Recording and Sharing Videos (Faculty)

There are several options for recording and sharing videos in Canvas so choosing which option is best will depend on a few factors such how long the video needs to be and if you need to share your screen.

Contents

• Recording your video using Zoom
• Recording your video using Stream
• Uploading your video to Stream
• Captioning your video
• Sharing your video in Canvas

Longer Videos or Videos with Screen Sharing

You should not upload a video file directly to Cougar Courses as it is not meant to handle those large file sizes. 

There are two options for recording your video using campus-supported tools: Microsoft Stream and Zoom. Stream has a 15 minute limit for recordings, so if your video will be longer than 15 minutes you will want to use Zoom. 

Recording your Video using Zoom

CSUSM has a site license for Zoom. We have linked Zoom's help guides where appropriate, if you would like more information.

1. If needed, refer to this help page on how to download and login to the Zoom application. 
2. Open the Zoom app on your computer and on the Home tab click the New Meeting icon to start a meeting.
   
   
   
3. Make sure your camera and microphone are working by testing your testing your video and testing your audio. Make sure you are not muted.
   
   
   
4. If you want to record something on your computer like a PPT presentation, Word doc, Excel file, etc., have it open on your computer, close everything else, and Share your screen.
   
   
   
5. Once you are ready to begin recording, click “Record” on the meeting controls toolbar or, if you do not see Record, click on More and then Record from the dropdown menu. Students are only able to record to their computer and not to the cloud.
   
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6. When finished, click Stop Recording (or More and then Pause/stop recording) and end the meeting. After the meeting has ended, Zoom will convert the recording so you can access the files. Once the conversion process is complete, the folder containing the recording files will open. Do not shut down your computer until this conversion has happened. 
   

For more help with using Zoom, please visit their help guides.

Recording your Video in Stream

1. Using either Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, log in to your CSUSM Office 365 account and go to Stream by clicking on the nine dots in the upper left-hand corner. If you do not see the Stream icon listed, click “More Apps”.
   
   
   
2. At the top, under Create New, choose either Screen Recording or Camera Recording.
   
   
   
3. Enable your microphone and camera (if you are recording yourself). Troubleshooting camera, microphone, or screen sharing permission issues. 
   
   
   
4. If you have it, you can paste your script into the Script box, which acts similarly to a teleprompter. It will scroll through your script at a pace you set in front of the screen but will not show up in the screen recording. 
5. If you are recording your screen, click "Start screen recording" and choose whether to share your whole screen, a specific window, or a specific tab. Once selected, it will count down and start recording. 
   
   
   
6. If you are not recording your screen, you can choose to set a Backdrop (background), and Effects like text, draw, filter, and frame. When ready, click Start Recording.
   
   
   
7. Record your video. When finished, click the stop icon.
   
   
   
8. In this window you can review your recording, choose to Trim, Delete clip (to rerecord), Record more (to add on), or Open in Editor to access Clipchamp's full editing options. Otherwise, click Finish.
   
   
   
9. Your video will be uploaded and opened in Stream. You can skip down to the section "Captioning and Sharing your Video".

Uploading your Video to Stream

If you recorded your video using Stream, you do not need to do this part, you can skip to "Sharing your video" below.

Once you have recorded your video you will need to upload to a streaming server like Youtube, Vimeo, or Microsoft Stream. You should not upload a video file directly to Cougar Courses as it is not meant to handle those large file sizes. CSUSM has a site license for Microsoft, so we will cover how to upload and share via Stream. 

1. Once you have recorded your video in Zoom, locate the mp4 file on your computer. By default, computer recordings are placed in these directories depending on your operating system:
   • Windows: C:\Users\[Username]\Documents\Zoom
   • Mac: /Users/[Username]/Documents/Zoom
   • Linux: home/[Username]/Documents/Zoom
   • See this guide for more information on managing your computer recordings.
2. Once you have located your mp4 file, you will need to upload it to a video streaming server such as Microsoft Stream. Log in to your CSUSM Office 365 account and go to Stream by clicking on the nine dots in the upper left-hand corner. If you do not see the Stream icon listed, click “More Apps”.
   
   
   
3. Once in Stream, click “Upload”
   
   
   
4. Locate your video and click “Open”. Note: The screenshot below shows a Mac laptop, however, the process is similar on a PC.
   
   
   
5. Once you click Open, a pop-up window will appear, click “Upload”
   
   
   
6. Once your video is done uploading, a small pop-up window will appear in the lower right-hand corner, click “Open”
   
   
   
7. If needed, you can clean up your video by trimming to remove unused footage at the beginning, end, or even the middle of your video. 

Captioning Your Video

Once you have uploaded your video to a streaming server, you should turn on the captions. We will cover the steps for doing that in Stream. 

1. When viewing the video in Stream, click on Video Settings on the right hand side. 
   
   
   
2. Then click on "Transcript and captions" and click the Generate button.
   
   
   
3. Depending on how long your video is, this could take a few minutes. Once captions have been generated, you can review and edit the captions by clicking on Transcript and then click Edit where you would like to make changes.
   
   
   
4. You can also choose to rename your video by clicking on the current name, making your changes, and clicking the checkmark next to the name to save.

Sharing your video

You can add your videos stored in Microsoft Stream/OneDrive directly to your course from within Cougar Courses. You can either do so as a link in a Module or embedded on a Page. Embedding on a Page is useful when you want to provide other content (text, images, videos) alongside the video for context. With either method, students can watch your video from within Cougar Courses.

Important Note: When you add a video via the OneDrive integration in Cougar Courses, it creates a copy of your video. So if you want to update your video, you need to access the video via the link in your course, not by going directly to Stream/OneDrive. 

Check out our guide on how to add videos to Canvas via Stream/OneDrive.