The information and procedures 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 process below to post interactive media in your LMS / VLE content windows.
If your LMS / VLE administrator has not set you up with an EchoVideo direct-embed option in your LMS / VLE, you can still embed EchoVideo media into your LMS / VLE content windows. Understand that embedding videos this way does not provide fully authenticated views of the embedded videos the way the EchoVideo embed button can. See Authentication for Embedded Videos in LMS Content Windows or talk to your LMS / VLE administrator.
If your institution's EchoVideo admin has enabled Embeds, you will see Embeds in the menu of the Publishing tab of the Media Details page for content in your library.
If you do not see the Embeds 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 Owner listed at the right of the Media Details page. If you are not the owner, you may be able to create a copy of this content. You will own the copy you make.
If you have Embeds available, you can generate a URL to post for the video, or generate an Embed to place into a content window in your LMS / VLE. Both options will create a link directly to the media but present them differently. Blackboard, in particular, provides a Web Link option within the Build Content menu. Pasting a Public link URL for EchoVideo media into the Web Link URL field generates a link directly to the video, which opens in a new tab.
Public Links to videos, whether embedded or posted as a URL / web link generate view data visible in the Media Details Analytics page. These posted media do not generate EchoVideo 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 EchoVideo course.
If you want to link students directly into classrooms to view section materials (and your LMS / EchoVideo 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 EchoVideo Classroom.
Now that we have the disclaimers out of the way let's get started.
To embed a video directly into an LMS / VLE content window:
- Access EchoVideo (via the LMS / VLE or your institution portal).
- From Library find the video you want to embed and (this opens the Media Details page shown above).
- Click Publishing.
The Publishing tab opens.
- Click Embeds, then Create Embed Code as identified in the figure below.
- Select Edit from the vertical action dots of the created embed.
- From the Player Style dropdown, select the style you want to apply to the player for this link's playback.
The Player Style drop-down only appears if your institution has created custom player styles. 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. - Use the Size dropdown list, shown in the figure below, to select a different size.
- Optionally, enable the Autoplay slider to auto-play the video 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 to Clipboard. This copies the embedded text and pastes it into your clipboard for pasting into another location.
- Click Done to close the Share To modal.
- 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 figure below shows a Blackboard course Content page, with the Create Item option identified in the Build Content menu.
- Nearly all content editors contain a button or link that allows you to enter HTML formatted text instead of just using the WYSIWYG editor. Find that button or link. The figure below shows a Create Item form with the Source code button in Blackboard identified. If you do not see the button when you enter the page, click the horizontal action dots (also identified in the figure below). This expands the toolbar to provide additional options.
- In both Blackboard and Brightspace, you will receive a pop-up window for creating or editing 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 EchoVideo in the HTML window, as shown in the figure above.
- Click Save.
- Click Submit.
The Video is now embedded into the page or content item you created to hold it.
The figure below shows a Blackboard Content page with the new item, with embedded EchoVideo media visible on it.
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 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.
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.
In Brightspace, the HTML button is at the bottom of the content editing panel. Click Create New on your course content page, then select Page.
In the content page that appears, click the Source Code button, shown in the figure below.
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 figure below.
Click Save to embed the video in the content window, then click Save and Close to post the new Page into the Course Content.