What is it?
The best way to view the module from a student point of view is to assign your “_PreviewUser” account to a group, and then go into Student Preview Mode.
What does it do?
What students can see in groups will depend on how you have set up the groups, and how you use the groups in the module, which is why the best method to see what students see in groups is to use Student Preview Mode. However, this guide will provide some general information.
What should I know?
To enter Student Preview
Step 1: Click on the Student Preview link at the top right.
Note: When you click on this, you will see a warning to say you are switching over to student preview mode. Once you are in student preview mode, you will also see a banner across the top of the module.
Once in this mode you can take part in discussion boards, take quizzes, and interact with any Blackboard content as a student would. Note that you cannot access Turnitin while in student preview mode, this is because Turnitin is a different company and does not integrate with this mode. You may also see a similar error for any items you add through the content and tools option.
Step 2: To exit student preview mode, click on Exit at the top right in the banner and select either Discard or Save. Save keeps all the things you did in the student preview mode (e.g. test submissions, discussion posts, etc), Exit removes the data of what you did in student preview mode.
Step 3: Back in instructor mode (not student preview mode), follow the instructions from our guide on creating groups to add your Student Preview account to a group.
Step 4: Go back into Student Preview Mode to access the group link and any content associated with the group you have added this account to.
Step 1: Navigating to the menu at the top of the module page, the students will be able to select Groups.
Step 2: If you have made the groups hidden, the students will not see anything in the groups area. If you have made the groups visible, they will see the name of the group set and individual group they are in. They will also be able to see everyone else in their individual group.
Step 3: In addition to this, if you have assigned Discussion Boards or Blackboard Assignments to groups, they will be able to see their group members names there. The group set will also become visible automatically, and you won’t be able to hide the group from students.