Timer Starts Immediately for Timed Assignments in Canvas

The assignment timer starts when your student clicks the link in Canvas™ to open it, but assignment restrictions such as entering the password might prevent your student from beginning work immediately.

Cause

Timed assignments can be scheduled with additional restrictions, including conditional release, password protection, IP restrictions, or LockDown Browser®. When opened from Canvas, the restrictions are checked after the timer starts instead of before the assignment is opened. This can result in students having less than the allotted time to complete the assignment.

Prevention

Avoid scheduling timed assignments when using Canvas advanced integration.
Before adding a timed assignment to Canvas, add information about the timer and any other restrictions to the assignment description in WebAssign.

For example:
Timed assignment: the timer will start when you click the assignment link.

When you add the assignment to Canvas, the WebAssign assignment description is also displayed in Canvas so your students know the assignment is timed before opening it.
Before adding a timed assignment to Canvas, make sure the assignment available date and time is not earlier than you are ready for students to begin work.

By default, assignments are available on the course start date. If needed, change the available date and time to ensure your students will be able to start work when they click the assignment link in Canvas.

Resolution

When this problem happens to a student, grant the student extra time for the timed assignment in WebAssign.