SCC Faculty Knowledge BaseAcademicMoodleCourse Administration ToolsUsing the Dates Report to Update Activity Due Dates

Using the Dates Report to Update Activity Due Dates

One of the hidden but powerful tools in Moodle is the Dates report. With the Dates report you can change and update submission and access dates for assignments and other course activities. Normally to change these dates, you must go to the settings page for each activity. Having all these dates on one page greatly speeds up the time it takes to set them up for a new semester.

To get to the Dates report, click your course's Actions menu (gear icon). Click More... at the bottom of the Actions menu.

On the Course Administration page, click on Dates under Reports.

The dates page shows all the sections of the course in collapsed form. The drop-down Activity type menu on the left allows you to pick which activity type you want to view and change the dates for. Choose one activity type or choose All activities from this menu to see every dated resource/activity in your course. Once a type is selected click the Save changes button.

To open up every course section below and view all dates, click the Expand all link on the right. Otherwise, you can open one section at a time by clicking the name of a specific course section in the list below.

After opening all the course sections, the link on the right will change to say, Collapse all. You'll see all your activity names with their selectable dates inside their course sections - this corresponds to the sections they are placed in in your class.

With the dates displayed, you can change them, update them and disable them, if needed. You can even add access restrictions (if that is enabled at the course level). Once you are finished with adjusting dates, don't forget to click and Save changes at the bottom of the page.

You'll also notice that at the very bottom of the page is a small timeline of all your activity dates. Clicking on the icon for a specific activity from this timeline will open that activities settings page in another tab.

Once you've made all the changes you need, you can return to your main course page. Notice that all your dates have been updated, including on your course calendar!