Canvas: To Access Student View

Task: This article describes the Student View feature in Canvas, including known issues as well as links to pertinent Canvas Guides articles.

Instructions:

To Access Student View

You can view your course from a student perspective at any time — while you are developing your course when you are ready to publish, or any time during the semester. When you switch to Student View, Canvas creates a test student account. As the Test Student, you can see the course as a student, and experiment with submitting Assignments and posting to Discussions.

As of 12/19, the Student View option will be available at the top of most course pages. The button does not display on pages that are not visible to students, such as the Course Settings page. The Student View button has been removed from the sidebar and replaced with a smaller button at the top of the page. See below:

 

A pop-up window will appear at the bottom-right of your screen which reads: "You are currently logged in to Student View." At the bottom of that window are two buttons:  Reset Student and  Leave Student View. When you click Reset Student, you clear the history of any activities you have performed as that test student. When you are ready to switch back to the regular view, click  Leave Student View.


Please Note the Following:

  1. There is a separate Test Student account for each course in Canvas. 
  2. Submissions and scores for the Test Student do not affect course analytics.
  3. If you use Student View to sign-up for Scheduler (Appointment) Events, clicking Reset Student will not delete those Scheduler Events.
  4. The Student View is not useful for seeing items associated with groups or collaborations including differentiated assignments as the test student is not actually assigned to a particular group or collaboration.
  5. If you use Student View to test discussions and then want to delete the test posts, the following text appears on screen as an artifact - permanently: "This entry has been deleted." There is no way to remove this text at this time.

Outcome:

Users will understand how the Student View feature in Canvas works.

Further reading:

To learn more about the Canvas Student View, visit https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-view-a-course-as-a-test-student-using-Student-View/ta-p/1122

 

Need additional help?

Please use this link to the Technology Help Desk to locate your local campus contact information. 

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