"What are these deadlines?"
"Am I going to fail this course?"
Coursera's new approach to group learning means that every class is grouped into a cohort. The hope is that everyone can support each other since they will be in about the same place in the material. This approach is causing a little bit of confusion so I wanted to explain a little right from the start.
Coursera offers suggested deadlines. There is no penalty for missing a deadline, but in session-based courses, you may need to switch to the next session if you fall too far behind. After you enroll in the course, you’ll be able to see the suggested deadlines for all assignments by visiting the Assignments tab on the left sidebar. You can also go to a specific week to see deadlines for that week's assignments.
If you are in a course session with a specific start and end date, you'll need to pass all assignments before the end date to complete the course in your current session. If you aren't able to finish before the end date, you can switch to the next session. When you switch sessions, your work will transfer with you, so you don't need to resubmit assignments that you passed in the previous session.
Here is more information on switching session: https://learner.coursera.help/hc/en-us/articles/208279776-Switch-to-a-different-session