Managing Assessment Dates

Quizzes, Assignments, and Discussions should usually have date restrictions applied to them to ensure that students access them at the right time. Each tool is quite different, so we recommend using different date settings for each tool.

There are three different date settings you will see throughout eConestoga’s various tools:

Start & End Dates: Collectively called availability dates, these are hard restrictions. If you set a Start Date, students can’t submit before that date. If you set an End Date, students can’t submit after that date.

Availability dates also block assess to the details of the assessment. Students can’t see the embedded instructions and attachments for an assessment when outside of its Start and End dates.

Due Dates: Due dates are not a hard restriction. Students are not prevented from submitting an assessment after the Due Date. The purpose of a due date is to communicate the expected submission date, while still allowing students to submit past it.

Quiz Dates

Quizzes should almost always have Start Dates and End Dates. Stopping students from accessing a quiz too early or too late is critical to maintaining the integrity of the assessment.
Quizzes should not have Due dates.

To set an Quiz' Start and End Date:

Go to Course Tools -> Quizzes.
Click the arrow beside the Quiz' title and choose Edit.
On the right side of the screen, open the Availability Dates & Conditions block.
Click on the Start Date and choose a date from the calendar. Then choose a time for the quiz to open.
Click on the End Date and choose a date from the calendar. Then choose a time for the quiz to close.
When you're done, click Save and Close at the bottom.

Note: It's a good idea to also look at your quiz' time limit and timing mode when updating their dates.

Assignment Dates

Most Assignments should be given a Due Date, and should not be given a Start or End Date. With this arrangement, students can submit after the Due Date, but these submissions will be identified on your grading screen as "Submitted Late" in bold red text. You can then excuse, penalize, or not grade the late submissions as appropriate in each case.
Start and End Dates should typically only be applied to an Assignment if it is important to keep the embedded instructions and/or attachments secret until the assignment opens-- e.g., for a case study assessment where students should not read the case study until the day of the assessment.

To set an Assignment folder's Due Date:

Go to Course Tools -> Assignments.
Click the arrow beside the Assignment's title and choose Edit.
Click on the Due Date in the center of the screen. Choose a date from the calendar.
Set the time of the Due Date.
When you're done, click Save and Close at the bottom.

Discussion Dates

Graded Discussions should be given a Start Date and an End Date.
Discussions have more complex date settings where the instructor can specify what exactly happens at each of those dates.
Ungraded discussions often don't need dates.

Note: Forum vs. Topic

Discussions have two "layers": the Discussion Forum, which is just a container, and the Discussion Topic, which is where the discussion actually occurs. Any date restrictions should be set on the Topic, not the Forum.

To set an Discussion topic's Due Date:

Go to Course Tools -> Discussions.
Click the arrow beside the Topic's title (in blue-- the larger dark grey title is the Forum) and choose Edit.
On the right side of the screen, open the Availability Dates & Conditions block.
Click on the Start Date and choose a date from the calendar. Then choose a time for the discussion to open.
Click on the End Date and choose a date from the calendar. Then choose a time for the discussion to close.
Under each date setting is an option labeled "Before Start"/"After End". We recommend setting both of these settings to "Visible with submission restricted" in most cases.
When you're done, click Save and Close at the bottom.