Video assignments offer creative and engaging opportunities for student assessment. With the advent of the Internet and computing devices with built in cameras and microphones, creating video content has become highly accessible and user-friendly.
Video assignments can be used as a standalone assessment, as an optional alternative, or as a companion activity to traditional written assessments. Student video can be used in different ways:
- Personal video reflections
- News reports
- Video essays or documentaries
- Speech or performance recordings
- Instructional or demonstration videos
- Video interviews
Video can be used for both short form and long form content
If you are considering a video assignment, there are many options for students to create and upload videos. These options are all cloud based and do not require students to upload media files to Blackboard.
- YouTube
- OneDrive
- Echo360
While it is possible to upload .mp4, .mov, and narrated .ppt files into Blackboard (Bb), these file types tend to be very large, which quickly uses up the finite amount of available Bb course data and can cause time lags and download issues for everyone involved. For this reason, we recommend using the cloud services outlined here to host videos and link to Blackboard. Even if the videos are small, submissions from multiple students can quickly add up in size. For example, if 100 students each submit a 10MB video, that adds to a total of 1GB in total storage required.
Please be sure to communicate any specific requirements for student video, and recommend students choose options that can be easily shared and viewed within Blackboard.
YouTube
YouTube is a free and popular option for video sharing and uploading.
If you need some guidance uploading video to YouTube, please see our Student Help Guides for YouTube for uploading from your computer or from your mobile device.
When sharing videos you have uploaded to YouTube, set the video visibility to either Public or Unlisted. Both options allow users with the video URL to access the video. Private requires the video to be shared directly with the recipient's Google Account and would not work in an online class.
Once you've uploaded video to YouTube, you can then link or embed it in Blackboard. In an assignment, click inside the submission box to reveal the text editor tools.
You can now post your YouTube video one of two ways in the content editor:
1. Hyperlink to the URL
2. Embedded media from URL
In order to create a hyperlink, you will need to type some text, highlight it, then click the hyperlink button to paste the link path; or paste the link entirely for your instructor to copy and paste in their browser.
If you are embedding media, be sure to click the Media option in the drop down menu of the + sign option. If you've successfully embedded the media URL, your video frame will appear in the content editor like this, at which time you can click "submit":
You might notice in the drop down of the + sign an option for YouTube video. This method will only work if your YouTube video is set to public and it requires you to search for it inside the tool. The embed from the URL is the suggested method for easiest submission.
These same instructions generally apply to any content editor in Blackboard UCV, including when clicking to create a thread in a discussion post.
OneDrive Cloud Hosting
If you have .mp4 and .mov video files, these often pose problems in the Blackboard course environment due to course size limitations and lag time for uploads and downloads. One solution for this is to cloud host this content in your OneDrive and then provide links to it in Blackboard. Active faculty, staff, and students are provided 1 TB of storage in OneDrive through their Office365 accounts administered by Information Technology. For more information, please see the UToledo IT page about OneDrive, which includes a video overview and OneDrive user guides
To access OneDrive, you will need to log in to office365.utoledo.edu with your UTAD credentials. OneDrive is administratively supported by IT. For technical issues with OneDrive, help tickets should go to [email protected]. If your support needs are related to Blackboard integration, contact UToledo Online at [email protected].
Use the URL link methods outlined above in this article to link OneDrive material in Blackboard UCV.
Uploading and Sharing Files in OneDrive
- After logging into OneDrive, click on the Create or Upload button in the upper left corner.
- Click on My Files or Media to access our uploaded video files.
Hover over the file name or media thumbnail and click on the Share icon (square with arrow)
To share the content within Blackboard:
- Click on the gear icon next to the copy link button to open the Link Settings dialog box.
- Select People in The University of Toledo
- Click the Apply button.
- You will return to the first screen. Click the Copy Link button to copy to the clipboard then paste the link in Blackboard.
Echo360 Video Assignments
Please see the Echo360 Student Guide for Recording and Posting Videos for instructions on downloading and using Universal Capture and uploading video to the Echo360 platform. Generating a public link to your Echo video would work the same as the above options for linking or embedding into the assignment editor. Alternatively, there is an option in the + sign drop down menu called Content Market, from which you could then choose to embed your Echo video in your UCV course. This method would take you to your Echo library to search for the video to embed.
Select Echo360 Media Embed
Select Launch Media Picker.
1. Select the Video.
2. Select Next.
Select Embed.
1. Select Insert.
2. Select Submit.
You might not have access to Echo360 unless the instructor has linked their course to a corresponding Echo section to enroll all students in Echo. You should only use the Echo360 method if this is what your professor has instructed in the specific assignment.