Setting Availability Dates and Time in ISU Canvas

This article provides instructions on how to set availability dates and times for assignments, discussions and quizzes in ISU Canvas at Idaho State University (ISU).

• Setting Dates and Times - General Information
• Setting Availability Dates for Discussions
• Setting Availability Dates for Assignments
• Setting Availability Dates for Quizzes

All graded items in your course, including assignments, discussions and quizzes are available to students at any time unless the instructor designates specific dates and time for the due date and availability by entering dates and/or times in the Available from and Until areas. These dates are called availability dates. These dates are optional and can be set depending on how you want to manage the activity.

Difference Between Due Dates and Until Dates

• Due Date: Setting only the due date will allow students to submit late assignments at any time after the due date has passed.
• Until Date: Setting the until date locks down assignment submissions so that students can no longer submit after the date has passed.
• Late submissions - You can prohibit late submissions by setting the same day and time for the Until date and the Due Date. If you want to allow late submissions within a specific period of time after the due date, you can set the Due Date and then specify a different day in the Until date. For example, if you want to allow students to submit a late assignment up to three days after the due date, set the Due Date for September 19 and the Until date as September 22.

For more information see the Canvas article, What is the difference between assignment due dates and availability dates? (external link).

Setting Dates and Times

1. Enter a date in the date field or click the field and select a date from the calendar
2. To set times, enter a time or click the Time drop-down menu and select a time

To remove date and time selections, click the Clear link. 

• If no Available from date is designated, students can post to the discussion at any time during the course.
• If an Available from date has been set, students can view the discussion title but cannot click to see any of the details or post a reply.
• After the Until date, students can view the discussion topic and all responses but cannot add or edit any responses.
• To assign different dates and times to specific students or groups, click the Assign to button then enter the additional assignees and availability dates.

In addition to setting a due date for an assignment, instructors can specify a date range when students can submit the assignment.

• The Due Date and Time are the date and time when the assignment is due. Student assignments submitted after the due date will be marked as late in the Gradebook.
  • Due dates are not required in Canvas, but they are helpful in managing course work flow and deadlines.
  • You can also set a specific time as part of the due date. When you change a due time on an assignment, the seconds value defaults to 0 unless the minutes value is set to 59, in which case, the seconds are also set to 59. For example, if you set a due date of September 19 at 4:15pm, any student submission made at or after September 19 at 4:15:01 is marked late.
  • If a date does not include a time, the listed date defaults to the course's default due time.
• If you want to create a date range for students to view and submit an assignment, you can set availability dates. Availability dates can also be called lock dates.
  • Available from: The date and time when the assignments will become available to students. If a due date does not include a time, the listed date defaults to the course's default due time. Note: Students cannot view assignment content and/or instructions until after the Available from date has passed.
  • Until: The date and time when students can no longer submit the assignment. If no time is set, this time defaults to 11:59pm for the course time zone and the assignment will close at 12:00:00am of the following day. 
• After you save the assignment, you can view the details for the assignment. If there is an assignment due date, the date displays under the Due heading. If there are availability dates, they display under the Available from and Until headings.

You can make a quiz available to all your students before or after the due date by setting availability dates. You can use availability dates for both New Quizzes and Classic Quizzes. Note: If you are looking to change quiz dates for individual students, you can assign a quiz to an individual student (external link).

Quizzes have an auto-submit feature tied to the Until (lock) date, which may affect student submissions. Only quiz attempts that have been started are auto-submitted. Common quiz scenarios and date results include the following:

• No dates: Students can take the quiz at any time during the course. However, the quiz will not be auto-submitted until the course concludes.
• Due date only: The quiz is marked late at the Due date and auto-submitted when the course concludes.
• Due date with Until date: The quiz is marked late at Due date and auto-submitted at Until date.
• Time limit: The quiz is auto-submitted when the allotted time expires. The time limit will still expire if a student navigates away from the quiz.  The quiz will auto-submit when the student navigates to the quiz page again.
• Time limit with Until date: The Quiz is auto-submitted when the time expires, unless the Until date expires first.
• Until Date: To select a date and time when students can no longer submit a quiz, enter a date under Until. If a date does not include a time, the listed date defaults to the course's default due time.

When the quiz is published, availability dates are displayed in the module.

For more information, see the Canvas article How do I make a quiz available before or after the due date? (external link).

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• Chat with Canvas Support for Faculty (external link)
• Canvas Instructor Guides (external link)
• Visit the ITRC Portal for answers to common questions (external link)
• For additional assistance email AnswersITRC@isu.edu (external link)