Modify "View as Student"

I don't feel like I should have to ask for this (or any other suggestion) to be "popular" to get it considered, but since that's how this seems to work...

I'm trying to build a course right now. Haven't used Canvas much, because there is so much about it that doesn't work for me...

But now I am forced to, so trying to see what students see before I publish the course.

When I click on View as Student fora a partiluar assignment, I am told that the course is not yet open. Well duh. But since I'm masquerading as a fake student, and Canvas should know that, I should still be able to see what they will see when the assignment is available. 

"No problem," I thought to myself; "I'll just go change the course opening date, because the course isn't published yet, so it won't affect anything."

Nope. Can't change the course dates.

So "View as Student" is completely useless to me under these conditions; but it is under exactly these conditions that I need to use it. In my preferred, smaller, owner-operated designed-specifically-for-mathematics CMS, I have a "real" fake student account. I just signed up for the course using a private e-mail account, gave myself a pseudonym, and registered in the course. When I use that student account, I obviously see exactly what a students sees, closed assignments and all. But in the same CMS, when I use the View as Student feature, I see things as they WOULD see them if they were open. If a single person running a CMS can do this, why can't Canvas? 

And why do we have to ask for it?

3 Comments
Steven_S
Community Champion

Hello  @mslady29_lg ,

In my courses I am able to change the course start and stop dates, and so this setting is probably controlled by your administrator.  However, I have been able to access course content as a test student before the course start date, and so there may be something else making the assignment unavailable.  In my case, I see the message that an assignment is unavailable when I use module prerequisites and requirements, because the test student has to move through each assignment in order just like a real student.  It might be worth looking into settings other than course start dates that control the assignment availability. 

lglen
Community Explorer
Status changed to: Open
 
ProductPanda
Instructure
Instructure
Status changed to: Archived
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