Dummy students are a great way for teaching staff to view the course from the perspective of a student. Doing so allows the course to be adjusted to correctly display elements to students. Additionally, teaching staff can confirm if they have correctly set up certain resources and activities such as Assignments, Checklists and Quizzes.
There are multiple ways to test from a student's perspective:
- Add test students to your course.
- Switch role function
- Log in as function, using dummy students (Instructors can only do this in sandpit courses)
Using the Test student block
The Test student block can be used to quickly create new student accounts which can only be accessed in the particular course they were created in. It is recommended that teaching staff hide the block at the start of the semester to prevent students from seeing the block. Alternatively, teaching staff can edit the permissions of the block to delete the student role from seeing the block.
Click 'Get Started' to view the step-by-step guide
Using the switch role function
When you use the switch role function, you can get a quick overview of the course from the perspective of a student or other role.
You will have access to view the resources and activities available to that role but you will still be logged in as yourself and any participation you do will be as yourself. You should switch back to your normal role when you have finished testing before continuing work on the course.
The switch role is best used for a quick overview and not for thorough testing as having a higher role (e.g. Instructor, TELT Administrator, Manager) can affect the outcome of testing on a role with lower permissions.
Click 'Get Started' to view the step-by-step guide
'Log in as' function (sandpit courses only)
Sandpits created using the Sandpit creation form automatically have six dummy students enrolled. Instructors can log in as dummy students to view a course from the perspective of a student.
If dummy students have been added to another course then the instructor can log in as them as well.
Dummy students have the same permissions as a normal student, including:
- View all activities and resources that are visible to students.
- Add to forums, submit assignments and participate in other activities such as quizzes. Any participation will be performed as the dummy student profile. Dummy students are enrolled in a large number of sandpit and test courses and viewing their list of courses may take a long time to load.
- Cannot view courses that are hidden. If testing needs to be done before a course is released, you should use test students as described above.
Click 'Get Started' to view the step-by-step guide