Timing an Assignment

There are situations, like quizzes or exams, where you would want to limit the amount of time your students have to complete the assignment.

To set a timer on an assignment:

1. Click on the checkbox next to Timed Assignment
2. Then enter how many minutes the students will be allowed to complete the assignment by typing a number from 1 to 999 in the box or by using the up/down arrows to set the minutes.

If the timer on an assignment needs to be reset for the whole class, you can click Reset All Student Timers which will appear under Timed Assignment after the assignment has been saved.

After clicking on Reset All Student Timers, you will see a pop-up message "Are sure you want to reset the timers for all students?".  Click OK to continue resetting the timers or click Cancel to return to the Assignment Editor.  

If you click OK, you will also receive a pop-up confirmation that all timers were reset.  

Note:  You may also see a checkbox to not allow notifications from our system again.  We recommend that you NOT check this box as you will not see pop-up messages from our system again (including confirmations like this). 

Student experience for a timed assignment

When an assignment is timed, the student will receive a warning when they open the assignment.  This warning tells them how many minutes they have to complete the assignment and advises them that the clock does not stop running if they log out and log back in.  They will have to acknowledge this message by clicking the Continue button to start the assignment or click on the Cancel button which will take them back to the Class Management page.

When the student enters the timed assignment, there is a countdown timer on the left side of the assignment that allows them to keep track of their remaining time.

When the timer expires, the student will see "Time Expired" where the countdown timer was.  If they attempt to enter any additional answers, they will see a message "This timed assignment has expired! You are not allowed to save any more work on this assignment."

If the student attempts to enter their timed assignment while it is still open, but after their timer has expired, they will see a screen like the one below.

Individual student timer resets, adding additional time for an individual student, and disability settings that allow for a percentage of additional time to all timed assignments are all topics that will be discussed in other articles. 

Resetting a timer for an Instructor/TA:

As an instructor, if you open a timed exam to see what it will look like for your students, you will initiate the same timer that your students will have.  The timer will expire after the set time, but you can reset your timer by opening the assignment and clicking on the Reset my timer for this assignment link. This will not affect your class or any students. This will only reset the timer for YOUR assignment as the instructor or TA.

After you click on the Reset my timer for this assignment link, you will be taken directly to the timer start page.