How to link to Studio videos in a Canvas Page?

[sringsmuth]

I'm building a page with videos in my Studio, but rather than embedding each video I'd like to use a standard HTML link. Is there any way to do this and still have access to student video analytics? I can't seem to find a way to link to a video within the page creator tools, and when I get a shareable link directly from a video in Studio I get a notice saying analytics aren't available for these links.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello there, sringsmuth...

I'm not sure I have a complete answer for you, but I did want you to know that I've shared your question with the Canvas Studio Users Group‌ here in the Community in hopes that your question will get some additional exposure.  If you aren't yet following this group, use the link that I've provided, then you'll find two buttons at the top right corner of the screen: "Follow" and "Actions".  Click on both of those buttons.  When you click on "Actions", further select "Join group".

I am curious, though...what are your reasons for not wanting to embed your Studio videos into your content pages of your course?  What are the benefits you see for providing your students a link that you've harvested from your Studio page?  It seems to me that if you want the analytics/data for Studio videos, embedding is the way to go.

How do I embed Canvas Studio media in a course?

How do I view user insights and analytics for Canvas Studio media in a course as an instructor?

Looking forward to hearing back from you, Simon.

[sringsmuth]

Thanks for the help, Chris! I'll check out the Studio Users Group page, and I appreciate the recommendation.

I need a list of video links rather than a series of embedded videos because it's easier for my students to navigate, and I can also easily add times and descriptions along with each video. This way my students can see titles and descriptions at a glance without scrolling past a half-dozen thumbnails. I'm attaching a screenshot of what it looks like. Even though I don't get analytics using the shareable link, it's a better experience for my students so it's a trade-off I'm willing to make.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi there, sringsmuth...

Thanks for the additional information and screen shot.  This helps a lot!  I can see where your setup would be helpful for your students.  You're probably already aware, but if you were to embed the Studio videos in your course, the length of each video is displayed as part of the embedded Studio interface, so you wouldn't have to manually type in the video's length on your own as it appears you are doing now.

There is also a "Description" text field in the "Details" tab of any Studio video...which you've also probably seen.  But, this "Description" text box doesn't appear for students.  Further, it doesn't handle paragraphs of text well at all...a real frustration of mine...to be honest.  So, that's not going to be helpful for your needs.

I know this isn't what you were really asking about...but have you considered creating separate pages for each of your videos so they aren't listed on one page?  While it's certainly nice to have everything listed and linked on one page, mobile devices should also be considered when designing course content.  So, the longer your page is on the web, it's going to be more scrolling yet for your students who are using mobile devices with small screens.  The idea would be to embed one video per page with a short page title and then the description of the video along with it embedded on the page.  Again, maybe not ideal for your needs...but just throwing this idea out there for you to consider.

Hoping that this may help.  Maybe there are ideas from others here in the Community that have worked, too.

[sringsmuth]

While it's certainly nice to have everything listed and linked on one page, mobile devices should also be considered when designing course content.  So, the longer your page is on the web, it's going to be more scrolling yet for your students who are using mobile devices with small screens.

I agree! This is exactly why I want a short page with links to videos, and not a super long page with embedded video thumbnails. Many of my students watch my videos on mobile, and I need a solution that works for them as well as desktop users.

I did think about the idea of creating a separate page for each video, and then embedding each video on its own page, and then linking to those pages...but from a logistics standpoint that solution is untenable. I have over a hundred videos in my course, which would mean adding over 100 pages and then going through the embed process for each one, and it's just not something I have time for. I think the solution I have will work for now, and I'll be checking with my students this semester to see what they think.

Thank you for the help,  @Chris_Hofer ‌!

[kdickso]

I am in the same exact situation. Short videos are best for this, embedding makes for nasty long pages, so if I have a bunch of short videos, my choices are a nasty long page or tons of extra time creating separate pages which means separate page loads--an additional issue for students with internet insecurity.

KD

[mschneider2]

I also very much would like to have this option. I don't always want to embed, because it makes the page messy, especially when I want to hyperlink several different words in announcements, assignment instructions, etc. Every other Canvas element can be hyperlinked, so why not Studio videos? Yes, sometimes embedding is the way to go. But instructors also know what they need, and we're telling you we would like to be able to just hyperlink instead of embed. I have already encountered this problem many times, because I teach media studies, which means I have a large amount of video content. Not being able to hyperlink to Studio videos really causes headaches and needlessly tedious workarounds. I often just have to upload content outside of Canvas just to make it work, which can be iffy from a copyright standpoint sometimes. Would greatly appreciate having the ability to hyperlink to Canvas Studio and keep everything within Canvas.

[mschneider2]

Aha! I think one of our Academic Technology Specialists gave me the right advice. Seems to work.

"If you go to your Canvas Studio library and select a video, there should be a share option. [It's currently a share icon button on the top left.] Here, you can grab a link."

Additionally, he added:

"You can also share videos with individual people if that is ever of interest.

This guide will walk you through this.

