Quick Tips for Handling Videos in Sakai

Note: For guidance on handling recordings of class meetings as such pertains to FERPA and Washington state law, please refer to the article, Web Conferencing: FERPA & Privacy.

Recommended: Store videos on YouTube to embed in Sakai.

Because Sakai is not a video streaming service like YouTube and because Sakai has a file upload limit of 500 Mb, we generally recommend that instructors upload videos they create-- (such as screencasts with Screencast-o-matic)-- to YouTube. Settings in YouTube allow instructors to mark their content as unlisted so that random users cannot search for and view that content. For details and instructions about YouTube, refer to the article, Uploading Videos to YouTube. To embed YouTube videos in Sakai, refer to the following articles: 

• Sakai Rich-Text Editor: How do I embed a YouTube video in a text box?

• Sakai Lessons: How do I embed a YouTube video on a Lessons Page?

Consider Google Drive if YouTube is not viable.

If YouTube is not a viable option, we generally recommend uploading video files to Google Drive through your PLU account. Google Drive is typically preferable over Sakai because Sakai is not designed to stream video files. Sakai also has an upload limit of 500 Mb. Assuming sufficient rendering time, video files stored on Google Drive will display with a YouTube player for streaming playback. Uploading and storing video files on Google Drive is relatively more robust for handling large files. However, note that storage limits for Google Drive do apply.

In Sakai you can hyperlink to video files stored on Google Drive, but you cannot embed a video player for such files in Sakai. Google Drive also has controls for disabling the downloading of particular files stored on Drive. More details are in the article, Google Drive: Sharing Files & Folders.

Use Sakai for storing video files as a last resort.

Assuming a video file is less than 500 Mb, it can be uploaded to Sakai. However, Sakai cannot stream such content (e.g., for responsive playback) like YouTube or Google Drive can. Such videos stored on Sakai are essentially downloaded in their entirety in order to be viewed. Video files stored on Sakai do not have measures for preventing the downloading (copying) of these files. 

For more details on how to deploy videos stored in Sakai, refer to the Sakai article, How do I embed non-YouTube videos in the text box? 

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Need support? Contact sakai@plu.edu or call 253-535-7525.