ANGEL Tip of the Day #46 - Setting Dates in ANGEL

ANGEL allows a ton of flexibility with date setting. Unfortunately, such flexibility can lead to confusion for all involved. Here is a quick primer on setting dates in ANGEL. All of the info below is based on the Advanced setting in the various areas.

There are 3 areas that you can set dates in ANGEL: the Access tab, the Assignment tab and the Interaction tab in Assessments.

Access: When you set dates under the Access tab, this controls when an item is visible to students. Both dates are optional and it is ok to set one and not the other.

Assignment: Under the Assignment tab, you can set dates in the Milestone settings. Milestone dates list the activity in the student milestones and automatically puts the activity in the Calendar. Many students use the milestones to see how they are progressing through their work, so it can be quite helpful to them.

Milestone dates allow you to set assign and due dates (both are optional and you need not set both). Milestones are completely unrelated to access dates and thus, milestone dates need not match Interaction or Access dates (for example, I have quizzes close at 12:05 AM on the day after something is due, but set the milestone for the actual due date).

Interaction: In an assessment, you can also set dates using the Interaction tab (note, the ability to set dates under this tab is not available in other areas like the drop box or discussion). This controls when a student can actually take an assessment.

For example, you may have a quiz that closes on Tuesday, but you want students to be able to review results through Sunday. You would end the Interaction on Tuesday (so students could still see the quiz link but could not actually take the quiz) and end the Access (thus making the item invisible) on Sunday.

Be careful! If your Access and Interaction dates conflict, mayhem can ensue.

Hopefully this adds a bit of clarity to your date setting activities in ANGEL. As always, feel free to email me with questions.