Use the Manage Dates tool in myCourses
- Jacqueline Kort Mascort (Deactivated)
Instructors can use the Manage Dates tool to conveniently change dates for course content, quizzes, assignments, etc. from one location. It allows you to:
View a list of all course content (e.g. items, modules, discussions, assignments).
Narrow down the list by using filters.
Edit Start Dates (the item will become visible to users).
Edit End Dates (the item will be hidden from users).
Select whether these dates will appear in the course calendar.
Click on the name of any course item to open a new window for editing its dates directly in the associated tool.
Items without start dates or end dates will be always be visible to all users of the course.
In this article:
Access the Manage Dates tool
On the Course Home page, click Course Admin on the right side of the navigation bar.
Click Site Resources > Manage Dates.
In the Manage Dates screen, you can click the column headings to sort the list of items by Tool, Type, Name, Start Date, End Date, Days (duration), Calendar settings, and Visibility.
Filter options
To narrow down the list of displayed content, use the Filter options at the top of the Manage Dates screen. To use these filter options:
Select Specific tools.
Click the checkboxes to select the specific content you wish to appear in the list.
Click the Apply Filters button.
Optional: For more filters, click the Show advanced filter options link, then place a checkmark next to the filter options you want to use. These include:
Name - narrow the list down to only show content with a certain name or part of a name
Start date - narrow the list down to only show items that will become visible on a certain date
End date - narrow the list down to only show items that will become hidden on a certain date
Duration - narrow the list down to only show content that will appear for a certain number of days.
Calendar status - narrow the list down to only show content that appears in the course calendar
The above example will select assignments that contain the word "myCourses" in the title, that appear between May 8th and May 26th for greater than or equal to 8 days, and that are displayed in the course calendar.
Edit dates
Use the Edit dates option to change start and end dates of one or more course items and select whether these dates will appear in the course calendar.
To edit a date:
Hover over the item name and then click the down arrow to display the dropdown menu.
Click Edit dates. The Edit availability window will appear.
Select a Start and (optional) End date. Clicking the Now button sets the date to the current time.
(Optional) Place a check mark next to Display in calendar.
Click Save. You will be brought back to the Manage dates screen.
If you have hidden Content by setting it to Draft status, the item will not become visible even if you set a Start date because it is still in hidden mode. You must go back to Content and set it as Published to make this item visible.
To edit multiple dates at the same time:
Click the checkboxes to the left of the items to edit the dates for a selection of items; alternatively, click the checkbox in the upper left-hand corner of the list to select all items in the list.
Click Edit dates at the top of the list to bring up the Edit dates window.
Follow Steps 3-5 in the previous section.
Offset dates from a previous term
The Offset dates feature is useful if you have copied content from a previous version of your course and all the availability dates need to be shifted by the same number of days to match the new calendar year.
To offset multiple dates at once:
Click the checkboxes to the left of the items you wish to offset; alternatively, click the checkbox in the upper left-hand corner of the list to select all items in the list.
Click Offset dates at the top of the list to bring up the Offset dates window.
Select one of the following options from the Offset drop-down list:
Both start date and end date - to offset the dates when the object will appear and disappear to users
Start date only - to offset the date when the object will become visible to users
End date only - to offset the date when the object will become hidden from users
Select one of the following options from the Days drop-down list:
Forward - to offset the date a certain number of days forward (later)
Backward - to offset the date a certain number of days backward (sooner)
Calculated based on two dates - to enter two dates to calculate how many days you want to offset the date(s) by
If you selected Forward or Backward in step 4, type the number of days in the empty box.
Click Save to go back to the Manage dates screen.
Check all new dates to ensure the dates you offset do not land on weekends or holidays.
Delete dates
To delete a date, click the red X icon beside the date you want to delete.
To delete multiple dates:
Click the checkboxes to the left of the items whose dates you wish to delete; alternatively, click the checkbox in the upper left-hand corner of the list to select all items in the list.
Click Edit dates at the top of the list to bring up the Edit dates window.
Place a check mark beside the Start dates and/or End dates, then select Remove from the dropdown list.
Click Save.
In the example above, all Start dates and End dates for selected items will be deleted. As a result, these items will be always be visible to students.