NIU Kaltura Support
Resolved - Issues Embedding Kaltura Videos in Blackboard
Updated 9/21/2023
As of 9/21/23, this issue has been resolved and embedding Kaltura videos should be working normally.
Kaltura is currently experiencing intermittent issues with embedding videos in Blackboard courses in both Original and Ultra Course View. When embedding a video, you may receive a message reading Oops, something went wrong. This issue has been reported to Kaltura and Blackboard; it is affecting multiple institutions.
Usually, simply trying repeatedly is the best approach, particularly for video quizzes which must be embedded via the Kaltura tool in Blackboard for the grades to be added to the Blackboard Gradebook. After repeated attempts, eventually, the embed request is successful. However, you can also try sharing the video via Mediaspace and either creating a link instead of an embedded video or embedding with the HTML embed code.
Kaltura Media Storage and Retention Guidelines UPDATED
NIU's institutional license of Kaltura has an overall storage cap above which NIU incurs significant additional charges. Reasonable limitations on media storage are being implemented to ensure long-term feasibility and access to resources. These guidelines have been updated as of May 1, 2023.
Kaltura is a comprehensive, robust, campus-wide media platform, available to all faculty, staff, and students at NIU. With Kaltura, users can upload, publish, share, and edit media, as well as create screen recordings, in-video quizzes, and other types of interactive learning experiences.
Kaltura tools and services are available directly in Blackboard via Kaltura My Media and outside of Blackboard via MediaSpace. The Blackboard implementation of Kaltura provides a simple workflow for instructors building video-based course content and a seamless video experience for students, as well as rich analytics, grade book integration, and automatic closed captioning. Hosting content using Kaltura has the added benefit of providing a media-rich course without affecting your Blackboard course quota.
MediaSpace is a full-fledged public media portal and media management system, providing multiple media sharing and collaboration options as well as access to the same suite of creation, hosting, and editing tools available in the Blackboard implementation of Kaltura.
- Upload, store, and share your existing video content, created outside of Kaltura (PowerPoint to MP4, smartphone video, tablet recordings).
- Create and share quick webcam/microphone videos for introductions, micro-lectures, video feedback.
- Create and share screen recording videos by recording webcam, screen, and/or narration. This is useful when creating recordings of anything on your screen such as software demonstrations of data analysis tools, coding interfaces, design tools, website tours, narrated document reviews (detailed project document, course syllabus), and a workflow for creating a narrated presentation using PowerPoint or another presentation tool.
- Incorporate YouTube videos into your Kaltura media library and embed and play through the Kaltura player in Blackboard.
- Take advantage of excellent automatic closed captioning, with simple caption editing and video transcripts.
- Edit videos in Kaltura, create video quizzes, and branching video experiences.
- Share, organize, and manage videos using MediaSpace.
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