGilliam ...

Interesting solution!  You may already know about this, but for those who may be reading this topic and are unaware, Canvas does have a way to bulk update due date / availability dates for assignments all on one screen.  This might be helpful for those that have already imported course content and forgot to adjust their due dates during that process.  Here's the link with all the information:

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

I hope this will be of some help to you and others that view this thread.