Issue
When testing Engageli classroom links in Blackboard, the "Student Preview" feature should be used with caution.
Student Preview can be enabled from the top right of the course screen in Blackboard and is used by educators to see what a learner would see inside the LMS from their view. Below is a sample screenshot of where this toggle would appear:
The issue that can result from using this feature is when you are done using it, you are prompted to either save or discard the preview user. If you save it, then the preview user is added to the course roster with a student role, but with your email. This results in 2 users existing in the Blackboard course roster with the same email--your student preview user and your own educator user.
The complication this causes is when a roster sync is performed by Engageli, our system will see 2 users with the same email and sync your account with only one of them. Sometimes this will be the student, sometimes this will be the educator. The result is when you launch Engageli from the course, sometimes you will see your role as Instructor and sometimes you see it as a Learner.
Resolution
There are several ways to address this:
- Do not use the "Student Preview" feature.
- If you must use the "Student Preview" feature, always remember to discard the preview user. Never save it. If you accidentally save it, simply remove it from the course roster.
- A permanent fix is to disable the roster sync feature entirely for your Engageli instance. This can be done by going into "Admin Portal" > "Site Management" > "Class Configuration" and marking the "Skip roster sync with LMS" option. This ensures all new classrooms will have roster sync disabled. With this approach, you are free to use the "Student Preview" feature and save your users without running into this role swapping issue.