To create a Pronto assignment, begin by opening your Canvas assignments, and setting up a new assignment as an "external tool" submission. For an in depth guide on creating assignments in Canvas, please see this article from the Canvas Community. Important note from Canvas: The External Tool submission type does not support group assignments or peer reviews.

The form shows your assignment's Canvas dates — due date, available-from, and available-until — This is intended to be as a reference as these dates are established in your Canvas assignment settings.
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It also asks you to confirm a FERPA acknowledgment statement. You must check the acknowledgment to save the setup. This confirms you're okay with the students in this assignment sharing a single Pronto chat. Until it's acknowledged, no chat is created. If you have any questions about this statement, please contact your school's LMS administrator.

If your assignment's available-from date has already passed, Pronto creates the chat right away and adds the people who can "see" the assignment. If the available-from date is in the future, Pronto waits and creates the chat automatically when the assignment opens. You'll see a confirmation noting the open date.

Everyone the assignment is visible to in Canvas becomes a member of the Pronto chat. Instructors are added as chat owners; students are added as members.

At the available-until date — or the due date, if you haven't set an available-until — the chat automatically switches to read-only for students, so they can no longer post. The chat stays visible so everyone can still see the conversation. If you extend the date in Canvas, the chat reopens automatically.

The next time you launch the assignment, you'll see its details and an Open in Pronto button that takes you straight to the assignment chat.