Prerequisites for using the Echo360 Media Embed Activity:
1) A Moodle Administrator must have created the Echo360 LTI activity tool for embedding media on your Moodle instance.
2) The Media/Content Library for Students MUST be turned on for your institution if you want Students to be able to embed content in Moodle.
If a Moodle Admin has created it for your institution, you will find an Echo360 Embed Media activity listed in the Add Activity list for your courses.
This Echo360 Embed tool provides the ability to:
- Embed media from your Echo360 library directly into the Moodle activity.
- Enter a URL link for media (that opens in a new tab) into the Moodle activity.
- Upload a video then embed or link it into the activity as a single process.
- Create Media by launching Universal Capture, creating a capture, then embedding or linking it in the activity it as a single process.
The same tool provides access to all four of these options. This tool should appear in Add an activity list as shown in the below figure.
LMS-Embedded media provide user viewing data such as user-specific view counts, view durations, view times, and other information as shown in the Analytics tab of the media details page. Furthermore, you can embed interactive media (a video that contains polling questions that gate student views) as an activity in your course. Then use the Polling tab for the media to review student responses.
The procedures below add an Activity to a course Topic in Moodle. You can add the activity anywhere you are given the option in Moodle. If you need assistance, contact your Moodle Administrator or refer to your Moodle documentation.
Embedding Media from Your Echo360 Library as an Activity
The steps below are for selecting media already resident in Echo360 for embedding into the activity. You must OWN the media you want to embed (it appears in your Echo360 Library with your name) or you must be an Echo360 administrator with access to some set media in the system.
If you need to upload a video to Echo360 first, see the instructions later on this page.
To embed existing Echo360 media as an Activity
- Log in to Moodle.
- Open the Course in Moodle where you want to post the media.
- If necessary, click the Settings icon for the course and Turn Editing On.
- Find the Topic into which you want to add the page to display the media, and click Add an activity or resource.
- Select the Echo360 Embed Tool from the activity list, as shown earlier on this page.
The add an activity form appears as shown in the below figure.
- Click Select Content to open the Select content window. This is shown in the below figure.
Selecting the content first will populate the Activity Name field with the title of the media. If you add the name first, it will be overwritten by the media name, so selecting content first keeps you from having to name it twice. You can also retain the media name if appropriate.
A dialog box appears with the Choose From My Home tab active, listing the media you own, or for admins, the media you have access to.
If you need to upload a video to embed, click the Upload Existing Media tab, and refer to the instructions later on this page. - If necessary, use the Search Content text box and/or Filters options to find the media you want to add. Click Clear All in the Filters modal to clear any search/filters as needed.
- Select the media you want from the list. The row expands to show additional embedding options.
If you plan to post a URL link to the media instead of embedding the media directly into the activity, see Posting a Link to Media in an Activity instructions at the bottom of this page. - From the Select size drop-down list, select the size you want for the embedded media. There are three size options.
- If appropriate, enable the option to Autoplay the media (it will play as soon as a user opens the page you are embedding it into).
- If you enable Autoplay, Automute is automatically enabled, to accommodate browsers that no longer allow autoplay with sound. You CAN enable Automute separately without Autoplay.
- If appropriate, set a Start At time. If set, the media will begin playing at that timestamp, although viewers will be able to rewind/fast-forward the player to view any segment of the embedded media.
- When finished, click INSERT.
- If necessary, edit the Activity Name. It is the name of the media you selected but can be changed.
- If desired, select Show more to expand the form to enter a Description for the media you are embedding. This may include instructions to students and/or a deadline for viewing the media.
- Complete any other sections of the form as needed.
- Click Save and return to course or Save and display as appropriate.
Once the item is added, students can click on the activity link to open the media and view it.
If you selected Autoplay or Start At configurations for the media, those are enacted for the user upon viewing.
Uploading a Video as Content for an Activity Link
The steps below are for uploading a video to Echo360 then selecting the new upload for the Activity link. Most of the procedural steps are identical to embedding existing Echo360 media, described above, with the exception of uploading the video first, then selecting it from your Library media list.
To upload and then select a video for an activity link
- Log in to Moodle.
- Open the Course in Moodle where you want to post the video.
- If necessary, click the Settings icon for the course and Turn Editing On. Alternately, find an item you want to respond to in order to post content.
- Find the Topic into which you want to add the page to display the video, and click Add an activity or resource.
- Select the Echo360 Embed Tool from the activity list, as shown earlier on this page.
The add an activity form appears as shown in the below figure.
- Click Select Content to open the select content window. This is shown in the below figure.
Selecting the content first will populate the Activity Name field with the title of the media. If you add the name first, it will be overwritten by the media name, so selecting content first keeps you from having to name it twice. You can also retain the media name if appropriate.
A dialog box appears with the Choose From My Home tab active, listing the media you own, or for admins, the media you have access to. - From the media selection dialog box that appears, select the Upload Existing Media tab, as shown in the below figure.
