Accommodations, Dates, Groups, and Release Conditions

D2L has three different types of dates:

1. Start Date

2. End Date

3. Due Date

Start and End dates are very similar to each other. If you put a Start Date on something, say a module, students will be able to see the module but will not be able to interact with most of the materials/Content Items inside of it until the date and time specified by the Start Date (we will talk about why it is "most materials" and not all on the next page). The same goes for the End Date, except students will not be able to interact with most of the materials inside of the module after the date and time specified by the End Date. These are known as "restrictive" dates because they are preventing access to something either before or after a specified time. Applying Start and End dates to Course Activities can help prevent information overload and prevent students from jumping ahead of the current topic.

A Due Date is non-restrictive and is simply used for notification purposes (the bell icon in D2L to the left of your name). Adding a Due Date to modules or course activities also adds it to the D2L Calendar. If students have their D2L Calendar hooked up to a personal calendar, they can also get notifications that way too.

We will collectively refer to Start, End, and Due dates simply as "Dates" in further readings and tutorials.