Overview

When a course section is created for delivery, it is desirable that students not have access to course materials until the start date of the course.

  • An instructor may not as yet have had a chance to check that course content is correct.
  • Updates to content may be pending(i.e. check for broken links, new regulations), and so on.

Using the Manage Dates tool allows you to prevent course access until a specified date and time.

Note: Before this can be done successfully, all of the Start and End dates for quizzes, assignments, discussions, and so on need to be in the future. This tool will not work with dates in the past.

Procedure

  1. From the course menu, go to Course Design, Edit Course.
  2. Under the Site Resources menu, choose Manage Dates.
  1. You will see Filter Options. You can choose to only hide specific tools by selecting the different Tools. To keep students out of ALL content until start date, leave the selection on All. (There is no need to set Advanced Filter Options at this time).

  1. Scroll down to the list of tools in the course. (1) Use the check box beside the Edit Dates button to select all. (2) Click on Edit Dates.

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  1. The Edit Dates, Bulk Edit dialog box will open. For this task, only the start date needs to be set.
  • Choose a date and time for the Start Date.
  • SelectAdd to Calendar to notify students when the content will be accessible (this is optional).
  • Once options have been selected, click Save.

    Note: If you click ‘Save’ and get an error message, please check dates within the course.

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  1. After clicking ‘Save’, D2L will take a minute or two to process the changes. A Saved Successfully dialog box will display, along with a list and the dates that the tool will be accessible.
  • Clicking the red x removes the start date for the item.
  • Click the Done button on the top right hand side of the window to finish the task.
  1. From the Instructor view of the D2L Table of Contents (TOC), if the “display in calendar” option has been selected, dates will be displayed as to when the topic begins.

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  1. From a Student view of the TOC, availability dates are indicated. Students will find that the links to topics are inactive. If clicked on, there is no response.

If no end date is set, students will have access from this date into the future. There is no need to make any changes to the settings, unless to add end dates.

Best Practices

  • Be sure that students are aware of start dates and end dates for their course. Being able to see course topics but not being able to access them will be confusing.

Additional References

Source: K. Cook
Date: December 19, 2014
Updated: December 19, 2014 by R. Miller

For further information, contact the faculty trainer at your location.

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