We have begun noticing issues with Assignments that utilise LTI tools. Some tools treat a submission deadline as including the entire minute specified, rather than up to that minute. eg. The LTI tool accepts a configured 11:59 as up to 11:59:59. Whereas Canvas treats the deadline as 11:59:00.
Why does this matter? Well, students working within the LTI tool may submit during the last minute, only to be informed by Canvas that their submission is considered late. Obviously staff can use discretion, however students may stress over the late flagging, or also feel that this is incorrect. They are reaching out to staff, both teaching and support to state their case.
There has been some debate on this as to how this could be handled. We have staff who feel that once the clock strikes a particular time, that's it, time's up. There are many others who view the time as, it's still 11:59, until isn't and the clock says 12:00.
So how do you think this could be handled? (Even statements such as you have until 11:59 don't necessarily provide clarity. )
- The LTI and Canvas don't talk in seconds, just minutes. Pros, as long as it is within the minute you're good. Cons, if it's a short test style tool, students may get an extra minute
- The Due date and time includes seconds. Whether this is configurable, or just shows 00 or not shouldn't matter.
- It's really up to staff (who likely don't know how the external tool behaves, until an issue arrises) to specify the due time precisely.
Something else?
I just want to add, I feel the human brain treats intervals differently to deadlines. Eg. for a quiz, you have 10 minutes. You start, and then when it hits exactly 10min, you accept that time's up. It's Due at 5:00, as long as the clock says that, we're good. (The vast majority of clocks do not show seconds).
Would love to hear your thoughts.
Adam
