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Streaming Video

Information about access to streaming videos at BGSU.

What is Avalon?


Avalon is a library-managed online platform offering 24/7 access to streaming audio and video content for authorized users. The collection includes both library-owned materials and content produced by various campus departments. 

If you have questions about Avalon or if there's a video you'd like the library to add to the collection, email bzwayer@bgsu.edu or avalon@bgsu.edu

Instructions for adding Avalon content to Canvas


In order to make Avalon content available to your students, please follow the instructions below. Please note, access to Avalon is authenticated through Canvas.  

1. On the Home screen in Canvas, in the main navigation panel on the left below the Home heading, select the Assignments option.

screenshot of menu in canvas, assignments circled to feature

2. The Assignments page will open. To create a new assignment, select the Assignment button at the top of the page, on the right.

screenshot of button to click to add assignments

3. A new window will open. Choose a name and enter it in the Assignment Name field. This is a requirement but it doesn’t matter what the name is. The name will be displayed to students and it will link them to all the Avalon material you’ve assigned to them, so “Avalon Videos” might be a good choice for a name.

Canvas screenshot of field to enter name of assignment

4. In the Submission Type section, select External Tool from the drop-down menu.

Canvas screenshot field to enter custom url for avalon link

5. In the field labelled “Enter or find an External Tool URL”, click the Find button. A new window will open, with the heading Configure External Tool and a list of options. Select Avalon from the list, then click the Select button.

Canvas screenshot to agree to avalon as extra tool in Canvas

6. In the Submission Type section, make sure that the checkbox “Load This Tool In A New Tab” is checked.

Canvas screenshot highlighting option to select to load url

7. Click the Save and Publish button at the bottom of the page to finish. Note: the assignment won’t be visible to students unless the assignment is published.

Canvas screenshot of save and publish button

8. The assignment will now be active, but the process is not yet complete. Select the assignment. On the assignment page, you should see the text, "This tool needs to be loaded in a new browser window", followed by a button labelled "Load [name of assignment] in a new window." Click the button.

9. A new tab will open, which will look something like this: 

Avalon page, no results found

10. Copy the URL from the page (in this example, https://avalon.bgsu.edu/catalog?f%5Bread_access_virtual_group_ssim%5D%5B%5D=LIBR+1010+1001) and paste it into an email to Brenda Zwayer at bzwayer@bgsu.edu or avalon@bgsu.edu along with your course code/s and information about the videos you'd like to make available to your students.


Note: If you don't see "No results found for your search" but instead see a list of videos, please send the URL just as described above. We can remove any non-required videos from the list once we have the URL.

11. Library staff will reply to let you know when set up has been completed. At that point, you can confirm the videos are available by revisiting the assignment you've made in Canvas. This time, when you click the button labelled "Load [name of assignment] in a new window", you should see all the assigned videos listed in the new tab. 

If you have any problems or questions, please email bzwayer@bgsu.edu or avalon@bgsu.edu.