Adjusting Due Dates on Imported Canvas Assginments

Get due dates in the correct calendar school year

Created by Scott Aten, August 17, 2023

Beginning of the school year means it's time to import content from previous Canvas Courses. One of the great features of Canvas is the ease in which you can bring in content from past courses into your new course. One key step that teacher often skip is shifting the dates of assignments into the new school year. This is best practice when importing assignments into your new Canvas course. Here are the steps...

Importing Content

Open your Canvas course for the new school year.
In the right menu click "Import Existing Content"
This will open the Import Content window. In the Content Type dropdown select "Copy a Canvas Course".
In the "Search for a course" dropdown, select the course that has the content you want to use (last year's course or your sandbox for example).
In the "Content" area choose "Select specific content"
In the Options area check "Adjust events and due dates"
This will open up date options for you that will help shift your assignment due dates into the current school year and approximate correct day.

In the Beginning Date field [1], enter the starting date of the course you are importing (last year the start date would be 8/17/2022) . You can also click the Calendar icon to select a date. In the Change to field [2], enter the new date when you want the course to begin, or click the Calendar icon (this year the date would be 8/22/23).

In the Ending Date field [3], enter the end date of the course you are importing, or click the Calendar icon to select a date (last year end date for a full year course would be 5/26/23). In the Change to field [4], enter the new date when you want the course to end (5/30/24).

Canvas will take the new start and end dates for the course and distribute all assignments with due dates as evenly as possible across the course dates and keep them due on the same day of the week as the original course. If the imported course and the new course vary in course length, assignments will be assigned proportionally. BUT this gets the assignments into the correct school year and you can then edit the assignments if the day is not correct.
Click "Import"
A new Job will be started in your course. Click the "Select Content" button at the end of that Course Copy job.
This opens up the "Select Content" window. You can expand each section by clicking on the arrow in front of each category. Put a check in each item you want to bring into your course. By clicking a module, you will bring in all the pieces of that module including assignment, quizzes, pages, etc that are in the module. This is why building your content in modules is recommended.
Once you have selected all the pieces you want to bring into your new courses, click the "Select Content" button.