Assigning different due dates to multiple sections

[allegromus]

I am a lab coordinator for a large chemistry lab course with 14 sections (and 9-10 instructors). These sections meet on five different days of the week and require different open, due and closing dates depending on their meeting day. In the past I was able to set these dates for one assignment (across all 14 sections manually) then use a Duplicate Dates function (I don't remember the exact wording, but it was at the bottom of quizzes that had dates already set) to copy all of these dates to other similar assignments, offsetting them as needed. With the new "Assign to" GUI I cannot see an easy way to do this. (A previous solution was to create a giant Excel spreadsheet of due dates then copy & paste those dates into Canvas, which also will not work in this new format.)  It will be a huge task to manually set the dates for all 14 sections for every assignment since this currently requires at least six clicks to choose the dates plus another 3-6 clicks to set the times multiplied by 5 sets of dates per assignment - a minimum of 45 clicks to set the due dates for just one assignment. I have attached a screenshot of a typical set of due dates. Help!

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @allegromus,

I don't think the Duplicate Dates functionality you're referring to was a built-in feature of Canvas, or if it was I do not recall it at all.  It may have been some sort of custom coed feature your school/institution added in to Canvas.  I would recommend checking with your school/institution Canvas team (usually in the eLearning / IT / Digital Education areas) to see if this is something they are aware of and planning to fix for you in the future.  I will also mention that the assign-to changes re being somewhat rolled back soon according to the latest replied to the  Updates to the Assign To Interface - Instructure Community - 610506  post.  That may or may not restore the functionality you had in your Canvas, so it may also be good to wait a few days to check for the functionality.

Hope this helps a bit!

-Chris

[allegromus]

Ah you're right - I forgot that I had added a Canvas enhancement that allows me to "Copy and Offset" due dates. I simply needed to make sure the enhancement was active on my new computer. https://oit.colorado.edu/services/teaching-learning-applications/canvas/enhancements-integrations/en...

Still it is good to know that the interface will be rolled back to reduce the number of steps required to set due dates! Thank you.