Adjust all assignment and quiz dates on a single page

[harris60]

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) 

[ben_guido]

Changing dates is a huge need for me. Due dates themselves can be manipulated through the calendar in a clunky fashion, but all the other kinds of dates can only be changed by manually opening every assignment. Not only should there be an easy way to change due dates (right on canvas--not merely through a downloaded/uploaded spreadsheet, but further I need an easy way to adjust open and close dates. So I'd like in one swoop to select a group of assignments and make them all become unavailable after the due date if I desire, or one day after their respective due dates, etc. Even further, capability to simply remove an availability or unavailability date on a group of assignments would be helpful, if I no longer wanted those assignments to become unavailable.

[kim_simpson]

Totally agree! I do not understand why this is a thing we must vote on. 

[Steven_S]

The calendar comes really close to doing this!  All assignments show up on their due date, and can be adjusted by clicking and dragging to new days.  Unfortunately, what is missing is a way to also adjust availability dates, and so currently it is possible to move a due date before or after the limits on availability.  A solution would be to add availability bars to the calendar. 

I imagine the assignments showing the same way they currently do, plus a simple line matching the color assigned to the course  with a vertical mark at the far left and right end.  The bar should remain the same number of days/hours/minutes before and after the due date as the assignment is moved on the calendar page.  Then the instructor should be able to click the bar to adjust availability (for example to accommodate a weekend or holiday close to the new due date).

Displaying these bars on student calendars would also help communicate availability to students

[ndp5]

I think this is a great idea. I am dealing with multiple sections (14-18) and each has a different due date for the assignment. I want to be able to create offsets in due dates by section so that I can adjust the due date in one place and have all sections updated with the offset.

[teaguee]

Yes this is always the most time consuming part of the beginning of a semester. I have a lot of assignments in my courses and being able to do this quickly would make my time spent between terms much more beneficial.

[careysmith]

THis is so obvious, I can't believe it has not yet been implemented. Person has had it for years.

At lest there should be the ability to move from one assignment to the next, like MyOpenMath has.

[shawn1]

Canvas does not care. They are the only game in town and used by way too many companies to feel any pressure from single users or in this case more than 700 users who have requested this feature for almost 5 years now. They are way more interested in making the UI look good than fixing actual issues. This fix would literally take one engineer half a day to fix. 

[kim_simpson]

Sadly, I’m afraid you’re right. Here comes another school year and we are still waiting! 

[cms_hickss]

UCF built an LTI —Due Date Changer— that will do this. This tool is now open source and institutions can acquire and install it.

For information about Due Date Changer please visit: UCF Due Date Changer | IMS Global Learning Consortium 

[ndp5]

Does this LTI allow you to do differential due dates easily. I have 14-18 sections and many assignments. Doing different assignment due dates each assignment for each section is very time consuming.  I cannot tell whether this LTI solves that issue or not.