Overview

Have you ever wanted your students to have the option to submit a video as a response to an assignment prompt in Canvas? These instructions will walk instructors through how to create such an assignment. 

Critical Concepts

Caveats

• Students can "replace" their video after the assignment deadline. Kaltura allows media owners to replace their video in a video while retaining all of its metadata (title, description, attachments, etc.). While this feature can come in handy for you as an instructor if you need to update a video (since you don't have to re-embed or re-publish it afterwards), this also means that students can embed their video in their submission but then replace the video later with a newer version. So while students may not be able to go into the Canvas assignment and change anything, they ARE able to update their video. Kaltura currently does not have a "secure" way to submit video assignments.

Things to Keep in Mind

• We made instructions for how students can submit. You'll probably want to provide guidance to your students on how they can record, edit, and submit videos. Because all UC San Diego community members with active directory credentials can take advantage of Kaltura's features, we've developed a tutorial on embedding videos in a text submission assignment in Canvas. Feel free to either send the link to students or adapt the text for your own set of instructions!
• For this kind of assignment, students can still submit text and/or other media. Though you can require them in your instructions to embed a video as their submission, they're really just using a text box (the "rich content editor"). So they can add text, images, or other media instead of or in addition to a video. They can also embed multiple videos. 
• Be aware that students can "replace" their video after submission. Kaltura allows media owners to replace their video in a video while retaining all of its metadata(title, description, attachments, etc.). While this can be handy for you as an instructor if you need to update a video (since you don't have to re-embed or re-publish it afterwards), this also means that it's possible for students to embed their video in their submission but then replace the video later with a newer version if they wish. So while students may not be able to go into the assignment and change anything, they ARE able to update their video. 
• Wherever a user has access to the rich content editor, they can embed a video. The premise behind this kind of assignment is that it gives students access to the rich content editor, which allows them to click the "embed Kaltura media" button. But they can use this wherever they see the rich content editor, such as a discussion board post. The same goes for instructors.

Steps to Take

The short version of what you need to do in Canvas: create an "online" submission assignment and be sure that "text entry" is checked. 

1. If you're not already logged in:
   1. Go to https://canvas.ucsd.edu. 
   2. Enter your active directory credentials.
2. Within Canvas, enter the course in which you want to create the assignment.
3. Click Modules in the course navigation on the left.
4. Find the module where you want to have the assignment, and click the + (plus) button.
5. In the window that appears:
   1. Select Assignment from the drop-down menu.
   2. Select [ Create Assignment ] in the list below.
   3. Enter a name for your assignment in the "Assignment Name" field.
   4. Click Add Item.
6. Click on the assignment you just created.
7. Click the Edit button near the top of the page.
8. In the "submission type" drop-down menu, select Online.
9. In the box that populates, click the checkbox for Text Entry.
10. Configure anything else you want to about the assignment (points, submission attempts, release date, etc.).
11. Click Save at the bottom of the screen. (Alternatively, click Save & Publish if you're ready for the assignment to be visible to your students.)

Now you have an assignment where students have the option to embed a video from their "My Media" as a response.

As mentioned above, we recommend that you provide instructions to students who intend to submit videos. You can direct them to this article: Embed Kaltura Media Into a Text Submission Assignment in Canvas (KB003465).