I would like to use some media in my lessons. Do you have any recommendations?

Owned by Carol SoftChalk
Last updated: Aug 13, 2019
2 min read


Yes, we have several recommendations. Please see below.

Streaming Video Service Such as YouTube

You may want to put your media on a streaming video service such as YouTube. Once you put the video on YouTube, you can copy the embed code. Then, within SoftChalk Create, choose Insert/Widget and click Paste HTML. Give your widget a name and description and then click OK. If you are using YouTube videos, please be sure to see the FAQ When I preview my SoftChalk lesson locally, some YouTube videos are not displaying. What should I do?


There are many advantages to using widgets for video versus inserting a video in a lesson:


The lesson pages load much faster.
The lesson is smaller.
If you use the media in multiple lessons, you can update it in one place.
You don't have to worry about specific formats and browsers for your media (see below).


My Files in SoftChalk Cloud


Another good option is to use the My Files feature of your SoftChalk Cloud account. The first three advantages above apply - pages load faster, the lesson is smaller and you can update your media in one place in the Cloud. For details on the My Files feature, please see the FAQ How do I use the My Files feature to put an item in SoftChalk Cloud and reference that item in other lessons?

Insert Media - File Formats


If you choose not to store your media in SoftChalk Cloud or in a streaming video service such as YouTube, you can insert a media file in a lesson using Insert/Media and then choose the Linked file option. Your lesson pages will load faster if the media is not inserted as an inline player. (If you decide to use the Inline player option, you may need to adjust the height and width of your media so that the player control bars are not cut off.)


As for the format of your media if you choose to insert media , please keep in mind your students need to be able to play the media in their web browser. For instance, students using Macintoshes may have difficulty playing a .wmv (Windows media video) since that format is not supported by default on Macintosh web browsers. In our testing, we found that the .mp4 files set as a linked file was the most compatible format across various browsers.