Embedding Vimeo in Blackboard Learn

KC Jenkins

Because YouTube and Blackboard have an exclusive partnership agreement, other video providers—such as Vimeo—do not have the option of the “mashup tool” embedding.

Fortunately, there is a workaround so that you can stream Vimeo videos on Blackboard and your students not have to leave the Blackboard environment to see the content you want to share with them.

So, let’s take it one easy step at a time…

1. Find the video on Vimeo that you want to share.

In this example, I chose a video about one of my favorite contemporary artists, Yinka Shonibare.

2. Hover the pointer in the upper right of the video and click on “Share”.

3. Click on the embed code in the box beneath the word “Embed” to highlight and copy it.

4. Copy the highlighted code by either right clicking with the mouse and choosing “Copy,” or by using the Ctrl+C (Windows) or Cmd+C (Mac) shortcut.

4. If you desire, you can make changes to some items, such as player size, by clicking “Show options” before copying the code.

Now, open the Blackboard course

I will show how to post this in a content area. But the same can

be done for other areas that have the HTML editing option

in the text box editor.

On the page you want to include the video on:

Click on “Build Content.”Click on “Item” in the window that opens.

Provide a name for your content. Here, it is simply called a demo. In my actual course, I title it the same as the video.

Next, click the HTML icon on the right side of the third toolbar.

Paste (Ctrl V for Win; Cmd V for Mac) the embed code you copied from the Vimeo share pop-up window into the HTML pop up window. Click “Update” at the bottom.

A yellow rectangle will show in the content area’s text box. That will be the frame that streams the video.

Click “Submit” at either the top or bottom right to save this item.

Here is how it will look in the lesson page along with the other content you have available.

Vimeo automatically provides the information and links to the video, which is very helpful.

It’s just that quick and easy to add great supplemental

content to your courses that your students will enjoy.