Automating Assignment Assignment

[lahvak]

I would like to have a way to automate the process of setting a due date to an assignment and assigning it to students.

The following is a process that I go through at the beginning of each semester, for each class I teach using CoCalc:

1. I already have a directory structure that contains all the files for all of the assignments I want to use in that class. I open the .course file, open the "Assignments" tab, click on the "Add Assignment" button, select the corresponding directories (I really like that I can add all assignments at once, it really helps), add add them.
2. Then I have to go through all the assignments and for each, I have to set the due date, and click the "Assign" button. I already have all the due dates in a file on my laptop, since I figure them out when preparing the syllabus for the class, and I use them to create gradebook items and post announcements on our LMS (Canvas). I have to manually copy all those due dates to CoCalc, and I seem to always make some mistakes. It does not matter too much, since the due date on CoCalc is only informative, but it confuses students.

I would like to have some tool, either a script I could run on CoCalc or and API endpoint that would accept the path to the .course file, a path to the assignment directory, and a due date, and do the following:

1. Add the assignment to the course, if it is not there yet.
2. Set the due date for the assignment
3. Assign the assignment to all students.

Perhaps something like that already exists, but I could not find it.