Prerequisites for using the Echo360 Embed button:
1) A Canvas Administrator must have installed and enabled the Echo360 Embed button for your Canvas instance.
2) The public links option must be turned on, so that you have the authority to generate a public link for embedding.
If a Canvas Admin has enabled it for your institution, Echo360 provides a content embed button (also called an "easy embed button") that appears in the toolbar of a content window, shown in the below figure.
This button provides the ability to:
- Embed a video from your Echo360 My Content library directly into the Canvas content window.
- Enter a URL link for a video in your Echo360 My Content library into the Canvas content window.
- Upload a video then embed it (or provide a URL link) as a single process.
The same button provides access to all three of these features. This button should appear in the toolbar for all content windows in Canvas. (e.g., adding Assignments, Discussions, Pages, etc).
Instructors, Teaching Assistants, and Students can select any video already resident in their library (My Content) or they can upload a video to embed or link. Canvas Administrators who are also Echo360 Administrators can select any capture in the system they have access to (or upload a video).
Embedded videos DO NOT generate Echo360 user-specific analytic information about who has viewed the video or how much of it. Canvas analytics may be able to provide some of that data however. Check with your Canvas administrator if you are not sure. Overall view data such as view counts and heatmap data are provided (in the media details page) for views of the video through these embeds, but they are not correlated to any particular user or set of users.
Embedding an Existing Echo360 Video into a Content Window
The steps below are for selecting a video already resident in Echo360 for embedding into the content window. You must OWN the video you want to embed (it appears in the My Content tab of your Echo360 Home page) or you must be an Echo360 administrator with access to some set of videos in the system. If you need to add the video to Echo360 first, see the instructions later on this page.
To embed an existing Echo360 video into a content window
- Log in to Canvas.
- Open the Course in Canvas for the course you want to post the video to.
- Click the location on the left where you want to post the item (e.g., Pages, Discussions, Assignments, wherever you get a content window as shown above).
- Select to add one of the item type (+Page or +Assignment, etc.)
- Give the item a Name that identifies either the video you are posting or the purpose for posting it (extra credit, ancillary research, look at my cute puppy, etc.).
- From the toolbar of the content window click the Echo360 icon, as identified in the below figure.
A dialog box appears with the Choose From My Home tab active, listing the videos you own, or for admins, the videos you have access to.
If you need to upload a video to embed, click the Upload Existing Media tab, and refer to the instructions later on this page.
- If necessary, use the Search Content text box and/or Filters to find the video you want to embed. Click Reset to clear any search/filters as needed.
- Select the video you want to embed. The row expands to show additional options.
If you plan to post a URL link to the video instead of embedding the video directly into the content page, see Posting a Video Link in an LMS content window instructions later on this page.
- From the Select size drop-down list, select the size you want for the embedded video. There are three size options.
- If appropriate, enable the option to Autoplay the video (it will play as soon as a user opens the page you are embedding it into).
- If you enable Autoplay, Automute is automatically enabled, to accommodate browsers that no longer allow autoplay with sound. You CAN enable Automute separately without Autoplay.
- If appropriate, set a Start At time. If set, the video will begin playing at that timestamp, although viewers will be able to rewind/fast-forward the player to view any segment of the embedded video.
- When finished, click INSERT.
A preview of the inserted video appears inside the content area, as shown in the below figure.
- Complete whatever remaining fields are on the item you are adding, then click Save or Save & Publish as appropriate.
Once the item is published, users can access the item and view the embedded video. If you selected Autoplay or Start At configurations for the video, those are enacted for the viewer.
Uploading a Video to Embed into a Content Window
The steps below are for uploading a video to Echo360 then embedding the new upload into the content window. Most of the procedural steps are identical to embedding an existing Echo360 video, with the exception of being able to upload the video first, then selecting it from your content list.
To upload and then embed an Echo360 video into a content window
- Log in to Canvas.
- Open the Course in Canvas for the course you want to post the video to.
- Click the location on the left where you want to post the item (e.g., Pages, Discussions, Assignments, wherever you get a content window).
- Select to add one of the item type (+Page or +Assignment, etc.)
