Embedding Content from External Sources

It is possible to embed content from external sources within a Blackboard content area.

How to:

Within a Blackboard Content area, choose Build Content, Create Item.

Provide a name for the content item

In the text area, switch to HTML view. This will bring up a small pop-up window. Paste the embed code from your external source in this window. Choose Update. Then Click Submit.

How do I find embed codes:

An external source may have an option to “share” this content that includes “embed” options. Choose that and copy the code into your clipboard for pasting into the HTML view in Blackboard.

See an example using YouTube

External Sources:

Blackboard has security in place to not allow scripted code to run within the content area. Some sources may work without any updates on our system; however, many external sources need to be reviewed for security and then placed in a list of “safe” sources.

If your source is in the list below, you should be able to embed it. If not, please try it. If it does not work, please submit a ticket to University IT, along with a copy of your example embedded code (what you pasted in, not what is leftover after saving) and we will try to make it work.

The review of following external sources has already been completed:

  • Amara video player
  • Box document embedding (Rochester Box only)
  • Box file submission widget (Rochester Box only)
  • C-Span videos
  • Echo360
  • H5P (as hosted on River Campus Library’s digital scholar site)
  • Instagram
    • Note that we are currently only able to keep the image associated with an embedded Instagram post. The alternative text is stripped from the post.
  • Jove
  • Kahoot – You must use Challenge mode and Kahoot provides a link only. In order to embed, you must add the code as per below in yellow surrounding the Kahoot link
    • <iframe frameborder=”0″ name=”” width=”640″ height=”320″ src=”KAHOOT URL“></iframe>
  • Kanopy
  • Mindmap (Mindomo)
  • Osmosis videos
  • Padlet
  • Panopto
  • Powtoon
  • Prezi
  • Quizlet
  • Slideshare
  • Spotify
  • TedX – After initially saving your embed code, you need to edit the leftover HTML again and remove some additional code as per highlighted in the example below
    • <div style=”max-width: 854.0px;”>

      <div style=”height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;”>

      <iframe width=”854″ height=”480″ style=”left: 0; top: 0; width: 100.0%; height: 100.0%;” src=”URL OF TedX TALK” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen=””></iframe>

      </div>

      </div>

  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
  • Voicethread
  • YouTube