Blackboard Ultra – Student Preview

Contents

Staff Guide: With Student Preview, you can review course content from a student’s perspective.

About Student Preview

Student Preview will create a student account for you so that, as an instructor, you can experience content and activities as a student would. When you enter Student Preview you will be able to:

Access available content
Download and upload files
View grades as a student
Submit assignments
Take tests
Participate in conversations
Participate in discussions and journals
Experience group membership

Course roles that can use student preview are:

Instructor
Library Staff
Pre-sessional Instructor
Teaching Assistant
Course Builder
School Office Administrator

Enable Student Preview

Select the Student Preview button on the top right-hand corner of the course page.
Then select Start Preview in the pop-up window.
This will create a student “Preview user”.

Exit Student Preview

Select Exit in the top right-hand corner of the Student Preview Bar.
Select the option to Save or Discard the preview user before leaving the session.
- opt to Save the student preview user if you want to view the activities of the preview student with your normal course role – for example view submissions and marks.
- You will see your Preview User in the Class Register and the Gradebook: instructor_username_previewuser (for example ab1c24_previewuser).
- If you Discard the student preview data, there will be no evidence of your interaction with the module whilst in Student Preview.

For more information and a video about Student Preview see Blackboard’s Student Preview Guide

How to use Student Preview with unavailable content.

You can add your Preview User to the Release Conditions of any content that is otherwise unavailable to students.

Make sure you have already created a Preview User in the course by following the instructions above to enter Student Preview and then Exit Preview and Save the preview user.
Select the Hidden from students option under the content item and select Release Conditions.

Select Release Conditions from the content visibiltiy options.

Select Specific members or groups to have access to this content.
Search for your name in the list of Individual members to find your student Preview User.
Select Save.

Search for and select your name in the list of Individual members. Your name will be followed by _PreviewUser.

When you go back and enter Student Preview you will be able to see the content that will remain unavailable to other students.

How to use Student Preview to view Content only available to a particular Group.

You can add your Preview user to a Group and then you will be able to view any content or activity available to that group.

Make sure you have already created a Preview User in the course by following the instructions above to Enter Student Preview and then Exit Preview and Save the preview user.
Go to the Group tab on the top course menu and select the Group Set you want to add your preview user to.
You will see your Preview User in the list of Unassigned students.
Assign your Preview User to a group.

Select the options next to your PreviewUser in the list of unassigned students. Select the Group to add them to.

When you go back into Student Preview you can access all content available to the group you have been added to.

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