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Creating a Hidden Student View in WebCT

Even though there is a student view tab within WebCT, it really doesn't give the most realistic student experience. It is helpful to have a test student account so that you can truly see your course as your students will see it.

It is especially helpful to be logged in as both a student and a designer so that you can keep checking the student account as you make additions and changes. In order to do this, you first need to create a test student account. The easiest way to do this is:

First, you will need a student account. Since all our accounts are now being drawn from our Pipeline database, to request a non-CCRI account, please send e-mail to Norm Grant at ngrant@ccri.edu  or Gene Grande at ggrande@ccri.edu with any username and password you wish to use and the courses to attach the account to.

Once you have your student account, open a different browser (e.g. if you're already logged in as Designer on Netscape, open an Internet Explorer browser window, or vice versa) and log in as the student. You can then toggle between the two views by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of the screen.

If you only have one browser installed on your computer, or prefer to use only one browser

Another way to see a Student View is to add an icon to your course that links to a student view, but is actually hidden from the students.

To add the student view link to the course homepage:

  1. Click on Add Page or Tool from the Action menu on the right
  2. Click on URL
  3. For the title, type in: Student View
  4. Next to the URL address, type in:
    http://216.19.113.210/SCRIPT/yourcoursecode/scripts/serve_home
    where yourcoursecode is the course code you see in the title bar of your WebCT course. For example, COMI1100_Johnson.
  5. Select New browser window
  6. Choose the Organizer page Homepage to display the icon
  7. Click on the Add button

Now you need to hide this icon so that your students don't see it. To hide the icon:

  1. Click in the radio button next to the icon for Student View
  2. Click on the grey Hide button on the Action menu on the right

To use the Student View:

  1. Click on the Student View icon
  2. You will be brought to the WebCT log in page. Log in with your test student WebCT ID and password. Click on the link to your course to enter.
  3. You can minimize this window and then go back and forth between the two views using the buttons at the bottom of your screen.
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