Start and end dates control when a pathway opens to students and when it stops accepting work. Both are optional: leave them blank and the pathway is open as soon as you assign it.
Setting the dates
Open My Library from the sidebar and click your pathway. Set the type filter to Pathways if you have a lot of content.
Click Assign, then set Start Date and End Date on the classroom's row. Each classroom has its own pair, so the same pathway can run on different dates for different classes.
Clicking a date field opens a calendar.
What the dates do
Start Date. Before this, students cannot open the pathway.
End Date. After this, the pathway closes and no more work can be submitted.
You can change either date later. See Extend a Pathway's due date.