How do I assign an assignment to an individual student?

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When creating or editing an assignment, you can assign an assignment to individual students. You can also set different due and availability dates for a student within an assignment that is assigned to the rest of the class. Availability date functionality is still available for each assignment.

Only the student(s) specified in the assignment details can view the assignment.

When using differentiated assignments with the Gradebook, the assignment appears as a column for all students, but grade cells are grayed out for students who have not been included in the assignment. Grades cannot be assigned for students who have not been included in the assignment, and assignments that are not assigned to a student are not factored into overall grades. 

When Multiple Grading Periods are enabled in a course, assignments are also respected against closed grading periods.

Notes:

• To allow a student access to an assignment past the assignment's initial Until date, you must set a different Until date for the individual student.
• If your course is using MasteryPaths, you do not have to manually assign assignments to individual students. Learn how to assign an assignment using MasteryPaths.
• If multiple due dates apply to a student, Canvas will assign the latest due date to the student. For example, if a student's individual due date is November 18 and the group due date is November 20, the student will be assigned a due date of November 20.

Open Assignments

In Course Navigation, click the Assignments link.

Add Assignment

Click the Add Assignment button.

Enter Assignment Details

Enter a name [1] and description [2] for your assignment, as well as any other assignment details [3].

Assign to Student

By default, Canvas will assign your assignment for everyone in your course. To assign a different due date to an individual student, click the Add button [1]. Type the name of the student in the Assign to field [2]. Search fields are dynamic, and you can search for students by first or last name. When the full name appears, click the name. Lists are not scrollable.

Assign to Specific Student

To create an assignment that is assigned only to a specific student, click the Remove icon next to the Everyone label [1], then start to type the name of a student in the Assign to field [2]. Search fields are dynamic, and you can search for students by first or last name. When the full name appears, click the name. Lists are not scrollable.

You can include more than one student in the To field as long as the students are to be assigned the same due and availability dates.

Edit Due and Availability Dates

In the date fields, add your preferred date(s) with the following options:

• Due [1]: Set the date and time that the assignment is due. The due date will already be populated for you if you created an assignment shell, but you can change it if necessary.
• Available From [2]: Set the date and time when the assignment will become available.
• Until [3]: Set the date and time when the assignment will no longer be available.

Notes:

• To allow a student access to an assignment past the assignment's initial Until date, you must set a different Until date for the individual student.
• Beneath the Due Date and Availability Date fields, Canvas will display the time zone date and time according to context. If you manage courses in a time zone other than your local time zone and create or edit a due date for an assignment, the course and local times are displayed for reference.

Add Additional Dates

To add another student with a different due date and availability dates, click the Add button.

Remove Dates

You can also delete additional dates by clicking the remove icon next to the appropriate date.

Save and Publish

If you are ready to publish your assignment, click the Save & Publish button [1]. If you want to create a draft of your assignment and publish it later, click the Save button [2].

View Due Date Warning

If you do not add course sections to the assignment, you will see a warning message asking you if you want to add those sections.

You can click the Continue button [1] if you don't want to add any sections to the assignment, or click the Go Back button [2] to go back and add additional sections.

Note: This warning message will not appear if everyone or all course sections are assigned to the assignment.

View Date Error

If you submit an invalid string of due dates and try to save the assignment, Canvas generates an error notification. Such invalid entries include not unlocking the assignment before it is due, not placing the due date inside the range of availability dates, or assigning a date that is outside the course or term dates.

Correct the date and then update the assignment again.

Notes:

• If the course does not include specified course start and end dates, Canvas validates the assignment against the term date set for the course.
• If your course is using Multiple Grading Periods, the Assign field validates the due date against the closed grading period and requires the assignment date to be past the date of the closed grading period.

View Assignment Dates

View the dates and users assigned to the assignment.

View Assignments Page

On the Assignments Index Page, the assignment shows there are multiple users and dates assigned to the assignment. Hover over the text to view date availability.