Setting due dates for quizzes prevents students from taking the quiz or exam after the due date and time has passed. This can help students stay on track, keep the course organized, and can help reduce academic dishonesty.
How to Program Due Dates
- Access the Edit Settings page of the quiz for which you’d like to program due dates. You can do this one of two ways:
- Click the gear menu in the top right-hand corner of your main course page and select Turn Editing On. This will cause an Edit drop-down menu to appear next to all of the activities and resources; use the drop-down menu next to the quiz to select Edit Settings.
- Access the quiz you’d like to program and click Edit Settings in the Administration
- The second section of the Settings page (Timing) contains two 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 drop-down lists provided.
- Open the quiz: Students can start their attempt(s) after this time.
- Close the quiz: Students must complete their attempts before this time.
A note regarding quiz close date: Moodle quizzes allow programming the minutes in 1-minute increments. We recommend using 23:59 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.
How to Program a Time Limit
You also have the option to program a time limit. If enabled, the time limit is stated on the initial quiz page and a countdown timer is shown during the student’s attempt(s) in the quiz navigation block. Click the Enable checkbox to the right of the option to use a time limit. Use the text entry box for a number and then the dropdown to select the unit of time (weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds).
If you program a time limit, you’ll want to select how the quiz behaves upon time expiration. There are three options for When Time Expires:
- Open attempts are submitted automatically.This is the recommended setting.
- There is a grace period when open attempts can be submitted, but no more questions answered. The last setting in the Timing area will allow you to program a Submission Grace Period if you opt to use this setting. Click the Enable checkbox to the right of the option. Use the text entry box for a number and then the drop-down to select the unit of time (weeks, days, hours, minutes, or seconds).
- Attempts must be submitted before time expires or they are not counted.This setting is not recommended; students’ work may potentially be lost if they do not submit before the time expires.
Interested in learning more about assessments in your online course? Feel free to explore the following article on our Center for Teaching and Learning: