The Multimedia filter, when turned on, allows you to insert players for media files in locations around your course, however, this filter does not allow such multi-media content to be the focus of an activity.

The Flash Video module allows you to create pages containing your own Flash video files. You can add information about the video above the video itself. You can also add notes on a separate tab and students can add their notes individually.

You may be hesitant to try this activity because it suggests third party software is necessary, and no documentation was provided for download location, installation or why this extra software was even needed. If you have large Flash video files and lots of them, it may be prudent to install the recommended Red5 video streaming server, although even if you can find it, the documentation for this is not very helpful.

It turns out, though, that you can upload and embed Flash files using the Flash Video Activity module without a streaming server. So if you have only small videos, this should be sufficient.

How to do it...

In your course page, add Flash Video from the Add an activity list. The following configuration page should appear.

You need to provide a title and some introductory text for the video. This introductory text is where you would place written material that complements the video. This allows you to present the materials in more than one modality. There are also settings to control how the video is played and the size it appears on the page. These are passed onto the Flash wrapper/player that controls the video.

When the video is shown it is presented with controls including a play-pause button, a timeline, time information, and a volume control. The button to maximize the video to full-screen did not seem to work during testing.

To add notes, the teacher must click on the Teacher's Note tab and then the Edit the Note button on the top right.