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Locking and Unlocking Assignments with Access Controls

Use Access Controls to bulk edit assignments to be unavailable/available for students, or schedule availability for a specific date and time

Jeremy Keeshin avatar
Written by Jeremy Keeshin
Updated over 4 weeks ago
Banner: This is a Pro feature.

Access Controls allow the teacher to control when an assignment becomes available, scheduled, or locked for students.

Navigating to Access Controls

Navigate to the Access Controls and Due Dates tool in the Configure app under the Assignments category in the left navigation bar:

Screenshot showing how to access the access controls in the configure app under the assignments category in the left nav bar.

Using Access Controls

Under the Access Controls + Due Dates tab, use the dropdown menus to select if you'd like changes to affect all sections in a course, an individual section, or an individual student. You can also select your local time zone next to the Due Time input box. Click the blue "Update Year" button at the top right to update dates to the current school year.:

Screenshot showing the dropdown menus that are a part of the access controls.

This gif shows how to change Lesson availability for all students in a section:

GIF showing the different availability options in access controls.

Types of Availability

Availability refers to whether your students can view an exercise or not. There are three availability settings:

  • Available: Default setting. Students can access and submit this activity.

  • Locked: Students see the Lesson titles on their Assignments page, but they will see a lock icon and will encounter a Locked page if they attempt to access.

  • Scheduled: Schedule an item to be available during the specified time range and locked anytime before the Start Date (if set) or after the End Date (if set).

Student View of Locked Assignments:

Screenshot of the assignments page depicting gray lock icons that represent locked assignments.

Screenshot of the locked assignment page. The page has the "This Assignment is Locked" message with lock icons displayed.


Setting Access Controls

Expanding Modules and Lessons:

By default, all activities are set to Available in your course. You can configure Availability at the Module, Lesson, or activity level. Setting Availability for an entire Module will reflect in all Lessons and activities contained within it. Click on a Module and its corresponding Lessons to expand their contents, and configure Availability settings on the activity level.

GIF shows toggling different lessons and assignments on access controls page.

Schedule Availability:

You can also schedule for something to become available in a specified time range. To do this, set the item you want "Scheduled", and use the date picker to select the window that you want the item to be open for.

Note: Scheduling at the Module or Lesson level will affect all activities underneath it.

GIF shows setting dropdown arrow to scheduled and using calendar to set date

๐Ÿ’ก To make and Assignment available permanently after unlocking, you can leave the End Date blank.

Access Controls Video Demo


Access Controls are available as part of CodeHS Pro. To get CodeHS Pro for your school, contact our team at sales@codehs.com.

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