Blackboard provides documentation on how to insert streaming videos directly into the editor, which allows the video to be automatically embedded with other content. Students can view the content within the same window with no need to navigate to an external site. They provide instructions for inserting videos from services like Kanopy, and from YouTube once you've obtained what you need from those services. Below are instructions on how to obtain what you need from both Kanopy. Inserting videos from YouTube is done completely within Blackboard and the documentation provides complete instructions.

Blackboard's documentation for inserting streaming videos can be found here.

Kanopy

Once you have found a video in Kanopy, click the 'Share' button below the video. It will open a box below the video with an 'Embed this video' option. You need all of the code that appears in this box.

The code copied from Kanopy can be embedded into the HTML editor by clicking the "< >" button.

When you want to show a film, video, or television program, whether it be as part of a course, at a group or club activity, at an organization event, or as a training exercise, you have to consider the rights of the those who own the copyright to the work you want to use. This consideration must be made regardless of who owns the video or where you obtained it. Copyright owners have certain rights, which are commonly known as public performance rights (PPR).

Protip* Check Kanopy for titles first. Our license agreement with Kanopy allows us to screen films to audiences on campus, whether as part of a class or not! That means: no additional PPR fees.

Public Performance Rights FAQ

Q: I'm a professor and I want to show a film outside of the classroom. I'd like to invite the university community and the public. What do I need to do?

A: You will need to acquire public performance rights in order to legally screen the film. Even though this is for educational purposes, taking the film out of the classroom setting and inviting guests other than your students qualifies your film as a "public performance". (Fair use covers film use in face-to-face classroom and some distance learning settings.) 

Q: The film I want to show is on Netflix. Can I stream this through my Netflix account in the classroom?

A: Netflix allows one-time educational screenings of some Netflix Original documentaries. For more information, see Netflix's policy on Educational Screenings of Documentaries. Subscription services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon have very detailed membership agreements that may forbid the streaming of subscribed content in a classroom or other public venue. When you agree to the terms of membership, you enter into a contract and the terms of that contract trump any applicable exception in copyright. Therefore, if the membership agreement with Netflix prohibits the showing of the film in a classroom, you are bound by the terms of that agreement even if the face to face teaching exception would otherwise allow it. We encourage instructors who plan to show films as part of their class, particularly when the class is taught online, to investigate the availability of films through Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and other subscription or short term rental streaming services and to require their students to access that content on their own through their own subscription or account.

Q: I'm a student and my club or organization wants to show a film. What do I need to do?

A: You will need to acquire public performance rights in order to legally screen the film. The showing of a film as part of a film series is viewed as entertainment even if hosted or sponsored by an educational group or club. No matter how educational the setting or how tied to the curriculum, this is generally considered not to be fair use and PPR must be obtained.

Q: What are public performance rights?

A: PPR are license agreements made with a film's rightsholder granting an individual or a group the legal right to publicly screen a film. Usually a PPR license is purchased for a fee, and it usually only covers a one-time screening of the film.

What do we mean by publicly? Any group of persons screening a film to any audience. Exemptions include home-use, face-to-face classroom teaching, and in some cases distance learning classes.

Q: How much do public performance rights usually cost?

A: Typically between 200-300 dollars for a one-time showing, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Q: How do I acquire public performance rights?

A: Generally speaking, PPR can be purchased through a film's distributor. There are several large movie distributors and public performance rights licensing agencies that own the rights to hundreds of well-known films.

How/Where to Obtain PPR

• Search United States Copyright Office database of registered copyright holders
• Search the library catalog for publisher / distributor information.
• Search the Copyright Clearance Center
• Search WATCH (Writers, Artists and their Copyright Holders)

Copyright Licensing Agents

Broadcast Music, Inc represents over 350,000 creators of music, the songwriters, composers and publishers of more than 6.5 million musical works

American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) licenses the right to perform songs and musical works created and owned by the songwriters, composers, lyricists and music publishers who are ASCAP members and also those members of foreign performing rights organizations who are represented by ASCAP in the United States.

Criterion Pictures USA is one of the largest non-theatrical providers of feature films in North America. In the United States, Criterion has exclusive relationships with some of Hollywood's largest film Studios, such as Paramount Pictures (select titles only), 20th Century Fox, Fox SearchLight, DreamWorks Animation, Troma Films, and New Concorde, among others.

Motion Picture Licensing Corporation is an independent copyright licensing agency that provides the Umbrella License to ensure copyright compliance for the public performance of motion pictures.

If you need help with obtaining PPR, contact a librarian.