Sort assignments with multiple due dates

[ibphysicsteach]

I'm an instructor teaching classes with multiple sections that meet on alternating days.  I've been manually sorting my assignments with the most recent appearing first (in the leftmost column).  I'd like to use View>Arrange by>Due date Newest to Oldest, but that doesn't work at all when assignments have multiple due dates for different class sections--as many of my assignments have.  I suggest sorting by the LATEST due date within each assignment--so the latest activity will appear first in the newest-to-oldest order.

[jbarr]

I've had several teachers and ask about this. To code, I'm wondering whether it would make sense to use the average due date of the assignment in terms of the number of days from the beginning of the term.  E.g. if our term starts on Aug 9, and an assignment has due dates on Aug 11 (day 3) and Aug 12 (day 4), the average of the two numbers is 3.5.  If this was the first assignment of the year, it would be sorted as the first assignment. An assignment with due dates on Aug 12 and 13 (days 4 and 5) would be placed as the second assignment as its average date would be 4.5.

[ibphysicsteach]

That's reasonable.  It could be fine-tuned case-by-case.  Right now it does no sorting at all.

[rrigby]

Yes, I have several teachers at my school are hainvg problems with this.  It's very difficult to find assignments when they can't be put in the correct order based on date.

[HeatherAbello]

One of our teachers found a workaround for this:

Prepend each assignment with a number/decimal, e.g. 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, etc. that is larger for later due dates.  Then "Arrange" by alphabet A-Z or Z-A.  The numbering system is honored in the arranging, thus mimicking arranging by due date.

[ProductPanda]

Comments from Instructure

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[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.