Course dates as variables

[a_c_olson]

Allow course dates to be set as variables so they can be adjust from year to year without trolling through all of the pages for a course and adjusting each one manually (error prone, withou potentially serious consequences for organization).  This would also allow dates to be consistent when referred to in more than one place

[a1063023]

100%. I currently use the API to set up my courses so I can specify "sensible" due dates like "friday week 4" and have the date automatically calculated. It's like a bazooka to kill a mosquito.

[A00364575]

I would love this. I'd envision due date variables along with other system variables and a menu item in the RTE to easily input them into pages/assignments/etc.

For example,

"Hi {student name}! Your mastery level outcome for this lesson's objective so far is {outcome score}. Your next assignment is to .... due {due date}."

Wouldn't that be cool!

[James]

Just last week, I was looking into doing this myself by adding a span with a particular class. For example <span class="autodate-unlock_at">blah blah</span> would be processed to replace blah blah with the unlock_at date for the assignment.

I was then going to download all assignment descriptions (fairly quick using the GraphQL interface) and look for content that needed updated. Then I would update the content so that the span was still there in case I needed it changed in the future but the date was correct.

Because I was preparing for the upcoming semester, I stopped with finding all content that contained a date in the form dayName, monthName day. Why did I stop there? Because my content is set up so that it refers to content other than the assignment itself. I put the instructions for my discussions on one page because (for one reason) they are too long to put on the discussion page and make students scroll through it every time. I regularly do the same with assignment instructions and quiz study guides. I didn't have time to figure out how to refer to an alternative page or assignment and have it automatically updated when I copy the course content.

In the end, I just started stripping out the full date and saying that it was due Friday or it was available until Monday. That's not as informative, but it is a lot quicker to update before the start of a semester.

[ProductPanda]

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