Automatically preventing students change submissions after being graded

Re: Automatically preventing students change submissions after being graded

by H Singh -
Number of replies: 2

I just discovered this to my shock and horror (Moodle 2.8 here).

I do not care what the intention of the design was, but the default HAS to be to lock the student submissions after the due date. I have now acquired years of experience with Moodle. Even I did not know this highly unacceptable, and downright dangerous default. Let alone newbie teachers.

Seems you have to set an additional cut off date to prevent this from happening. This is downright stupid. If you want to have the frills of a cut off date, the default should be to lock that date to the due date, and ask teachers to disable / change that if they need to. Most teachers would not know or understand the difference between cut off and due date.

In real life, after a student submits an assignment to a teacher in paper form, they do not get to waltz into his or her office and merrily replace it with anything else without the teacher's permission (which would rarely, if never, be granted).

Please fix this ASAP.

No student should be able to edit / change anything after the due date passes.

I mean, was someone high when they came up with this default???

Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to H Singh

Re: Automatically preventing students change submissions after being graded

by Richard Oelmann -
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assignment settings

As an admin, alter the default settings so that the cutoff date is 0 days after the due date and enabled, and require students to use the submit button. You could also adjust the language pack to ensure students are given a reminder to click the submit button - but this leaves the option to upload as a draft for further work, or for multiple file submissions.

That way the cut off date IS set to the due date by default and would need to be specifically changed or disabled. If the submit button is constantly off screen, you could also try looking at some theme code to make it float at the bottom of the screen as some themes do with settings page 'Save Changes or Cancel' buttons.

These are admin options that set the default for a specific institution's teachers. They do not (other than the theme suggestion) involve changing code, so have no problems for upgrades and the settings are already there in Moodle, so really there is no need to make further changes to the main code, or for teachers to have to remember to change settings for every assignment - just a one-off admin setting change and its done.

So hopefully, you can relieve your 'shock and horror', by an investigation of manipulating already existing site settings!


PS. for many other institutions, that difference between due date and cut off date is an essential requirement as students are allowed to submit late and can submit with extenuating circumstances even after other student work has been graded.

Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to H Singh

Re: Automatically preventing students change submissions after being graded

by Richard Oelmann -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Also - can I please suggest that in a discussion forum the use of such dramatic language is probably not an appropriate way to communicate, in my opinion.

'shock and horror', 'highly unacceptable, and downright dangerous' 'I mean, was someone high when they came up with this default???'- when those defaults are exactly what other institutions use and can easily be overridden in admin settings is just a little over the top perhaps as well as personally insulting to the people who put in the development work on this in the first place.

Meaningful, constructive discussions are always encouraged, over the top and insulting comments are to be avoided please.

Average of ratings: Useful (2)