Videos in Canvas (Kaltura)

Last Updated: 8/31/20 at 11:44am

Introduction

Videos in Canvas are powered by Kaltura, a third-party video capture, storage, and delivery provider that partners with UCSD. If you're watching, uploading, or editing captions of a video in Canvas, you're using Kaltura. While students and instructors typically encounter Kaltura within Canvas, all UCSD community members with active directory credentials can access Kaltura features through UCSD's instance of Mediaspace.

To learn about Kaltura's features, Multimedia Services provides a variety of tutorials divided into four sections:

Tutorials for Videos in Canvas

Adding videos: what kinds of videos you can have in Canvas and how to get them there
Editing videos: what you can do to videos in "My Media," such as editing captions, making cuts, or adding chapters
Presenting videos: ways to organize and make your videos visible to your students
Troubleshooting: solutions for common issues with videos in Canvas

These articles provide thorough instructions on how to use Kaltura’s main features within Canvas.

Best Practices

Interested in learning some tips about at-home video production or what the research indicates about effective uses of video in higher education? Check out our page on best practices .

View the sections below to find out more about Kaltura’s features or watch the short video below for a quick walkthrough.

Kaltura Features

There are a variety of features that Kaltura offers UC San Diego community members.

Kaltura Capture

This desktop application is available at no charge to all UCSD community members, and allows users to capture their camera, microphone, and screen. See our article on Kaltura Capture to learn more.

Feature-rich Media Player

The Kaltura media player allows for video quality selection, speed controls, captions, and video downloads, in addition to other features. For Kaltura Capture recordings, users can select the arrangement of the video streams.

Video Editor

Worried about a part in the middle of your video where you made a mistake? Or maybe you just want to get rid of the part at the beginning of your video when you’re opening your PowerPoint presentation and clearing your throat. A simple video editor within Canvas allows users to cut out pieces of their videos and add fade-ins and fade-outs.

In-Video Quizzes

The Kalura media player supports the insertion of formative quiz questions within videos, compelling viewers to pause and reply to the question before proceeding. Users can insert multiple choice questions, short answer questions, true/false questions, and answer-free reflection points.

Playlists

Users can elect to link selected videos together using course-specific playlists: a single media player containing an ordered list of videos. They can serve to organize content in your Media Gallery, group multimedia materials by common themes, facilitate the chunking of long recordings, or create video-based study guides for your students.

Zoom Integration

All Zoom recordings made to Zoom’s cloud (when logged in using UCSD active directory credentials) will automatically transfer to Kaltura such that it will show up in the user’s “My Media.”

Automatic Machine Captioning and a Caption Editor

Every video added to Kaltura after 13 June 2020 will automatically have machine captions requested and inserted. Instructors should take care to edit those captions for accuracy, however, to ensure accessibility. They can do this, however, using the caption editor within Canvas or by downloading them, editing, and uploading them to Canvas.

Unlimited Storage

There are no storage or file size limits within Kaltura and videos that users see in “My Media” in Canvas or Mediaspace, and users will maintain access to their videos as long as they have active directory credentials. Videos can easily be re-used across Canvas terms.

The Multimedia Services team at UC San Diego team stands ready to support instructors’ use of video at the university. If you’re interested in learning more about our on-campus services and facilities, visit our page on onsite video production resources. If you have any questions about your videos in Canvas, don’t hesitate to email us at kaltura@ucsd.edu.

While the Multimedia Services team has largely worked remotely during the pandemic, we remain committed to supporting the development of high-quality video assets. On-campus video shoots are available both in socially-distanced outdoor settings as well as Studio U.