How does the course look for students?

You can view a course the same way that your students view your course through Student View. Enabling Student View creates a Test Student in your course. You can also activate Student View in your Course Settings.

What happens is that a test student is created and has the same access as that of a real student. This way you can control check that the material is visible (no accidentally unpublished pages) and everything is functioning properly. It is recommended that you try turning in assignments or taking quizzes to test them.

When you are finished, click the button at the bottom Leave Student View to restore all your access as an instructor.

If you now go to Grades, you will notice a new student (the test student) has been added to the list with turned in assignments. This way you can test how the grading system works by grading what you turned in as a test student.

Notes:

Each Canvas course has a separate Test Student account. Whenever you move to a new course you will need to enable Student View for that course.
Submissions and scores for the Test Student do not affect course analytics.
You can only view the course layout as it is seen by your students. You cannot view student-specific information, such as conversations between students.
Once you activate Student View, the Test Student is shown at the end of the Gradebook and SpeedGrader and is automatically added to every section in your course. If you want to remove the test student completely, you will have to remove the test student from your section enrollments.
New Quizzes assessments should be previewed in New Quizzes and not taken as the test student. Test Student attempts cannot be reset and will affect analysis reports.

Open Student View

In a page, assignment, discussion etc. click the Student View button.

View Course

You can now view the course as a student user would see it. For example, students cannot see the Settings navigation link like instructors can.

You will know if you are in Student View because of the persistent box on the bottom of the screen indicating you are logged into Student View.

Reset Student

You can also reset the Test Student by clicking Reset Student. This action will clear all activity that does not include any student interaction.

For example, if you created an assignment and submitted it as the Test Student but then forgot to add a certain submission type, you can click the Reset Student button and submit the assignment again as the Test Student.

Leave Student View

To return to your course in the instructor view, click the Leave Student View button.

Can't interact with others

There are some functions that test students cannot do:

You can't become a member in a group.
You cannot participate in peer reviews.
You cannot send personal messages.

Student View in the App

Did you know? You can now view your courses as a student would view them in the Canvas App.

At the bottom of the course menu in the Canvas App, click Student View.

You can view a course the same way that your students view your course through Student View. Enabling Student View creates a Test Student in your course. You can also activate Student View in your Course Settings.

To see the student's perspective on Canvas, use Student View to view the course, post and reply to discussions, submit assignments, view grades, view people, view pages, view the syllabus, view quizzes, view the calendar, and view the scheduler (if enabled).

You can reset Test Student data at any time; however, Test Student activity that involves interactions with other students cannot be removed, such as discussion replies. Test Student data that involves interactions with other students are retained even if the test student is removed from section enrollments.

Attendance, conferences, conversations inbox, collaborations, differentiated assignments, external apps, groups, peer reviews, and profiles do not work for the Test Student. You will see only what you, as the instructor, allow your students to see.