The following streaming items are authorized for your classes.

You can copy and paste the links for the class items into a page in your Canvas course, or share the links in any other way you see fit.

Authorizations expire automatically at the end of the semester.

Additional information is available in our FAQ, available by clicking on the tab above.

Important: Only students officially enrolled in a class will be able to view the items for that class. Simply adding the link to your Canvas class is not sufficient to grant access to your students.

Making videos available

How can I make my streaming items available to my students?

You only need to provide the students with the links to items. You can distribute the links in whatever manner you see fit - email, a page in Canvas, or carrier pigeon. It doesn't matter.

If you make a page in Canvas, just copy the links and paste them into the newly-created page.

The links are set to open a new tab in the browser. That's important for video items, because otherwise they can't be made to go to full screen. Be sure not to change that property in Canvas for video items.

How long does it take to make a video available?

We suggest allowing two weeks, although the time is usually shorter. It takes some time to digitize the video, after which it must be processed by our system to make it available for streaming. The system processes the videos in an ordered queue, so if there are many videos to process, your video may take awhile.

If you know you'll be using the video in the upcoming semester, you should let us know. We can start the preparation before the semester starts so that your video is available on the first day.

How do I make a page in Canvas containing links to the videos?

For help with Canvas, the Learn@UW-Madison Canvas KnowledgeBase is a good place to start.

You'll want to create a new page and copy the links for your class videos to that page. Be sure the links are set to open as a separate tab. Otherwise the video can't be played full screen.

If you are teaching an L&S course, you can also seek help with Canvas from the L&S Learning Support Services educational consulting team. You can find more information on the L&S Learning Support Services web page. Look under services for Educational and Technology Consulting.

I only want to show part of an item. How can I do that?

You can do that by modifying the link for the item. You need only add "&start=" and/or "&end=" to the end of the link. Include the times you want the clip to start and end.

Here are three examples for modifying the link.

Original link

					https://dllstream.library.wisc.edu/player/?item_id=1
					

(The item_id will be different for your video.)

Link with specified start and end times: Plays from specified start time (10 minutes, 30 seconds) to specified end time (15 minutes, 5 seconds)

 
					https://dllstream.library.wisc.edu/player/?item_id=1&start=10:30&end=15:05
					

Link with specified start time only: Plays from specified start time (10 minutes, 30 seconds) to the end of the video

					https://dllstream.library.wisc.edu/player/?item_id=1&start=10:30
					

Link with specified end time only: Plays from the beginning of the video to the specified end time (15 minutes, 5 seconds)

					https://dllstream.library.wisc.edu/player/?item_id=1&end=15:05
					

Note that the student can view the entire video if they choose to, by starting playback after the player stops. Adding this code does not restrict viewing to the time specified.

Can't I just give my students a link to this page?

No. This page displays streaming items for an instructor's class. As your students are probably not instructors, and certainly not an instructor for your class, they won't see the same items as you do. They'll just see a page listing the semesters, and nothing else.

Could you make page for students, similar to the list of instructor items?

We considered it. However, many instructors want to control when the links are made available to the students. If we make a page for students, instructors would lose that control.

Authorizing videos

How can I authorize a class to see one of the videos?

Just send us the class and the name of the video, and we'll authorize the class.

Note that students must be officially enrolled in the class for them to be able to see the video. Our system uses enrollment info from the registrar's office to decide whether to grant access to an individual. It does not use Canvas or any other similar system to determine whether the student is enrolled in that particular class.

See the next question on how to grant access to someone not officially enrolled in your class.

I see videos authorized for my class that I didn't request. Why?

Another instructor of the same class likely requested them. Our system can restrict videos to a particular class, but not to a particular section.

I want someone not enrolled in my class to be able to see one of the items. How do I do that?

Just send us an email telling us the video and the netID of the person who should have access. Note that a netID is not an email address. It looks like "bbadger", not "bucky.badger", or "bucky@gmail.com".

This only gives the person access to the specific video you request. If you have us add another item for your class, be sure you ask us to authorize the person's netID for that item as well.

I want another class to be able to see the streaming item. Can I share the link with that other class?

You need to have us authorize the other class first. Individuals who are not officially enrolled in an authorized class (or teaching that class) won't be able to see the video. They'll get a message saying they're not authorized if they try.

I'd like the video to be available to my students after the semester ends. Can I do that?

No. That's because our system checks with the registrar when a person tries to view the video. The registrar's server reports what classes the person is currently enrolled in. If the person is enrolled in the authorized class, they can see the video. But once the semester ends, the registrar's server no longer reports them as being enrolled in the class.

However, if you have a specific student that needs access after the semester ends, send us the student's netID and the name of the video you'd like them to see. We can grant individual netIDs access for the following semester.

I added someone to my Canvas class, but when they try to watch a streaming item for the class, they get a message saying aren't authorized. Why?

The person must be either officially enrolled in the class, or we need to authorize their netID specifically. Adding someone to a Canvas class does not enroll them in the class. We get our enrollment information from the registrar's office, not Canvas.

Reusing videos

I want to use a streaming item in a future class. How do I make it available again?

Send us an email telling us in what class you want to use the video. We'll make it available again.

You do not need to wait until the term starts to request the item. As soon as the class you want to use it for is listed under the "Authorized Videos" tab above, you can make your request.

Why do I have to request the video again? Can't it just be always available?

Two reasons:

  1. University legal advises us that the video should only be available to classes when the instructor specifically requests it, and only for the time period the instructor requests.
  2. It costs money for storage for streaming items. We stream about 25% of our available items in a typical semester. If we did not remove unused videos, our costs for running the service would be about four times greater than what they are now.

I requested a streaming item for an upcoming semester, and when I went to look at it, instead of seeing the item, I saw a message saying I wasn't authorized! Why?

Authorizations are valid only in the semester you request them for. You won't be able to view the video until the semester starts. However, note that the semester starts before instruction begins.

If you need to see the item before then, ask us to authorize you to see the video in the current semester as well.