Thanks so much for going out of your way to test this for me. I can't believe how helpful some people are on this forum!
I went back and played with the assignment module some more.
I did get some mileage by hiding the submission and feedback elements of the plugin, making it easier for the teachers to input assignments.
It's still not as simple as inputting a calendar event though.
I was also lazy when I posted my earlier screenshot by not logging in as a student first - of course, they don't see the 'grading' section.
A couple of things still put me off using this plugin though:
· The message 'grading status: not graded' is still qute confusing/misleading.
· We can't use the 'course overview' block because of the permanent 'assignment pending' messages.
(Actually I can't test this further because I previously hid that block, and now it won't display again for authenticated users!)
But you've certainly given me pause for thought. It definitely would be very useful for the teachers to have a list of assignments in a topic area when they want to re-use or update them, rather than have to go searching through the calendar. I need to think about whether that is worth the slightly more cumbersome, confusing aspects of the assignment plugin though.