diff --git a/lms/templates/courseware/course_about.html b/lms/templates/courseware/course_about.html
index a827c6999cea..4023a7f746a6 100644
--- a/lms/templates/courseware/course_about.html
+++ b/lms/templates/courseware/course_about.html
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ <h1>
             <li class="important-dates-item">
               <span class="icon fa fa-calendar" aria-hidden="true"></span>
               <p class="important-dates-item-title">${_("Classes Start")}</p>
-              % if isinstance(course_start_date, str):
+              % if isinstance(course_start_date, basestring):
                   <span class="important-dates-item-text start-date">${course_start_date}</span>
               % else:
                   <%
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ <h1>
           % endif
             ## We plan to ditch end_date (which is not stored in course metadata),
             ## but for backwards compatibility, show about/end_date blob if it exists.
-            % if get_course_about_section(request, course, "end_date") or course.end:
+            % if course.end:
                 <%
                     course_end_date = course.end
                 %>
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ <h1>
                       <span class="important-dates-item-text final-date">${course_end_date}</span>
                   % else:
                     <%
-                        course_date_string = course_end_date.strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z')
+                        course_date_string = course.start.strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z')
                     %>
                     <span class="important-dates-item-text final-date localized_datetime" data-format="shortDate" data-datetime="${course_date_string}"></span>
                   % endif
diff --git a/lms/templates/index.html b/lms/templates/index.html
index db5389e7a09d..c06fe4f0006c 100644
--- a/lms/templates/index.html
+++ b/lms/templates/index.html
@@ -17,10 +17,7 @@
               % if homepage_overlay_html:
                 ${homepage_overlay_html | n, decode.utf8}
               % else:
-                  ## Translators: 'Open edX' is a registered trademark, please keep this untranslated. See http://open.edx.org for more information.
-                  <h1>${Text(_(u"Welcome to the Open edX{registered_trademark} platform!")).format(registered_trademark=HTML("<sup style='font-size: 65%'>&reg;</sup>"))}</h1>
-                  ## Translators: 'Open edX' is a registered trademark, please keep this untranslated. See http://open.edx.org for more information.
-                  <p>${_("It works! This is the default homepage for this Open edX instance.")}</p>
+                <%include file="index_overlay.html" />
               % endif
             </div>
             % if settings.FEATURES.get('ENABLE_COURSE_DISCOVERY'):
@@ -38,13 +35,7 @@ <h1>${Text(_(u"Welcome to the Open edX{registered_trademark} platform!")).format
 
           </div>
 
-          % if show_homepage_promo_video:
-            <a href="#video-modal" class="media" rel="leanModal">
-              <div class="hero">
-                <div class="play-intro"></div>
-              </div>
-            </a>
-          % endif
+          <%include file="index_promo_video.html" />
         </div>
 
       </header>
diff --git a/lms/templates/index_overlay.html b/lms/templates/index_overlay.html
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..55a440166b8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lms/templates/index_overlay.html
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+<%!
+from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from openedx.core.djangolib.markup import HTML, Text
+%>
+
+## Translators: 'Open edX' is a registered trademark, please keep this untranslated. See http://open.edx.org for more information.
+<h1>${Text(_(u"Welcome to the Open edX{registered_trademark} platform!")).format(registered_trademark=HTML("<sup style='font-size: 65%'>&reg;</sup>"))}</h1>
+## Translators: 'Open edX' is a registered trademark, please keep this untranslated. See http://open.edx.org for more information.
+<p>${_("It works! This is the default homepage for this Open edX instance.")}</p>
diff --git a/lms/templates/index_promo_video.html b/lms/templates/index_promo_video.html
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..72d818579d3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lms/templates/index_promo_video.html
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+% if show_homepage_promo_video:
+  <a href="#video-modal" class="media" rel="leanModal">
+    <div class="hero">
+      <div class="play-intro"></div>
+    </div>
+  </a>
+% endif
diff --git a/lms/templates/problem_ajax.html b/lms/templates/problem_ajax.html
index 941e0855dfde..031ddbeecfca 100644
--- a/lms/templates/problem_ajax.html
+++ b/lms/templates/problem_ajax.html
@@ -6,4 +6,8 @@
      data-attempts-used="${attempts_used}"
      data-content="${content | h}"
      data-graded="${graded}">
+    <p class="loading-spinner">
+        <i class="fa-spinner fa-pulse fa-2x fa-fw"></i>
+        <span class="sr">Loading&hellip;</span>
+    </p>
 </div>