Student View is a Canvas tool that lets you view your course as a hypothetical student. Why would you want to do this? It is the fastest and easiest way to make sure that your course makes sense from a student point of view, especially if you have imported a lot of old course materials, assignments, or blank template elements you don’t want students to see. In Student View, you can check your modules, assignments, discussions, and quizzes areas to make sure everything is published. You can also check individual items to ensure that due dates and point values are clear, and, if you’re using “available from” dates, that students can’t access the item itself (more on those settings in our article and video). Finally, you can navigate to the Syllabus page of your course and scroll to the bottom to see what will appear in students’ to-do lists.
The simplest way to turn on Student View is to use the button in the upper right of your Canvas window, which displays an icon of eyeglasses and the label “Student View.”
Student View will stay on as you navigate from page to page. You can navigate to any Canvas item you would like to view as a student. As long as a pink box borders your Canvas window, you remain in Student View.
To exit this feature, click Leave Student View in the bottom right corner of the screen.
If this does not work, or you cannot find the button, you can use the more complex method of turning on Student View from your course settings, described below in video and illustrated instructions.
Introduction to Toggling Student View
Watch this video to learn more, and to see a demonstration of how to use Student View to check the visibility of items in Modules:
Illustrated Alternative Instructions
Step 1: On your Canvas course shell, click on settings at the bottom of the left side bar.
Step 2: Click on Student View on the right.
Step 3: Navigate to the Canvas page you would like to view as a student. As long as the pink box borders your Canvas window, you remain in Student View.
Step 4: To exit this feature, click Leave Student View in the bottom right corner of the screen.
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