Let us schedule a Publish Date / Time for Content Pages

[aungaro]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

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Please allow us the ability to set a specific date and/or time for content pages to be published ahead of time.

It would be nice to be able to schedule those times in advance. There are times I don't want to publish something for students to see until after class and that requires remembering to go back and publish. Forgetting to do so only then creates chaos.  It'd be nice to just set those times once the page is designed and avoid those circumstances.

[wwolf]

 @aungaro ‌, I agree.  This would be a terrific tool!

[aaron_jolly]

Hi there, is there any progress on this? It seems incredible that you can't curate timed released pages in modules, so that students can review materials after class but not pre-view content and spoil pre-watching / doing in-class activities. 

[eprovens]

Thanks for the helpful PDF  @dgray ‌

[ronmarx]

Gee, why didn't I think of this? So obvious, and so needed to make the learning path within modules more granular.

[jillmallek]

Since the automation of announcements, our professors have been regularly asking for this. Any timeline on it?

[dewell_justin]

Thank you  @dgray ! Most helpful.

[James]

You can mimic some of the desired behavior by creating a non-graded assignment. Create an assignment and then change the "Display Grade as" to "Not Graded".

These don't appear in the gradebook since they are non-graded and there is no submission, so it kind of acts like a page that you can set availability dates on. You can even use differentiated assignments to make the visible to just certain students.

It's not perfect, though. It shows up in the list of assignments, syllabus, and calendar.  If you put a due date on it, then it shows up on the Coming Up list, which may be a side benefit or an unintended consequence.

It shows up in the To Do list as "Complete name_of_page". There is no way to actually complete it, though. But there is an X on the To Do list so students can mark it off.

It also shows up in the frame for the instructor, so instructors who like to project content to the their class will have it in the small box rather than the full page.

I plan on using them this summer as the second due date for my discussions. The due date on the discussion itself will be for the initial post. This will disappear from the To Do list as soon as they make their initial post. The non-graded assignment will be used as a reminder to do the follow-up discussion and you can't get rid of it by posting to the discussion, so it stays there until the due date is past or the student's remove it from the To Do list with the X.

[ProfessorBeyrer]

 @James  Thank You for including all of the consequences of creating an ungraded assignment. Your use of this for staggered discussion replies is an excellent idea and something I'll try too.

[rmiller]

Please consider this as a feature in all types of assignments.  There are many of my assignments that I do not want the students to see until they have been discussed in class.  In the busyness of being a theatre teacher and doing performances, I have forgotten to publish an assignment on more than one occasion.  This has caused major stress on the students. I now am having to put an event with a reminder in my Google Calendar to notify me to publish the assignment.  This feature would be of great help when setting up a course before the semester begins.

[helfco]

Hi Robin, if you set open dates in the Assignment, students won't be able to access the assignment until the open date.

Also, you can schedule modules to "lock until" a certain date. 

If you put the assignment in a module with the lock until date set, students won't be able to access until the module opens automatically. This is a workaround that could save you from worrying about publishing on each day you want the assignment to open.