Many instructors have found it useful to link to videos on sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, PBS, BBC, or other such sources. Following are tips for integrating this type of content into online course sites.

Important concerns with third-party multimedia

When linking to third-party multimedia, instructors should be aware of issues of copyright, streaming rights, and accessibility requirements. See important information on Multimedia Accessibility.

Linking to or embedding videos with provided code from sites such as YouTube and Vimeo will not require streaming rights. Because the video will stream from the host server, copyright is not an issue.

What is embedding

Embedding a video is not copying and pasting a video from the original source but rather copying its unique source code into the instructor’s course web page. It anchors the video to your course page rather than opening a new browser window with a regular or plain link.

How to link to and embed a video from YouTube

1. On the YouTube site, under the video you want to add to your course content, click on the Share button
2. An expanded list of menu options is shown with “Share this video” selected and a URL shown below. Copy the URL to have students watch the video on the YouTube site.
3. Click on the “Embed” link to reveal code needed for embedding the video onto a course web page.
4. Copy the embed code that includes an iframe tag. Embed code looks like this:

   <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/8KRHtQNUDK4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

5. In a Canvas page, go into Edit mode. Place the cursor in the page where you want to put the video. Click on the Insert/Edit Media icon. In the Insert/Edit Media dialog box, click on the Embed tab where there is a field to paste in the embed code.

How to link to and embed a video from Vimeo

1. Click on the share icon (looks like an arrow or paper airplane) in the upper, right of the video
2. In the Link field, copy the URL to have students watch the video on the Vimeo site.
3. In the Embed field, copy the iframe code
4. In a Canvas page, go into Edit mode. Place the cursor in the page where you want to put the video. Click on the Insert/Edit Media icon. In the Insert/Edit Media dialog box, click on the Embed tab where there is a field to paste in the embed code.

Third-party video content resources

See the Third-Party Video Content Resources page (in the DE Faculty Handbook) for a list of good sites to search for videos that are likely to have captions.