In each module of the course (or the course as a whole) one can apply the following settings (Syllabus settings):
Open date — from this moment, all the learners enrolled in the course will be able to access the lessons included in the module, including the private ones. Leave the field blank if you want to open your lessons immediately.
Close date — from this moment, learners will lose access to the private lessons included in the course. Leave the field blank if you do not plan to hide the lessons.
Soft deadline — from this moment learners will receive fewer points in case they complete the assignment in the module.
Hard deadline — from this moment learners will not receive any points in case they complete the assignment in the module.
Grading policy — determines how many points the learner will receive when completing the assignment after the soft deadline.
Three types of policies are available by default:
- No deadlines (deadlines do not affect the number of points the learners get).
- Halved - the number of points that is possible to receive will be halved after the date of the deadline.
- Linear - the number of points will decrease linearly.
General grading policy — it's possible to take into consideration the amount of attempts a person made at completing the assignment. The number of points will decrease (get discounted) with every wrong answer. If you are using this option, it would be wise to let your learners know about that in advance. We generally do not advise using points discounting in MOOCs.
Conditional access to the module — it is possible to only give learners the access to the model in case they have completed a previous module or have received a sufficient amount of points. We generally do not advise using conditional access in MOOCs
If you did not specify the deadlines of the course, it is considered to be self-paced by default. We generally recommend making your MOOCs self-paced, unless there is a particular reason for a deadline.
Go to Edit course syllabus to edit dates and deadlines settings:
Recommendations for setting the course deadlines:
- it is best to open modules in the morning;
- it is best to set deadlines for the early morning and avoid setting any deadlines on Monday;
- soft deadline: it is best to set a soft deadline no earlier than 2 weeks after opening the module or on the date when the next module will be open;
- hard deadline: it is best to set the hard deadline at least a week after the soft deadline.
Note that it is important to set dates and deadlines not only for each module but for the whole course as well. In this case, the information will appear on the information page of the course.