- Click Select Media.
The dialog box changes to allow you to upload from your local machine (this is the default). - To select to upload from a shared drive location (such as Dropbox or Google Drive), click the list icon from the top left corner to show a list of options, as shown below. Otherwise, to upload from your local machine, click the Select files to upload button in the middle of the page, identified in the above figure.
- Follow the options to find and select the video to upload to Echo360 for linking through this activity.
- Click Upload.
Once the file is uploaded, you are returned to the media list in the Choose from My Home tab, with the newly uploaded video appearing in the list, as shown in the below figure.
NOTICE that the video may not have a preview thumbnail; this is because the video is still being processed by Echo360. How long this takes is partially dependent on the size of the video. - From the Select size drop-down list, select the size you want for the embedded video.
- After selecting a size, you have the option to Autoplay the video (it will play as soon as a user opens the page you are embedding it into).
- If you enable Autoplay, Automute is automatically enabled, to accommodate browsers that no longer allow autoplay with sound. You CAN enable Automute separately without Autoplay.
- If appropriate, set a Start At time. If set, the video will begin playing at that timestamp, although viewers will be able to rewind/fast-forward the player to view any segment of the embedded video.
- When finished, click INSERT.
- Complete whatever remaining fields are on the Page you are adding, then click Save and return to course or Save and display as appropriate.
The Activity you created will have the name given. However until the newly uploaded media has finished processing, users will see a placeholder indicating that the video is not yet ready for viewing. This is shown in the below figure.
Launching Universal Capture to Create Media for the Activity
One option from the Select content dialog box is to launch Universal Capture and create a new capture, then select to link it immediately to the Moodle Activity.
If Universal Capture is already installed on the computer, it will automatically open to the Preview screen. If Universal Capture is not installed or detected on the computer, you are given the option to install it (for students, UC downloads must be enabled), then return to the Embed Media window to launch the application
To create media to link to the activity
- Log in to Moodle.
- Open the Course in Moodle where you want to post the video.
- If necessary, click the Settings icon for the course and Turn Editing On. Alternately, find an item you want to respond to in order to post content.
- Find the Topic into which you want to add the page to display the video, and click Add an activity or resource.
- Select the Echo360 Embed Tool from the activity list, as shown earlier on this page.
The add an activity form appears as shown in the below figure.
- Click Select Content to open the select content window. This is shown in the below figure.
Selecting the content first will populate the Activity Name field with the title of the media. If you add the name first, it will be overwritten by the media name, so selecting content first keeps you from having to name it twice. You can also retain the media name if appropriate.
A dialog box appears with the Choose From My Home tab active, listing the media you own, or for admins, the media you have access to. - From the media selection dialog box that appears, select the Create New Media tab, as shown in the below figure.
- Click Launch Universal Capture.
- If Universal Capture is installed on the computer, a window opens, allowing you to select your inputs and start recording whenever you are ready.
- If Universal Capture is not installed or detected on the computer, you are given the option to install it, then returned to the Embed Media window to launch the application.
- When you are finished recording, click Finish.
Once the file is uploaded, you are returned to the media list in the Choose from My Home tab, with the newly created capture appearing in the list, as shown in the below figure.
NOTICE that the video may not have a preview thumbnail; this is because the video is still being processed by Echo360. How long this takes is partially dependent on the size of the video. - From the Select size drop-down list, select the size you want for the embedded video.
- After selecting a size, you have the option to Autoplay the video (it will play as soon as a user opens the page you are embedding it into).
- If you enable Autoplay, Automute is automatically enabled, to accommodate browsers that no longer allow autoplay with sound. You CAN enable Automute separately without Autoplay.
- If appropriate, set a Start At time. If set, the video will begin playing at that timestamp, although viewers will be able to rewind/fast-forward the player to view any segment of the embedded video.
- When finished, click INSERT.
- Complete whatever remaining fields are on the Page you are adding, then click Save and return to course or Save and display as appropriate.
The Activity you created will have the name given. However until the newly created media has finished processing, users will see a placeholder indicating that the video is not yet ready for viewing. This is shown in the below figure.
Posting a Link to Media into the Activity
You may decide that instead of placing the media directly on the Activity page, that you would prefer a URL link for the media instead. The only difference here is that users are faced with a link on the Activity page, that when clicked will open the media player in a new browser tab. This may provide more viewing area, and may be preferred for some kinds of media.
ALL of the procedural steps in the sections above can be used to provide a link, with the exception of selecting the Link option instead of the available embedding options (Size, Autoplay, Start At).
Essentially the only change you make during the process is to enable the Link slider before clicking Insert.
When the user opens the Activity page, they will see a Link with the name of the media. When they click the link, the media opens in a new tab (or window, depending on browser settings). Otherwise the process is the same.