Adding Media

Relevant to: faculty, staff, and students

Introduction

Media Upload feature allows you to add any video, image, or audio files to your My Media or your channel. This article details the steps involved in uploading media.

Upload Media

1. Choose the Add New button and choose Media Upload. If you are using LEARNscape in Brightspace within a course, the Add New button is in My Learnscape Media found under Tools.
2. Select the Choose a file to upload button or simply drag and drop a file in the same area.
3. Your computer's file browser will open. Find and select the video to upload, then press Open.
4. The upload process will begin with a progress bar along the top of the screen. You will see the message Upload Completed once the video has uploaded. Please note: Large video files may take a long time to upload.
5. Enter the required information for Name, Description and Tags. This can be done while the video is still uploading. Please note: You cannot change the publishing status until the media has been saved with all the required information.
6. Select Save.
7. View the video by clicking on the link Go to Media.

Adding Thumbnails

A thumbnail is the image that is shown in the video player before the play button is pressed. Owners of media can choose a thumbnail created on their desktop, select one from an auto-generated list, or scroll through a video and choose a thumbnail. This article outlines the steps for adding or changing a video's thumbnail.

Add a New Thumbnail

1. Open your My Media section.
2. Find the video that you would like to add chapters to and click the Edit button. The video page will load.
3. Select the Thumbnails tab.
4. Here you have three options:
   • Upload Thumbnail: Upload a thumbnail (i.e. a .jpg image) from your desktop and set it as the default thumbnail.
   • Capture: Use the player to seek the frame you would like to use as your default thumbnail, click on the Capture button and that will be set as your thumbnail.
   • Auto Generate: Select one thumbnail from ten automatically generated thumbnails from your video and set it as the default thumbnail.

Metadata Best Practices

What is Metadata?

Metadata is a set of data that describes and gives information about other data. In LEARNscape, Metadata is the information you provide about your media such as the title, description, and tags.

Why is Metadata Important?

Providing descriptive, helpful, and searchable information about your media is important because the right setup means that your content is easily searchable and accurately organized in the LEARNscape system.

Metadata Best Practices for Videos

Please follow these standards of practice when adding your media's metadata.

Descriptive Title/Name:

• Titles should follow proper punctuation and capitalization rules (i.e. Asking a Reference Question vs. asking a reference question).
• The speaker/instructor's full name should be included when applicable (i.e. Boyer Lecture Series - Jane Doe - 1982).
• Relevant dates should be included starting with the year when applicable (i.e. Town Hall Meeting 2015-05-06).
• Do not use "_" (underscores) in the title. This makes the video difficult to find in a search.
• Helpful Description:
  • Descriptions should provide a summary of the video content.
  • Relevant dates, location, and purpose should be included.
  • Descriptions should be at least 2-3 sentences. This will help distinguish the video from other entries that may have similar names. They should NOT be a repeat of the title.
• Searchable Tags:
  • Tags are like keywords. They're crucial in validating your media's relativity in a search.
  • To create a tag, type the keyword (i.e. human services) and press Enter on the keyboard.
  • Do not use "_" (underscore). Spaces are okay in tags.
  • Use between two and four tags; no more than five.
  • Tags can describe the specific content or the broad video subject/type (i.e. lecture, history).
  • Course titles make great tags (i.e. Chemistry 101).

Metadata Best Practices for Channels

Descriptive Title/Name:

• A channel title should describe the collection of videos, not a singular video.
• Do not use "_" (underscores) in the title.
• Relevant dates should follow the title, when applicable.
• Titles should follow proper punctuation and capitalization rules.

Helpful Description:

• Descriptions should provide a summary of the collection of videos.
• Relevant dates, location, and purpose should be included.
• Descriptions should be at least 2-3 sentences. This will help distinguish the channel from other channels that may have similar names. They should NOT be a repeat of the title of the Channel.