The look and feel of the Player is changing! Upcoming changes are identified in this article by providing screenshots labeled "Old UI" and "New UI".
NOTE: The information and procedures provided below will embed videos (or audio-only files) into content windows but these embedded players do not authenticate / identify the users who view them. For this reason, you cannot use the below process to post interactive media into your LMS / VLE content windows.
In the event your LMS / VLE administrator has not set you up with a handy-dandy Echo360 direct-embed option in your LMS / VLE, you can still embed Echo360 videos into the content windows of your LMS/VLE. Understand that embedding videos this way does not provide fully authenticated views of the embedded videos the way the Echo360 embed button can. See Authentication for Embedded Videos in LMS Content Windows or talk to your LMS / VLE administrator.
If your Echo360 administrator has the Public Links / Embeddable Links feature enabled for your institution, you will see a Links section near the bottom of the media details page for video content in your library (click a video tile in the library, then scroll to the bottom section of the page, as shown below).
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If you do not see the Links section on the media details page, your administrator has not enabled this feature for your institution OR you are not the owner of this item. Perhaps you accessed the media details page by clicking Details from the class list? Check the Name listed at the top of the Info tab. If you are NOT the owner, you may be able to create a copy of this content. The copy you create will be owned by you.
If you do have Public links available to you, you can generate a URL to post for the video, or generate embed code to place into a content window in your LMS / VLE. Both options will create a link directly to the video, though will present them differently. Blackboard, in particular, provides a Web Link option within the Build Content menu. Pasting a Public link URL for an Echo360 video into the Web Link URL field generates a link directly to the video which also opens in a new tab.
IMPORTANT: Public Links to videos, whether embedded or posted as a URL / web link generate view data that is visible in the Media Details Analytics page. These posted media DO NOT generate Echo360 Course Analytic data. Even if the video itself is also published to a course, viewing the video OUTSIDE of the classroom / section via a public / embedded link does NOT associate that view with the Echo360 course.
If you want to link students directly into classrooms to view section materials (and your LMS / Echo360 administrator has made it possible to do so), you can create LTI links in your LMS / VLE course that point directly into different classrooms rather than simply to the section class list. See Linking from an LMS Course to an Echo360 Classroom.
Now that we have the disclaimers out of the way, let's get started, shall we?
To embed a video directly into an LMS / VLE content window:
- Access Echo360 the way you normally do (via the LMS / VLE or your institution portal) and open the My Content library from the Echo360 Home page (you may need to click the Echo360 logo in the top left corner to get to the Home page).
- Find the video you want to embed and click the tile (this opens the content details view shown above).
- Click the Sharing tab of the bottom section of the content details view.
- Click ADD LINK.
This expands the page to show a URL for the video along with options for access.Old UI
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- From the Player Style drop-down list, select the style you want to be applied to the player for this link playback.
The Player Style drop-down only appears if your institution has created custom player styles to choose from. If you have selection options, pick the one for your department or organization (or the default) that you want applied to the playback of this media.
Selecting a style may automatically select Size, Autoplay, and Automute options for you in the Embed modal described in the next steps; these can still be changed. - Click Embed
A popup window appears containing the HTML necessary for embedding the video into a content window.
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- Use the Size drop-down list (shown in the above figure) to select a different size than the default selection shown.
- If appropriate enable the Autoplay slider to have the video auto-play on access. If Autoplay is turned on, Automute is automatically enabled, to accommodate browsers that will not autoplay with sound. You can enable Automute separately from Autoplay if desired.
- Click COPY. This copies the embedded text to your clipboard for pasting into another location.
- Click DONE to close the Embed box.
- Navigate to your LMS and open or create the page or location containing a text / content window where you want to embed the video.
The below figure shows a Blackboard course Content page, with the Create Item option in the Build Content menu identified.
- Nearly all Content editors contain an "HTML" button or link that allows you to enter HTML formatted text instead of just using the WYSIWYG editor. Find the HTML button or link. The below figure shows a Create Item form in Blackboard with the HTML button identified. If you do not SEE the HTML button when you enter the page, click the "double chevron" button (also identified in the below figure) for "Show More". This expands the toolbar to provide additional options.
- In both Blackboard and Brightspace, you will receive a pop-up window for creating or editing HTML source code. The Blackboard popup is shown below; the Brightspace popup is shown later on this page.
- Press Ctrl + V or Command + V to PASTE the embed code copied to your clipboard earlier in this procedure. You will see the embed code from Echo360 in the HTML window, as shown in the above figure.
- In Blackboard, click Update to close the HTML code view. In Brightspace, click Save (shown later on this page).
- Save / Submit / Publish for the new page or item in the LMS. The Video is now embedded into the page or content item you created to hold it.
The below figure shows a Blackboard Content page with the new Item, an embedded Echo360 video visible on it.
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Finding the HTML Editing Button
If you have difficulty finding the HTML button on a content window for your LMS, refer to the LMS documentation for assistance. Below are some screenshots of other LMS content editing windows (besides Blackboard shown above) and the locations of the HTML content editing buttons or links.
In Canvas, for the Add Page content window, the link to the HTML view is located above the content pane as shown below. When the HTML editor view is active, you can click into the main content area and Ctrl + V or Command + V to paste the copied Embed code into the panel.
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Returning to the Rich Text editor after pasting the embed code will show the embedded video in the panel. Scroll down to click Save & Publish to make the embedded video visible to students.
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In Brightspace, the HTML button is located at the bottom of the content editing panel. Within your course content page, click New, then select Create a File.
In the content page that appears, click the HTML Source Editor button, shown in the below figure.
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Brightspace then pops up an HTML source editor window, like Blackboard does, however, the Brightspace window is populated with base HTML. Select all the existing HTML in the window and delete it. Then Ctrl + V or Command + V to paste the copied Embed Code into the HTML editor. This is shown in the below figure.
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Click Save to embed the video in the content window, then click Publish to post the new File / page into the Course Content.
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