How can I preview an activity?

How can I preview an activity?

by MJ Nehasil -
Number of replies: 4

Very new to Moodle so this might be something really easy that I've overlooked ... but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to preview an activity that I add to a course. I added a "choice' activity, saved it, and then clicked on it to view it and all I get is "Sorry, only enrolled users are allowed to make choices." Of course, when I try to enroll it says I can't as I'm the course creator/admin. What am I missing? I just want to see the activity as it will look when it's published. Do I have to make a dummy account and enroll to test everything? I can see resources else I've added to a course -- labels, pages, etc. Can I not preview any activities?

Any help appreciated.

Attachment Screen Shot 2018-12-31 at 3.30.44 PM.png
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In reply to MJ Nehasil

Re: How can I preview an activity?

by Stuart Mealor -

Hi MJ

The small piece of knowledge that you are missing is that Teachers (or indeed Administrators) do not see activities in the same way as Students. For example a Teacher never gets a Grade when test a Quiz.

You said:

"Do I have to make a dummy account and enrol to test everything? I can see resources else I've added to a course -- labels, pages, etc. Can I not preview any activities?"

That is in fcat absolute best practice smile

Although you may be able to "switch roles" (if you site is setup to allow this) it still isn't 100% the same as what a Student will see.

Resources will look the same to everyone, because you don't "do" anything with them - just look at them.

So yes, create a test Student (dummy user), and enrol that user in every Course (site wide) - so you know you can always quickly check what a Student sees in any course instantly !

And an even better tip, just open a second browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, whatever) and Login as the test Student there. Then you never need to login and logout to test things. You do your site administration or course building in one browser, and just flick to the other browser to see what the Student sees!  Very quick and easy, and works really well when you are developing content quickly and checking smile

Stu

Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Stuart Mealor

Re: How can I preview an activity?

by MJ Nehasil -

Thanks so much for your reply!

Yeah, that's exactly what I ended up doing -- with a separate browser and all. And two screens makes it even easier. ;)

I have another quick question related to this ... when I am testing with my student account is there a way I can clear out all of the data that accumulates? Like when I'm creating and testing a quiz, can I go into the admin somewhere and easily reset the account so I can test the quiz again from scratch? That would be very helpful!

Thanks again! -- MJ

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In reply to MJ Nehasil

Re: How can I preview an activity?

by Stuart Mealor -

Hi MJ

"Like when I'm creating and testing a quiz, can I go into the admin somewhere and easily reset the account so I can test the quiz again from scratch?"

You essentially have two options to choose from in this situation:

  1. If you set the Quiz so user can have multiple attempts, then you can test multiple times using your Student account. I've often set a Quiz to 10 attempts, tested it, and then reduced it down to 1 or 2 attempts as required.
  2. As a Teacher (or an Admin), you can go into the Grades of a Quiz, select an attempt, and delete it, thereby enabling the Student to take it again smile

Both these methods work, which you might find quickest or maybe most flexible is up to you !

Stu smile

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In reply to Stuart Mealor

Re: How can I preview an activity?

by MJ Nehasil -

Great! Thanks so much for answering all of my questions! I'm sure I'll have more as I go on ... 🙄

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