Question

I have had an increasing number of students over the past couple of semesters report that when they use the Canvas video recording tool within the rich text editor to create videos as part of an assignment, the video does not save. It hangs up with the spinning "processing" icon. Even after clearing cache and cookies and rebooting, they report that this does not solve it. Is there some broader problem with this tool?

Carolyn Lyons · Accepted Answer

Hi @kjohn113 sorry to hear that your students are having trouble with videos not processing using the RCE media tool. Looking through the Known Issues and support tickets, I am not seeing widespread reporting of the behavior you described. Wondering how long the videos are that the students are uploading (and how large the files.) The How do I record media using the Rich Content Editor? guide advises not recording videos longer than 15 minutes, but in my experience, even shorter is better. As it outlines "Longer media recordings require more time to render and may be interrupted without a stable internet connection."

Two thoughts on how to best proceed. One would be to suggest the students record their videos using a different tool (like Zoom or screen capture) and then upload the file, rather than recording directly in the RCE. That way if the file upload gets interrupted, they don't lose their recording and can attempt again. Secondly, it doesn't sound as if your school uses a media tool, but you may want to consider the possibility of requesting access to a tool like Canvas Studio (see What is Canvas Studio? for more information), which would provide a deeper integration and access to a more sophisticated recording interface.

I hope that helps to provide a few suggestions!