Add video to Brightspace announcements

Add video to Brightspace announcements to facilitate communication and engage students. Instructors can insert videos from their MediaSpace library using the integration between Brightspace and MediaSpace or from other streaming services (e.g., YouTube) by using the video's embed code.

Considerations

When to use video

Video is a good choice when you want to connect with students emotionally or demonstrate a complex process that would be more difficult or time-consuming to convey using text and graphics. Producing videos and adding them to Brightspace is relatively easy, but it does take time and it may not always be the best way to communicate. Use video when you think it will be the most effective way to accomplish your communication objective.

Accessibility

All video content in your course must be closed-captioned, including the videos you add to announcements. MediaSpace includes a free voice-to-text machine captioning service that is very accurate. You can then make manual corrections to the captions in MediaSpace directly. TLT (tlt@winona.edu) also offers human captioning through AST CaptionSync that is at least 99.5% accurate and ADA-compliant.

Embed versus link

Embedding the video places a video player inside the announcement and streams the video through it. Students can watch the video without leaving Brightspace. When adding a link to the video, students click on the link in the announcement, another browser tab opens, and the page that includes the video loads. Students leave Brightspace to watch the video and then return when they are finished.

Insert Stuff

Instructors use the Brightspace HTML Editor to author announcements directly. The editor offers basic text formatting and page layout control. The Insert Stuff feature is used to add a video to an announcement.

While the announcement is in edit mode
Place your cursor in the Content area where you want to insert the video.
Select the Insert Stuff button on the editor's toolbar (Fig 1).
Choose how to add the video.

Figure 1. Insert Stuff

Add the video

Embed from MediaSpace

Select Kaltura Media (Fig 2) to open a list of the assets in your MediaSpace library.
Select the video you want to embed in your announcement.

Add Video Note

Record up to a 30-minute video using the built-in Video Note tool by selecting New Recording. Select "Allow" if prompted to use your device's camera and microphone. You can also upload a video file by selecting Upload File.

Embed from another streaming service

Find and copy the video's embed code to your clipboard (ex: YouTube).
Return to Brightspace and select Enter Embed Code (Fig 2).
Paste the embed code into the space provided. Select Allow if prompted.

Add a link to the video

Copy the video link to your clipboard
Return to Brightspace and select Insert Link (Fig 2)
Select URL
Paste the link in the URL field and enter some link text.

Figure 2. Insert Video

External links

Except where otherwise noted, text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.