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Canvas Student View for Instructors

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Student View allows instructors to see what students see when they access a Canvas site. Enabling Student View creates a “test student” in a course, which allows instructors to:

  • See the student's perspective on Canvas

  • Post and reply to discussions

  • Submit assignments

  • View grades/ people/ pages

  • View the syllabus/ quizzes/ calendar

Student View does not allow instructors to access:

  • Attendance

  • Conferences

  • Conversations inbox

  • Collaborations

  • Differentiated Assignments

  • External Apps

  • Groups

  • Peer Reviews

  • Profiles

Note: An instructor can reset Test Student data at any time, however, any activity that involves interactions with other students cannot be removed (i.e. discussion replies, etc.) Test Student data that involves interactions with other students will remain even is the Test Student is removed from section enrollments.

To Access Student View

  1. Log in to Canvas at canvas.brown.edu.

  2. Select the course you would like to view from your Dashboard menu

  3. In the upper right corner of your course, click the Student View button

  4. To confirm you are in Student View, you can look for a magenta border around your webpage, or look to the bottom left of your window to locate where it says “you are now in student view.” 
    1. You are now able to view the course as a student would
  5. You can reset the Test Student by clicking Reset Student. This action will clear all activity that does not include any student interaction.
  6. To return to your course in the instructor view, click the Leave Student View button.
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