Multiple Dates: Canvas Discussion Boards

As of January 2025, Canvas has updated discussion boards to include the ability to have multiple due dates! You may remember that sometimes instructors will tell you the due date for the original post as well as the replies, but only one date shows up on your Canvas calendar. Frustrating! Well, the change we have asked for is finally here!

Update May 2025:

This new feature is unfortunately not working well if at all. If you have enabled Checkpoints in your discussion boards, you may have found that it either marks replies as late and/or incomplete even if neither of those marks are true. Sometimes causing issues with group discussions as well. To this note, we have decided to disable Checkpoints to ensure that Canvas has time to rework their new tool and bring it back when they have worked out the kinks. If you have questions and/or are in need of support, please reach out to our Canvas Admin, Neal Skapura (nskapura@dvc.edu) and our DEDE Coordinator, Ray Clapper (rclapper@dvc.edu).

If you have been using Checkpoints and encountered issues:

Open your discussion board and click "edit" to make updates to your discussion settings.
Once in edit mode, scroll down and locate "Graded" in your discussion options.
Uncheck "Graded". This will release the Checkpoints setting. Then re-check "Grading" to enable the ability to grade.
From here, you will want to double check that your points are still showing correctly for the assignment as they may have been altered with Checkpoints.
All previously graded responses will no have been affected.

The instructions below will be applicable if/when Checkpoints is back up and running (without all of the glitches!).

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Student Support

When you access a discussion board as a student, it may look slightly different with this update. You will now see the option to "View Due Dates" before you get started. You are able to check to see if you have completed these different checkpoint items once click on "View Due Dates" as well.

multiple due dates, "view due dates" as a student

Discussions with checkpoints (multiple due dates) will display for students with two calendar events (one for initial post and one for required replies) and will display as two items on their to-do list. Discussions with checkpoints will also show as two items in the Modules area of your course.

two due dates in Canvas modules

Faculty Support

When creating or editing a Canvas discussion, you'll need to go through a few extra steps to setup the multiple due dates, or "checkpoints".

Open a new or edit an existing Canvas discussion.
In the discussion settings, ensure “Graded” is checked [1], then check the “Assign graded checkpoints” box [2]. At this point, checkpoints cannot be used in ungraded discussions.
This will add an area where you can assign points to the initial post (“Reply to Topic”) [1], the number of required replies (up to ten) [2], and points to the additional replies [3]. The point values for “Reply to Topic” and “Additional Replies” are automatically totaled [4].
Note that you must include points in [1] and [3], even if you are using Complete/Incomplete grading. In that case, I recommend assigning 0 points to both. When you grade the discussion, it will only be considered Complete if both scores are Complete, no matter the point values you configured here.

Once you have setup your checkpoints, use Ball State's guide to grade your multiple checkpoints, or watch as Canvas support walks you through the steps:

Click Next to continue.