Clarification on Term end dates

[johnod120]

Hi there,

New canvas admin here and I'm trying make sure I fully understand the Term end dates and what happens when those dates are reached.  I know that typically the course becomes concluded and goes into a read-only state on the Term End date.

Our terms officially end on the last day of finals, but we'd like students to be able to participate in the course for an additional 30 days in case there is any make-up work to be done. 

With the current term, the end date is set for 5/12 and I have both "students can access from terms start to June 11" and "Teachers can access from whenever to June 11" enabled.

Is there a difference in what the students or teachers can do in the course once that May 12th date is passed since I have those options set?  For instance, could an instructor set an assignment to be due sometime after 5/12 but before 6/11, or does the Term end date not allow that?  Could students continue to submit assignments after the 5/12 date?  Just not entirely sure of the distinction between a term end date and the student being able to access it with that particular setting.

I assume the course will become read-only for students on that June 11th date is that right?

Thanks!

[ericwhitmer]

At my institution, if there is a concluded course where a student who has received an incomplete, we make a separate section for the requested student and instructor with a section end date that meets that instructor's needs. It will become a read-only section after the end of the term date. You might have to also put the section in a different term to add the student to the section they need to complete and then put that course back to the correct term once you add the appropriate people.

[ericwhitmer]

You will need to put an end date on the section that you create as well.

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Ho @johnod120,

The term dates for the specific roles (teacher, student, etc) seem to control most of the functionality, not the actual term date.  The areas where I think overall term dates have some affect over the role specific ones is in analytics (graph/chart periods are often tied to the term dates) and some term dropdown menus in admin areas.  There may be some other things I'm not thinking about right now though.

As a final thought, we are similar to @ericwhitmer in that we set our term dates in Canvas very close to the real academic term, and grand individual exceptions by creating new sections with override dates for things like an incomplete.

Hope this helps!

-Chris

[johnod120]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated!