Microsoft Stream (on SharePoint) - Instructor's Guide

Table of Contents

Overview of Stream (on SharePoint) 

Uploading a Video

Sharing Videos (Permissions)

Video Settings: Transcripts and more

Linking a Video in Moodle

Embedding Videos in Moodle

Overview of Stream (on SharePoint)

Microsoft Stream is an enterprise video management service that’s included with TWU's suite of Microsoft 365 apps.  Microsoft 365 applications and services, including Microsoft Stream, are constantly improving to provide users with the best experiences and productivity options.

The Stream Interface

Microsoft has updated the way it manages videos with the new Stream interface. Users can upload and share videos from OneDrive, SharePoint and other locations in the MS 365 ecosystem. The Stream home page is stream.office.com.  From this page you can upload videos, record and manage playlists. Please see Features in Microsoft Stream for more information. 

To open Stream on Browser, you can search for "Stream" in Microsoft Apps. 

The Stream interface enables you to create an interactive experience for your audience. You can enhance your videos by adding comments, forms, chapters, and transcripts. Once your video is ready, you can share it via a URL or embed it on a website using an iframe. Additionally, Stream provides comprehensive analytics to help you track and analyze video performance.

For a full list of Stream video features, please see: Learn More about Stream (on SharePoint). 

Uploading a Video

Microsoft Stream allows you to host and manage videos using Microsoft file services, including OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams. You have two options for uploading videos:

1. Direct Upload to Stream: You can directly upload your video files to Microsoft Stream for easy access and management.
2. Upload to Microsoft File Services: Alternatively, you can upload your videos to OneDrive, SharePoint, or Teams. Once uploaded, these videos can be accessed and played in Microsoft Stream.

This flexibility ensures that your video content is seamlessly integrated across Microsoft’s ecosystem, enhancing accessibility and collaboration.

To Upload a video in Stream, click the upload button or simply drag and drop your video file into the drop zone. 

Then you will be prompted to select the location to store the video. The default location is the root of your OneDrive but you can change it to somewhere else.

To upload a video in OneDrive, navigate to the destination folder, and then click the upload file button or simply drag and drop your video file into the drop zone. 

You can then open the video in Stream.

Uploading Video using OneDrive Desktop

You can organize and store videos in your personal TWU OneDrive, which can sync to your desktop, and be shared later with specific groups, students or faculty/staff. To upload a file, Move or copy a video into a folder of your choice, in any subfolder of OneDrive. Make sure there is a green check mark next to the file to ensure the video is sync to the OneDrive Server. 

Once the movie file (e.g. .mp4 or .mov format) is uploaded, it will appear in OneDrive on a browser with a Stream icon, and you will now be able to open it in the Stream video player interface: 

 

Sharing Videos (Permissions)

If you'd like your videos to be viewable by others, you must manage access for each video, or for the folder which the video is located in. Any folder sharing settings will cascade down to each video in that folder.

To share videos, click the share button on the top right of the Stream interface. 

Sharing and Access Management Options

• Share: Recipients will receive an email with a link to the video or audio file.
• Copy Link: Creates a shareable link to the file.
• Copy Link at Current Time: Creates a link to the file that starts playing at a specific timestamp.
• Manage Access (for embedding): Use this option to grant access to a group of people, such as a Course Teams Group.

To add a group of students from a specific semester-based course to view a video (or a folder containing multiple videos), follow these steps:

1. Click on Manage Access.
2. Select Grant Access.
3. Specify the group of students who need access.
4. Search for the semester-based Course that you want to share the video/folder with:
5. Once you find the course, select it, and ensure you have the "view" icon toggled (not the pencil icon which allows for editing the video).
6. Uncheck "Notify people", then click "Grant Access":
7. Students from that course group can now view the videos when you share either individual links with the group, or share / embed the videos in Moodle courses.

Video Settings - Transcript, Thumbnail and more

Generating Transcripts

Click on Video Settings, then select "Transcript and Captions". Generate captions for the video: 

Adding Thumbnails

To add a custom thumbnail, follow these steps:

1. Click on Video Settings.
2. Navigate to the Thumbnail section.
3. Click on the up arrow icon to upload your new thumbnail.

To find out more about Video Settings, including adding Chapters, Comments and more, please see: Learn More about Stream (on SharePoint). 

 

 Sharing Videos in Moodle by creating a URL resource

 Warning:  In order to allow student access your video through a URL, sharing permissions must be set. See Sharing Videos (Permissions) for more details.

It is very common for instructors to share videos on Moodle. This can be easily done by creating a URL resource that links directly to your Stream video.

Copying a Video Link

To copy a video link, that already has permissions set (see Sharing Videos (Permissions)), go to the OneDrive folder where the video is located, and select "Copy Link": 

In the pop-up window, click Copy to copy link to clipboard: 

Adding a Stream Video Link in Moodle

1. Open your Moodle course, and ensure Edit Mode is on (toggle top right Edit mode button to the right). 
2. At the bottom of a section (topic) of the course, click on "Add an activity or resource"
3. Select either URL, Text and media area, page, or any other tool that allows you to paste a hyperlink. For the sake of this demonstration, we will choose URL 
4. Paste the link in the External URL area, then under Appearance, it's recommended you select "New Window" so the video can be viewed in a new window: 

 

 

Embedding Videos in Moodle

 Warning:  To embed a video, access to the video must be granted. See Sharing Videos (Permissions) for more details.

If you would like your videos to play directly within Moodle without having students need to open the videos in a new browser, follow these instructions:

Generate and Copy the Embed Code

1. Go to your video in OneDrive.
2. Open the video in Stream
3. Click on the Share button, then select "Embed code".
4. Copy the embed code to your clipboard.

Open Moodle

You now need to paste the embed code into Moodle. We recommend that you have your Moodle course open on a separate tab next to the Stream video tab. 

1. Navigate to your course.
2. Select the section or topic area where you want the video to appear for students.
3. Ensure Edit Mode is on by toggling the Edit Mode switch at the top right of the screen.
4. Add an activity or resource:
   • Choose Text and Media Area (previously known as Label in older versions of Moodle).
5. In the Text and media area, under the Text area, toggle the toolbar to show more tools
   1. Click the '<>' button to "Edit HTML source"

• Paste code then click 'Update'. Then scroll down and click 'Save and return to course'.

Your Videos are in Moodle

Once you have embedded the video into your course, your video will be playable and viewable by students.

Note: You can also embed videos in various locations. 
Sections: Edit the section, then add the embedded video to the description.
Pages: Use the "Edit HTML Source" button to embed the video.
Assignment Description Areas: All these text areas support embedding videos via the "Edit HTML Source" button.