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How Assignment Dates Are Recalculated for Different Sections

When you copy scheduled assignments to other sections or courses, the assignment dates are automatically recalculated to match the class meeting schedule of the new course sections.

Note Always review your class schedule after copying scheduling information. WebAssign tries to use information from the original section when copying assignment schedules, but the exact schedule for any two course sections or terms often varies.
Best Practice When copying a class schedule to new sections with different numbers of meet days than the original section, or when copying a class schedule to a new academic term:
  1. Copy the schedule to a single section first.
  2. Review and adjust the schedule in the new section.
  3. Copy the revised schedule from the new section to other sections that use the same schedule.

Schedule Weeks

Assignment due dates are always relative to the same week of the course.

For example:
  • An assignment is scheduled for week 3 of the original section.
  • That assignment is scheduled for week 3 of the new section.

Different Term Lengths

It is possible to copy scheduled assignments from one section into a section with fewer weeks than the original section.

In this case, any assignments that would be scheduled after the end date for the term are scheduled on the last day of the term in the new section.

Assignment Due Dates Based on Day of the Week

Assignments scheduled based on the day of the week have the same schedule in the new section.

For example:
  • An assignment is due on Monday at 3:00pm in the third week of the original section.
  • That assignment is due on Monday at 3:00pm in the third week of the new section.

Assignment Due Dates Based on Class Schedule

Assignments scheduled based on the class schedule are rescheduled based on the meet days for the new section. How this rescheduling occurs depends on the specified meet days for the original and new sections.

If class meet days are not specified for both the original and new sections, due dates are recalculated based on the day of the week.
If either the original section or the new section does not specify class meeting days — for example, for an online course — then assignments are scheduled to the new section based on the day of the week for which they were scheduled in the original section.
image showing assignment schedule adjustments from days of the week (Sunday through Saturday) to days of the week (Sunday through Saturday).
For example:
  • The original section meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10:30am to 11:25am.
  • The new section does not specify meet days.
  • An assignment is due 2 hours before Monday's class starts in the week 4 of the original section.
  • That assignment is due at 8:30am on Monday in week 4 of the new section.
If the new section has the same number of meet days as the original section, due dates are recalculated with each original meet day matching exactly one new meet day.
image showing assignment schedule adjustments from meeting days Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to meeting days Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, respectively.
For example:
  • The original section meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
  • The new section meets Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
  • An assignment is due 3 hours before Wednesday's class starts in week 6 of the original section.
  • That assignment is due 3 hours before Thursday's class starts in week 6 of the new section.
If the original section has more meet days than the new section, each original meet day is matched to a new meet day starting with the first meet day. All additional meet days in the original section are matched to the last meet day of the new section.
image showing assignment schedule adjustments from meeting days Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to meeting days Tuesday and Thursday. Monday is matched to Tuesday. Both Wednesday and Friday are matched to Thursday.
For example:
  • The original section meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
  • The new section meets Tuesday and Thursday.
  • An assignment is due 4 days after Friday's class ends in the 10th week of the original section.
  • That assignment is due 4 days after Thursday's class ends in the 10th week of the new section.
If the original section has fewer meet days than the new section, each original meet day is matched to a new meet day starting with the last meet day.
image showing assignment schedule adjustments from meeting days Tuesday and Thursday to meeting days Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Tuesday is matched to Wednesday. Thursday is matched to Friday.
For example:
  • The original section meets Tuesday and Thursday.
  • The new section meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
  • An assignment is due 0 minutes before Tuesday's class starts in the second week of the original section.
  • That assignment is due 0 minutes before Wednesday's class starts in the second week of the new section.

Available and View Until Dates

The Available and View Until dates for assignments are always calculated relative either to the assignment due date or to the start or end dates for the course.

For example:
  • The original section starts September 3.
  • The new section starts January 10.
  • An assignment is first visible 3 days after start of course in the original section.
  • That assignment is first visible 3 days after start of course in the new section.

Drop Security and Time Restrictions after Dates

Drop Security and Time Restrictions after dates are set to the assignment's new due date.