Best Practices for Setting Dates on Discussions, Dropboxes, and Quizzes

• You are not required to set any dates for the discussions in your course, but setting and end date can be helpful to give yourself time to grade discussions before final grades are due. 
  
  

• If you set a start and/or end date for a discussion topic, you have three options you must choose from regarding what the student can see before the start date or after the end date. These options must be selected whether you go through the course content or go through submission review. 
  
  

  Start Date Availability Options  a. Students can see the discussion in course content and its start date, but cannot click to view the full prompt or post.    b. Students can view in course content, click the discussion topic title to read the full prompt, but cannot post to the topic.   c. Topic is fully hidden from students in course content and under the submission review tab before the start date (not advisable)

  
  

  End Date Availability Options a. Students can see the discussion in course content and its end date, but cannot click to view the full prompt or post to it.    b. Students can view in course content, click the discussion topic title to read the full prompt, but cannot post to the topic.   c. Topic is fully hidden from students in course content and under the submission review tab after the end date (not advisable)

•  Additionally, you can only set a due date for discussions in the Course Content area, not under submission review

Setting Dates on Dropboxes:

• If you do not want to restrict when the students can submit:
  • Do not set any dates either via the Course Content area or the Submission Review Tab.
• If you want to restrict when students when they can submit to a range of dates:
  • Set start and end dates via the Course Content Area or Submission Review Tab.
  • This setting allows the students to review their submission and feedback after the dropbox closes.
• If you do not want to restrict when the students can submit but would like them to know when the dropbox assignment is due so it can be flagged as late:
  • Set the Due Date only via the Course Content Area or Submission Review Tab.

Setting Dates on Quizzes:

• If you do not want to restrict when the students can take the quiz. It will always be available:
  • Do not set any dates either via the Course Content area or the Submission Review Tab.
• If you want to restrict when students when can take the quiz to a range of dates:
  • Set start and end dates via the Course Content Area or Submission Review Tab.
  • set the time limit to be enforced and select what the student will experience if they run out of time.
  • This setting allows the students to view their submissions after the quiz closes.
    
    

Have Questions? Contact the Academic Technology Support Team

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