These instructions are for Blackboard Ultra Course View. If you are in a traditional Blackboard course, switch to the guide for Blackboard Learn Original.
If you've been given a video assignment by an instructor, there are multiple ways to add video in Blackboard along with multiple sources of video content. This guide provides an overview of 3 cloud-based options for hosting video files:
- 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.
YouTube
Whether you need to find and share a video for a discussion board or create your own video, YouTube is a great resource for video sharing.
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.
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.
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.