Due dates and available from / until dates are very confusion. I would like to provide a specific time period during which students can see and get access to an assignment. I would also like to limit the time available to complete the assignment regardless when the student starts.
E.g., An assignment becomes available at 7 pm on a given date but I want to make sure students open and start working on the assignment no later than 10 pm on the same date. Then I would like them to have 30 minutes to complete the assignment even if they start at 9:59 pm. How do I do that?
Part of the problem is that Canvas shows that an assignment is available from the “available from” until the “until” date/time. This leads students to believe they can start at or just before the “until” time and still have the full allotted time to complete. There does not seem to be a way to tell them that they must actually start at least 30 minutes before the “until” time otherwise they are not afforded the full time to complete.
Here’s an example of a two hour exam in Canvas that is intended to start at 7pm with the last student login no later than 10pm – i.e. they can login any time between 7pm and 10pm. But the 10pm time is not stated anywhere and the “until” time has to be two hours past 10pm for students to have the full allotted time. So, Canvas shows the exam like this.
Final Exam (**Webcam**)
- Due May 12 at 12:00am
- Points 194
- Available May 11 at 7pm - May 12 at 12:00am 5 hours
This assignment is locked until May 11 at 7pm.
Any student looking at this might assume that they can start the exam anytime between 7pm and midnight. Very confusing.
