There's more than one way to allow Students to send you their videos as assignment submissions.
This article describes two methods that use Kaltura, along with their strengths and weaknesses.
Kaltura's video management tools are built right into VCC's Moodle LMS, making it easy for Students to select a Kaltura-stored video to submit to their instructor for an assignment. (Direct uploading of video files into Moodle courses is prohibited at VCC.)
In this video, Online Developers Heidi and Venecia show you two ways to create a video submission activity using Kaltura (and describe their respective strengths and weaknesses):
Kaltura Media Assignment (Easy to use, but limited features)
The Kaltura Media Assignment lets you rapidly create a video submission activity that's simple and easy for Students to use (but it has drawbacks!)
How to:
Benefits:
- For Instructors, easy to create: Just write your instructions in the description field, check a couple of settings, and you've got a usable video submission activity.
- For Students, easy to submit: Just click a button to select a video from their My Media area, and click "Submit".
Risks:
- For Instructors, Grading is simplistic: Instructors can only pick integer values (whole numbers) from a drop-down list. You cannot enter a fractional grade (e.g. you can select "4" or "5", but not "4.5"). You also cannot use Moodle's Advanced Grading features like Marking Guides, or Rubrics.
- For Instructors, no submission removals: If you want to remove a Student's submission (maybe to give them a new attempt), you're out of luck. Submissions cannot be removed.
- For Instructors, no Overrides: You cannot apply User or Group Overrides to this activity.
- For Instructors, no Resets: Doing a course reset will not reset this activity. (You can use "Edit Settings >> Duplicate" to create a fresh, unused new copy though.)
Is this method right for you?
This method is great for Instructors or Students who need an easy, uncomplicated solution. (Experienced Instructors will be frustrated by the lack of features and control over Student submissions.)
Moodle Assignment Activity (More complicated, but more options)
As a more advanced alternative, you can use Moodle's Assignment Activity to receive video submissions from Kaltura. (All the features, but some extra effort to set up.)
How to:
- Your Students will submit their video as a hyperlink in a text box. You should set your activity Submission Type to "Online Text" and deselect the "File Upload" option.
- To submit their media to the activity, your Students must click the "Kaltura Media Embed" icon in the editor's toolbar and then select their media from their "My Media" area. The result will be a hypertext link in the text field, which will open their selected media. Then, the Student clicks "Submit". Your activity description should include instructions to explain those steps.
Benefits:
- For Instructors, more options and better control: You can use all the override, grading, feedback, submission, and reporting options that are available in Moodle assignment activities.
- Flexibility: Students can also use the Kaltura Media Embed icon to submit a video as part of a freeform text answer inside Discussion Forums, Quizzes, or other Moodle activities.
Risks:
- For Instructors, more effort to setup: There are a few more steps needed to set up this activity than the Kaltura Media one, but it is about the same effort as setting up other Moodle assignment activities.
- For Students, a little more effort to submit: It takes a few more mouse-clicks to submit a Kaltura video to this kind of assignment.
Is this method right for you?
This method is ideal for experienced Instructors familiar with creating Moodle assignment activities, and who need more control over student submissions and user feedback.
(First-time Instructors might find the number of options and settings a bit overwhelming.)