Setting due dates for assignments makes it apparent to the instructor when a student has submitted an assignment late by “red flagging” any late submissions. When you set the due date, it will be listed on the assignment page, making it easier for students to understand when the due date is.
Due dates can be set within each assignment via the Administration block. Due dates can also be set for numerous assignments at once via the Dates Report, also located in the Administration block.
Programming Due Dates within an Assignment
Access the Edit settings page of the assignment for which you’d like to program due dates. You can do this one of two ways:
- Click the gear icon in the top right-hand corner of your main course page and then choose “Turn editing on.” This will cause a drop-down menu to appear next to all of the activities and resources; use the drop-down menu to select Edit settings.
- Access the assignment you’d like to program and click Edit settings in the Administration block.
The Availability section of the Edit settings page contains three different dates and times you can program. Click the Enable checkbox to the right of each option if you would like to use any or all of these parameters. You will have to select the date, month, year, hour, and minute for each field using the dropboxes provided.
- Allow submissions from: If enabled, students will not be able to submit before this date. If disabled, students will be able to start submitting right away.
- Due date: the date that the assignment is due. Submissions will still be allowed after this date; however, any assignments submitted after this date will be marked as late. Set the assignment cut-off date to prevent submissions after a certain date.
- Cut-off date: If set, the assignment will not accept submissions after this date without an extension.
- Remind me to grade by: If set Moodle will send a notification to your Dashboard reminding you to grade the assignment.
Note regarding times: Moodle assignments allow programming in 5-minute increments. We recommend using 23:55 on the last day as opposed to 00:00 on the following day for “end-of-day” submissions. Students are sometimes confused if midnight means the beginning or ending of a day.
Programming Due Dates via the Dates Report
- Locate the Administration block and expand the Reports menu within Course administration. Click Dates to display due date settings for various course items.
- Select Assignment using the Activity type drop-down menu; the Dates report will display the due date options for all assignments within the course by module.
- Click Save changes once you have programmed your assignment due dates.