Located in the upper right region in your Blackboard course is an odd-looking icon consisting of a dot vertically sandwiched between two curved arrows. This is the icon for Blackboard's Student Preview tool.
Why is Student Preview important to instructors? Simply put, it lets you ensure that all dates, settings, and features are working for students as you intend them to…before students access the class and get started! With the student preview, you can see your course as students see it. You can interact with the content exactly how students do. You can easily transition into and out of a system-managed preview account automatically enrolled in the course as a student. What are some items you may want to check in Student Preview?
As always, you are welcome to request a consultation with a member of our Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) team to learn more about Blackboard Student Preview Mode or any other instructional design/technology topic. To request personalized assistance, don't hesitate to contact OIT's Support Center at 281-283-2828 or supportcenter@uhcl.edu.
- Test tool functionality from a student perspective when setting up instructional materials, activities, and assignments.
- Submit assignments or take quizzes and tests as a student to ensure that the drop-boxes function correctly. Testing these items in Student Preview helps avoid those emails from students about not being able to submit something or take a test.
- Check blogs and discussion posts, journals, and wikis.
About Student Preview Settings
Once you click the icon and activate Student Preview mode, an orange horizontal bar will appear toward the top of your Blackboard course. This bar lets you know that you are now in your course as a student user.
Once you click the icon and activate Student Preview mode, an orange horizontal bar will appear toward the top of your Blackboard course. This bar lets you know that you are now in your course as a student user.
In addition, the notification bar includes two buttons on its right side:
- Exit Preview: clicking this button will return you to Instructor mode in your Blackboard course.
- Settings: use this button to configure Student Preview for continued use throughout the semester.
Upon exiting Preview mode or by clicking Settings, you have the option to either save your Student Preview data or delete the Preview Student and all data associated with it. Although Blackboard recommends removing the data, our team recommends selecting the "Keep the preview user and all data" option and checking the box to the left of "Do not ask me about the preview user when exiting student preview."
