Disabling start / end date in a lesson?

Disabling start / end date in a lesson?

by Don Quixote -
Number of replies: 5
Hi all,

is it possible to disable the start / end date in a lesson?

Thanks for any help.

Andreas
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Don Quixote

Re: Disabling start / end date in a lesson?

by Przemyslaw Stencel -
Actually, I have a feeling that the dates in a lesson have no effect. Students can still access the lesson after the closing date and the opening/closing dates do not show in the calendar or upcoming events. Or is it something odd at mi site?
In reply to Przemyslaw Stencel

Re: Disabling start / end date in a lesson?

by Don Quixote -
So if this is a bug, then I wouldn't have it fixed wink

For self-paced courses it would be nice if it can be disabled. I will check if there's an effect at my website and report what happens.

Greetings
Andreas
In reply to Don Quixote

Re: Disabling start / end date in a lesson?

by Ray Kingdon -

Ah, yes the start and end dates are cosmetic at the moment, that is, they don't do anything. What the start date should do is obvious. Not too sure about the end date though. In the exercise module, when the end date is reached students can still do the exercise (our regulations insist on that) but the student's work gets flagged as late. The flag really only effects the grade, that is returned as zero. The teacher can use the Admin page to remove a "late flag" and then the student's grade for that exercise is shown (as the full grade).

That approach is a bit simplistic. There are other schemes for dealing with late work like a percentage penalty or capping late work to the pass grade. Not sure that the individual assessment modules should handle that themsleves. It would be much better done in the Grade Page. However, that would mean (a) that a set of standard ways for calculating the grades of late assignments is available (the teacher chooses the most appropriate one for their course) and (b) the modules can tell the Grade page which assignments are late. Not sure whether this is a neat enhancement or a can of worms big grin.

The end date is not a very prominent feature at the moment, my students complained that they did not see the deadline on the lessons. The date could be given a bit exposure. The question of what it actually does, however, is still open...

In reply to Ray Kingdon

Re: Disabling start / end date in a lesson?

by Przemyslaw Stencel -
There could be a switch in the lesson settings (close the lesson after deadline VS flag late submissions with 0 grade). But even if it remains the way it is now (flagging), I think the students should be aware of the deadline, so it should be recorded in the calendar and upcoming events. What do you think?
In reply to Przemyslaw Stencel

Re: Disabling start / end date in a lesson?

by Ray Kingdon -
Yes, I agree, in the short term it could be an option in this module. I've just upgraded my courses to 1.3.1 and the Calendar looks very good and it should give all the deadlines more exposure. I need to add some code to the lesson module so that the dates get entered. Hope to do that shortly. Thanks for the suggestion smile .