Allow Assignment and Assessment Dates with "TBD" Times

[aroyal9]

At my institution, administration requires all faculty to publish all course assignments with all dates/times set in Canvas prior to the start of the term.  Publishing assessments set to be available/due in the past or in the too-distant future is unacceptable and defeats the purpose. The only permissible workaround for this is to leave certain assignments unpublished until needed, but even this practice is frowned upon, as it prevents students from seeing "everything" that they'll be responsible for throughout the term.  Unfortunately, there are problematic unintended consequences that cause frustration for instructors and students when an assignment is required to be published but the availability/due time is ambiguous because it will be released and/or concluded live during a synchronous class meeting. As an instructor, there is no way to avoid the confusion created by the inability to provide clarity for a situation that arises solely due to the fact that Canvas demands precise date and time information for all assessment circumstances, regardless of whether or not the assessment is electronic or paper-based, irrespective of whether or not the assessment is due during a live class session or outside of a live class session.

I need a digital solution to an analog problem.

It seems that only way to appease everyone is to have a way to publish assignments with dates but be able to specify a times of "TBD" so that the assignment shows up on the calendar (so there would also need to be a way to specify the range of time when the TBD assignment is expected to become available), with the idea that the instructor would manually adjust the times when appropriate. The admins get their compliance, students can "see" the assignment link on their calendar/to-do list in a timely manner, and instructors have the flexibility to release and close assignments on demand as needed.

[ProductPanda]

Comments from Instructure

As part of the new Ideas & Themes process, all ideas in Idea Conversations were reviewed by the Product Team. Any Idea that was associated with an identified theme was moved to the new Idea & Themes space. Any Idea that was not part of the move is being marked as Archived. This will preserve the history of the conversations while also letting Community members know that Instructure will not explore the request at this time.