Embed a YouTube video in WebCT
My newest objective is to figure out how to embed content from other web-based applications in WebCT.
I started with You Tube, since they make it pretty easy. All you have to do is grab the code they provide, and put it in some body tags on an HTML page. It’s my duty, of course, to remind you that plenty of content on You Tube is not copyright protected, and some clips are taken down as soon as the original broadcast network can find them*.
Video can be an effective learning tool - it can provide a new perspective on a point you are trying to make in the classroom, provides information in a new format and it’s powerful combination of audio and video can propel some affective learning from your students. The clips on YouTube are generally less than 10 minutes, so they are an effective length to keep the students attention.
- Go to http://youtube.com and find the clip you want to embed. If you don’t have an exact title that someone told you about, be prepared to get distracted by just about anything.
- To the right of the screen where the video plays is a box with the clip title, tags and other metadata. There is a field called “embed” - copy all the code from that box. The code with start with <object width … and end with </object>. This code sets the size of the window, places a play/pause controls and gives the URL for the video.
- Go to WebCT and create a new HTML page.
- You need to put your YouTube code in the body of the HTML page. At the top of the page, type: <body>
- Paste your YouTube code on the HTML page.
- Type </body> at the end of the HTML page.
- Save your new page.
In student view, you will now have a link to a YouTube video that will play in the WebCT course container.
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* this is a whole other debate. My personal opinion is that the clips should be treated like quotes people use in book reviews. Seeing a two minute clip of the Jon Stewart show is only going to remind the fans of how funny it is, and attract new converts. jeesh.