Embedding Videos in Blackboard
Embedding allows online content to be experienced on your lesson webpage without requiring students to visit an external website. Commonly embedded content types include interactive content and streaming media (video or audio).
When do you want to embed?
One concept of designing an online user experience is to not make the user click more than necessary to get to the desired content. In addition, if you are presenting content in a secure LMS you don't necessarily want your students navigating to outside websites, where they may lose track of where they were in the LMS. In these cases, embedding videos can be a great solution.
When you embed...
When you embed some media, such as YouTube videos, in your lessons, you may have options such as whether or not to display player controls, the screen size, and so on. Here are some best practices to keep in mind to make your embedded media usable and accessible.
- Always include player controls (start, stop, pause, volume control)
- Never have the media auto-play when loaded (always require the user to launch the media)
- Only use media that is accessible, which includes closed captions for any audio or video content. If you find a YouTube video you want to use, but it does not have captions, you can add the video through Kaltura and we can then add captions.
How to Caption Your Kaltura Videos
How to Embed Kaltura Videos in Blackboard
- Log in to Blackboard, then click the Kaltura Media link in the upper right area of the screen.
- From your My Media list, click on the name of the media you want to share.
- When the media page loads, there will be a large video preview at the top. Find the share icon at the top right of the media preview.
- Clicking the share icon will open a layer with several options. The link option is indicated. You will want the embed code, which is the bottom field.
- Copy the embed code.
- Navigate to the course page where you want to embed your media and open the page in the editor.
- Place your cursor where you want the media to be embedded. You may need to press ENTER to move the cursor to a new line.
- Click the Insert/edit media button on the toolbar.
![](../../../_images/button_media.png)
- Click Embed on the left side of the window that opens. See image below.
![](../../../_images/Bb_new_editor_embed.png)
- Paste the embed code in the field. Then Save.
How to Embed YouTube Videos in Blackboard
- On a computer, go to the YouTube video you want to embed.
- Click SHARE (this might be below the video)
- From the list of Share options, click Embed.
- From the box that appears, copy the embed code.
- Navigate to the course page where you want to embed your media and open the page in the editor.
- Place your cursor where you want the media to be embedded. You may need to press ENTER to move the cursor to a new line.
- Click the Insert/edit media button on the toolbar.
![](../../../_images/button_media.png)
- Click Embed on the left side of the window that opens. See image below.
![](../../../_images/Bb_new_editor_embed.png)
- Paste the embed code in the field. Then Save.
Fix Videos Students Cannot See
You can see your Kaltura videos just fine... so why are students saying they cannot view them?
How to Troubleshoot Your Own Videos
First, remember that YOU own the media you are trying to view, so you have the permission to view that media whenever you are logged in to Kaltura. That includes being logged in to Blackboard, because the two are integrated.
But I can see the Kaltura video even when I am in student preview mode?!
Using student preview mode is a great troubleshooting strategy! However, that only emulates a student course role in Blackboard. It does not change your Kaltura user ID, so you are still able to view your own media because Kaltura identifies you as the owner of that media whether you are acting as a student or an instructor in Bb.
How can I check if my videos are visible to students?
Check the icon
![Mashup Icon](../../../_images/mashup-icon.jpg)
If you added videos directly into your Blackboard learning modules, homepage, or folders, you can easily check if the icon for the video looks like this. Videos with this icon have proven to be problematic.
Fix these videos by embedding the Kaltura video in a Blackboard lesson page or an Item in Blackboard. Delete the video with the above icon when finished.
Test the link
If you have a link to a video that you can see but students say they cannot see, you can copy that link and paste it into a different browser. For example, if you are logged in to Blackboard in Firefox (and therefore also logged in to Kaltura in Firefox), you can open a second browser, such as Chrome (one in which you are NOT logged in to Blackboard) and paste the link there to test it.
Since you are not logged in to Kaltura in the second browser, you should see what anyone other than your Kaltura user account can -- or cannot -- see.
This method work only when you have the hyperlink. It is not an easy way to test embedded videos.
How to fix Your Kaltura Videos
If you have an embedded Kaltura video on a lesson page that users cannot play, they often see a message about not having permission or
Access Denied. Sometimes the message is accompanied by a login form or a link to log in. Students do not have Kaltura log ins, so
there is no way for students to open these videos. The
problem with these videos is they are using a "bad" embed code. We know you got these codes from Kaltura, and we understand it is frustrating that these do not work.
The solution to these videos is to replace them. Follow these directions in the How to Embed Kaltura Videos tab above to get an embed code (or hyperlink) that will work.
TIP: Include a link with an embedded video
A good practice is to provide a hyperlink to your video above or below where it is embedded. The linked video may play fine even when the embedded video does not. This redundancy can avoid problems with embedded videos caused by browser settings, browser plug-ins, and so on.
Just say something like, "If the embedded video below does not work, open the video in a new tab.
In the example text above, the bold words would be used as the hyperlink to the video.
Open an image showing an example of an embedded video with a redundant hyperlink.