Early Bird

Canvas Spotlight

Learn how to extend assessment deadlines for just one student without impacting the rest of the class.

By Jennifer Whitton-Trujillo and Alex McDaniel

August 24, 2021

As instructors, you want to provide your students with the best chance at succeeding in your courses. To this point, chances are that you have had a student ask for a deadline extension. Maybe the student needed accommodations in your course or maybe life (or in some cases technology) just got in the way of the student’s time management.

Regardless of the reason, if you decide to excuse your student’s late work, Canvas provides options for extending assessment deadlines for just one student (you read that correctly! You can extend a deadline for a single student without changing the deadline for the rest of the class).

Extending assessment deadlines for individuals lets you grade and give feedback to your students without being penalized or losing access to an assignment, quiz or discussion because they are past the deadline set in Canvas. It also lets you provide your students with additional opportunities to be successful in your course when they need some flexibility.

Best practices

• Have and communicate a consistent deadline-extension policy in place to prevent inequities in class.
• Provide feedback to students even though their work is submitted late.
• Encourage your students to make use of campus resources such as the Writing Center or TutorMe (available 24/7 through Canvas) if they need help completing an assessment.

Let’s walk through it together

For complete written step-by-step instructions, visit the Center for Teaching, Learning and Design Ready Spotlight tutorial page.