- Give the item a Name that identifies either the video you are posting or the purpose for posting it (extra credit, ancillary research, look at my cute puppy, etc.).
- From the toolbar of the content window click the Echo360 icon, as identified in the below figure.
- From the media selection dialog box that appears, select the Upload Existing Media tab, as shown in the below figure.
- Click Select Media.
The dialog box changes to allow you to upload from your local machine (this is the default).
- To select to upload from a shared drive location (such as Dropbox or Google Drive), click the list icon in the top left corner of the dialog box as shown below.
- Follow the options to find and select the video to upload to Echo360 for embedding into your LMS content window.
- Click Upload.
Once the file is uploaded, you are returned to the media list in the Choose from My Home tab, with the newly uploaded video selected by default, as shown in the below figure.
NOTICE that the video may not have a preview thumbnail; this is because the video is still being processed by Echo360. How long this takes is partially dependent on the size of the video.
If you plan to post a URL link to the video instead of embedding the video directly into the content page, see Posting a Video Link in an LMS content window instructions later on this page.
- From the Select size drop-down list, select the size you want for the embedded video.
- After selecting a size, you have the option to Autoplay the video (it will play as soon as a user opens the page you are embedding it into).
- If you enable Autoplay, Automute is automatically enabled, to accommodate browsers that no longer allow autoplay with sound. You CAN enable Automute separately without Autoplay.
- If appropriate, set a Start At time. If set, the video will begin playing at that timestamp, although viewers will be able to rewind/fast-forward the player to view any segment of the embedded video.
- When finished, click INSERT. A preview of the inserted video appears inside the content area.
- Complete whatever remaining fields are on the item you are adding, then click Save or Save & Publish as appropriate.
Posting a Video Link into a Content Window
The below procedure inserts a URL link for the video into the content window instead of embedding the video. A URL Link (also referred to as a Public Link or a Video Link) opens the video in a player outside of the LMS page where it resides (often in a new browser tab).
Most of the procedural steps are identical to embedding an existing Echo360 video, with the exception of selecting the Link option instead of the available embedding options (Size, Autoplay, Start At).
Video links DO NOT generate Echo360 user-specific analytic information about which students have viewed the video or how much of it. Overall view data such as view counts and heatmap data are provided for views of the video through these links (in the media details page), but they are not correlated to any particular user or set of users.
To insert a URL link to an Echo360 video into a content window
- Log in to Canvas.
- Open the Course in Canvas for the course you want to post the video to.
- Click the location on the left where you want to post the item (e.g., Pages, Discussions, Assignments, wherever you get a content window).
- Select to add one of the item type (+Page or +Assignment, etc.)
- Give the item a Name that identifies either the video you are posting or the purpose for posting it (extra credit, ancillary research, look at my cute puppy, etc.).
- From the toolbar of the content window click the Echo360 icon, as identified in the below figure.
A dialog box appears with the Choose From My Home tab active, listing the videos you own, or for admins, the videos you have access to.
If you need to upload a video to link, click the Upload Existing Media tab, and refer to the instructions above on this page.
- If necessary, use the Search Content text box and/or Filters to find the video you want to embed. Click Reset to clear any search/filters as needed.
- Select the video you want to link. The row expands to show additional options.
- Enable the Link toggle, located below the Size drop-down list, as shown in the below figure.
Notice that the embed options are grayed out once the Link toggle is enabled.
- Once the LINK toggle is enabled, you can also enable the Authenticate toggle, requiring users to be logged into Echo360 to view the linked video.
IMPORTANT: LMS users typically do not have direct logins to Echo360; in order to view an authenticated link, users must already be authenticated into Echo360 or they will be faced with a Login window. In order to authenticate, users should pass into a linked Echo360 Section first, then click the link to the video.
- Click INSERT.
The URL Video link is entered into the content window. The link posted uses the Video title as the text for the link; it does not post the full URL.
- Complete whatever remaining fields are on the item you are adding, then click Save or Save & Publish as appropriate.
Once the item is published, users can click the video link, and playback will open in a new browser tab or window.