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9682-50736491453"

[sringsmuth]

Thank you Molly, but unfortunately that solution has some key limitations:

• You don't get the Share icon when you search for a video in Studio. So if you have, say, a hundred videos and you want to share a specific one you have to scroll-scroll-scroll until you find that video. If you search for the video you don't get the option to share it or generate a public link.

• Analytics are not provided when you use the share-with-link option, which is how you need to link to videos in Canvas pages. This makes the solution less than ideal for instructors who want to link to videos in Pages (but not embed them) and still be able to know which of their students are actually watching the videos.

I appreciate the help though, and hopefully Canvas will have a good solution soon!

[thomasda14]

I have the same problem and want to share a number of recorded class lectures via links on a "Recorded Classes" page. Having a page with links of the various videos is how I FEEL IS THE BEST WAY for my situation. It sounds like there is no solution at this time. Just continued attempts to convince those of us who want to do it this way that we shouldn't do it this way.

Is this something Canvas can do? It would be beneficial to a lot of instructors who have determined that links are a better solution for their situation.

[tonyafa]

While it does take extra time to create individual pages with Studio videos embedded here are some advantages I've discovered.  

• Descriptions and other text can be added around the video.
• Page links can be added to another "library" page.
• Page links added to announcements show up in notification emails allowing students to quickly navigate to the page
• Pages can be added to Students' To Do List.

Many instructors I've talk to also want to add "video library" pages. I agree it would be nice to have more embed options (video description with video hyperlink, smaller video size, thumbnail images) so they can create the types of pages they want quickly without having to sacrifice insights, etc.

[lisa_stenmark]

This doesn't work because then your are not able to use functionality of Studio (comments, analytics, grading). I might as well just stick with YouTube -- which is what I did before.  And, then you get those YouTube adds -- I get them for Epoch Times, a right wing newspaper that tells my students that China is responsible for Covid, and Pabst Blue Ribbon.  

[kdickso]

Yikes. Epoch Times and PBR. Thanks for the smile.

I'm always worried about what will pop up on YouTube. It wasn't an issue on the classroom computers because of the browser not storing things day to day. But, the cookies from my laptop. Well, could be interesting depending on what I've been doing recently (archaeology? politics? politics of archaeology? every meme imaginable, some potentially NSFW?).

If anyone has advice for keeping YouTube from doing that that do not involve purging my history and cookies every single day, I'm happy to hear them. Apologies in advance for asking a kind of basic question, but I'm overloaded with not being able to do anything this summer because of the adjustments for the fall. Brain is fried.

[pfau]

I had the same question, and it seems that creating a page for each embedded video is the key. On the page, you can add text or other diagrams (if you'd like) while taking advantage of all the other features of an embedded video. PLUS, you can link to the pages in your list to maintain that format.

But, it sure would be nice to be able to *group* related pages for my own personal management (when you view all pages). For example, I'd like to put all my video pages in a group separate from other types of pages. For now, I've found it useful to name my pages starting with a key phrase, which will sort alphabetically in the long list of pages. For example, my video pages are all named "Video: generic name of video". That way, all the pages that start with "Video:" group together near the bottom of the list.

[gloverb]

My problem is that when I upload videos to Studio, they only sometimes come with the icon for getting a hyperlink.  Usually, if I click on the three-dot icon on the thumbnail, I only get two options: "Replace Thumbnail" and "Delete Media"  (see screen shot) Sometimes, seemingly randomly, I'll get four options (including "get public link"), but I can't predict when I'll get the four options vs. only two.  Can you tell me what's happening?

[tonyafa]

When accessing media in a specific course (Studio link in course navigation menu) there are not as many options when clicking the three dots.  Open the "master version" of the video in My Library to see the full menu options.

[latkinson]

I added the video to a module (external tool, then Arc). Then I copied the module link location to use as a link in a Canvas page. It seems to work fine, although I am still setting up my pages and haven't had students use it yet to see if the analytics are working 100%. Analytics/Insight records both the instructor and the test student views, so it could be working as desired.

[kdickso]

Hi latkinson‌,

It sounds like this is a variation on the workaround provided by  @pfau ‌.

The problem with both solutions is that there is no way to put all of the modules or page inside another container, so you still end up with a bunch of extra items sitting either in your modules or your pages. Obviously you can organize them by giving the files a prefix name in the pages or the modules, but you still end up with a long list of items and you've had to take extra steps to do something that ought to be quite simple (adjust the embed size when posting OR post the link only).

We can only hope that they will do something about this eventually, I guess.

[joesph_hoffmann]

Any development on this front? We too would like a link option that also has the same comment abilities and course access protections as the imbedded video.

Has anyone tried linking the URL to the video from the generated iframe embed code? It appears to work, but my concern is that it might actually link to the original course if the course is later copied as a base for a new course offering. Will comments from the original class would persist? I'm also concerned that the students may not actually have access to the link.

[leblume]

The only work around I've found is uploading my Canvas videos to YouTube and using the YouTube link. I too am trying to "shorten" the content on my page and avoid lengthy scrolling for students.