More Insights and Customization: The latest updates in Video Studio
Demand for high-quality video in online courses continues to grow. As reported in our recent Blackboard LMS roadmap webinar, over 52,000 students and instructors have created video content using Blackboard LMS: Video Studio, amassing an incredible 3.6 million minutes of footage.
We’re delighted to hear success stories emerging from our institutional partners, such as those shared by Fox Valley Technical College and Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) at our Building Blackboard Together conference in July. As Elizabeth Jones, Instructional Excellence Manager at Fox Valley, notes in the video below, Video Studio’s simple workflows have allowed instructors to embrace video at scale, particularly in practical courses like manufacturing and agriculture.
Recent Additions to Video Studio
New capabilities are coming to the platform with every monthly release. The following features are all available now:
- Audio Descriptions: Add spoken descriptions of key visuals—such as diagrams, actions, on-screen text—so blind and low-vision students can participate.
- Duration extended to 30 minutes: This is particularly valuable for instructors who wish to include video responses in assessments, allowing students to record detailed presentations, case studies, and spoken proposals.
- Resume Video Playback: Longer videos mean users might not be able to squeeze the full thing into a single viewing. Video Studio now remembers where they stopped so they can resume straight away from the same place.
- Customizable Recording Background: Users can now blur their background when recording or replacing it with an image of their choice, protecting their privacy and facilitating self-expression.
Customizable Recording Background, now available in Blackboard LMS: Video Studio
Up Next on the Roadmap:
We’ve got further exciting updates on the way, many of which originated as suggestions shared in the Blackboard Idea Exchange. Here are a couple of highlights, but remember to keep an eye on monthly release notes for full details on new capabilities as they go into production.
- Verified Completion (3-6 months): As a fast follow to Resume Video Playback, we’ll soon be adding verified completion – wherein instructors can make progress in the course contingent on viewing a video in its entirety.
- Video Engagement Insights (3-6 months): Analytics in Video Studio are expanding to give instructors visibility on whether students viewed the video in full, and where they dropped off if they didn’t. This is valuable insight to proactively address any students who might have missed key information.
- All video in Blackboard LMS > Video Studio (6+ months): Looking a little further afield, if you have a Video Studio license, any video content added to the LMS will automatically be moved to Video Studio, thus not counting against your LMS storage limit.
Video Engagement Insights, coming soon to Blackboard LMS: Video Studio
Want to see Video Studio in action? Join our webinar with Fox Valley Technical College on September 16th to learn how video adds engagement to practical online courses.