Using YouTube: It's not just for cat videos...

Several months ago, Blackboard tweeted a link to this blog about connecting with online learners. It included three simple tips; two of them I already used (or had something similar), but the idea of video announcements intrigued me.  I spent the last several months figuring out various ways to make simple, but engaging videos, to connect with my online students. Over the next few months, I will share what I learned with you in the live Teach Me Tuesday sessions as well as on this blog.


Teach Me Tuesday: Using YouTube Video Playlist

Why YouTube?

YouTube is an easy way to store your videos and then share them with your students in Learn. YouTube has several advantages over other ways of storing and sharing your videos:

• It's free! You automatically get access to YouTube when you sign up for a Google (or Gmail) account.  There is no charge for this, and you can have multiple Gmail accounts. 
• If you verify your account, you can upload longer videos, and there while there is a size limit (128GB) to the size of the file you can upload, that's the equivalent of several days worth of video...
• It provides closed captions.  Any video uploaded to YouTube will have auto-generated captions available, which you can then edit for accuracy.  This will be a necessity for accessibility issues when it comes to accreditation and online courses.
• You can embed a YouTube video anywhere in Learn that uses the Content Editor  - an announcement, a content item, a test question, a discussion posting, feedback to students, a blog post...any time you are adding your own text to your course, you can include a YouTube video.
• You don't need to worry about changing video formats.  For one course I teach, the publisher provided videos in Quicktime format (.mov), a format that is no longer supported by most web browsers.  However, I uploaded them to YouTube, and YouTube automatically converted them to an acceptable format.

YouTube Mobile App

I use my smartphone to take "selfie videos" to give some general feedback and updates to students in my online courses.  I can record and upload it from my phone, and then modify it and share it to Blackboard on my desktop computer, and within a few hours, many of my students have viewed it.

I also use an app called Spark Video (which we will cover in an upcoming TMT session) to create short, engaging video overviews of each weeks content using images from the textbook or from Creative Commons and narrated on my smartphone. I can then save it either to my desktop or to the camera roll on my phone and upload it from there.

I can upload any video from my smartphone using the YouTube app.  It's a pretty easy process, but I created a short presentation for how to do it.

YouTube Web Site

You can also upload videos from your desktop computer to the YouTube web site. That's also where I make any edits or modifications to the YouTube video. I might trim the ends off of a Blackboard Collaborate recording, add a custom thumbnail to a video update for an online course, or edit the closed captions so they are easier to understand. While all of this seems like a lot of work, it really doesn't take much time.  I can record a quick video update on my iPhone, upload it, add a custom thumbnail, edit the closed captions, and add it to all of my Blackboard Learn courses in about 30 minutes.

Enhancements

There are many enhancements you can make to your video.  You can change the color or apply a filter, you can remove any shaking from your handheld recordings, you can even blur out the faces of anyone whose face you don't want to be seen!

The enhancement I use most often is trimming any unwanted parts out of my video.  You can do some simple editing in YouTube, like trimming the ends out or cutting a chunk from the middle of you video, but for anything more complicated, I recommend using a video editor on your computer.

Adding a Custom Thumbnail

The image you see with a link to a YouTube video is called a thumbnail.  YouTube automatically generates those from your YouTube video.  Most of the time, those thumbnails are fine, but sometimes you want to create your own custom thumbnail.

Some things to keep in mind when you create a custom thumbnail:

• The aspect ratio should be 16:9.
• The best resolution is 1280x720.
• The file size must be less than 2 MB.

You can use any image editor that you have, as log as your keep these dimensions.  However, I use a site called Spark from Adobe, and create a Post file specifically for a YouTube thumbnail.  I'll cover Spark Post, Video, and Page in later Teach Me Tuesday sessions, but here's a quick tutorial for uploading a custom thumbnail.

Editing Closed Captions

The final step in preparing a YouTube video for inclusion in a Blackboard Learn course is to edit the closed captions. YouTube automatically generates closed captions for you in the language you choose.  It does take a little bit for these to generate, so they may not be available immediately after you upload a video.  I find that if I play the video through once, by the time I'm done, the closed captions are ready.

The first thing you need to do is set your language. Even though I choose "English" as the Default Language every time I upload a video, it still asks me for the same information the first time I go in to edit the Closed Captions on a video.  Fortunately, that only happens the first time I access them.

Once  the closed captions are ready, you will see a
link for English (Automatic) closed captions under Published. Click on that link to access the closed captions, and then click the Edit button to make changes to you closed captions.  A lot of the changes you will need to make are capitalization and punctuation.  Sometimes a closed caption doesn't make sense, so you can play your video to hear what you actually said.  the video will automatically pause when you start typing in the closed captions edits.

One you are done editing, click the Publish Edits button to use your modified closed captions on your video.  You will Now see a link for English in addition to the English (Automatic) closed captions under Published.  If you need to edit them again, make sure you select the English ones (not Automatic) since they contain your edits.

Adding a YouTube to Blackboard Learn

Now you're ready to add a link to your YouTube video into Blackboard Learn. You can add the link any place in Blackboard where you can add text using the Content Editor.  That could be an announcement, an item, a page, a description for a Content Folder or Learning Module, a test question, a discussion or blog posting. Any place you see this Content Editor you can add a YouTube video.

There are a couple of different ways you can add your video, but the easiest is to link to your own YouTube account and select your video. To do that, start by clicking the My YouTube Videos icon on the Content Editor.

You will then need to sign into your YouTube account. After you sign in, click the Browse button. Find your video, and then click the insert button next to it.

You have a couple of options for insertion. The first is to have it play in place, which allows it to play within Learn. If you choose that option, change the portions of the video to at least 480 x 360 to get the best viewing. The second option is to add a thumbnail.  A thumbnail is just a small preview image the student would click on in order to open the video in another window. I prefer the play in place option, because it keeps the video in the workflow of the course.

There are a couple of other ways to add YouTube videos that are not on your account.  You can watch my demo of those here.

Again, this may seem like a lot of work, but if you try a few videos, you will see how easy it is to add this personal touch to your online courses, and your students will benefit from knowing there is a real person they can contact if they need help.