How to pause a course video when the browser tab looses focus?

[ac1918]

Does anyone know of a way to force videos to pause when the student steps away, opens a new application or browser tab/window, etc.? We tried using Javascript to accomplish this but have not been successful with auto-triggering the pause.

Thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

[masantos]

Hello,

I think this would be a good idea. Unfortunately, Canvas currently does not have this option available. I recommend submitting this idea to Canvas.

[ac1918]

Is anyone aware of any LTIs or third-party tools that can be integrated with Canvas to provide this functionality?

[chriscas]

Are the videos in your Canvas files area or somewhere else?  If they are in Canvas files, would you be open to hosting them elsewhere?  Video platforms like Yuja, Panopto, Kaltura, or Canvas Studio (separate from Canvas LMS) *may* provide this functionality as part of their video players, but I can't say for sure.  For video files within Canvas, I don't think there is going to be an easy way to accomplish this, but I'll move the post into the Developers Group to see if any coders there have ideas.

-Chris

[NoahBoswell]

Hey @chriscas and @ac1918 ,

Canvas Studio DOES provide the feature for the video to pause when you open a new tab. However, this feature is only available for the media you embed using the RCE with the Studio button. Using external links or external embed codes in your course will prohibit this feature from working.

Hope this helps!

- Noah

[ac1918]

Thanks for the information, Noah!

[NoahBoswell]

Always happy to help! Hope things work out for you.

[ac1918]

Thanks Chris! I am not aware of how to enable this functionality with Canvas video files so would expect we will need an external tool to prevent viewers from fast-forwarding through a video or moving away from a video while it continues to play. The functionality exists partially in some video platforms but only if you embed a quiz in the video.