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Topic: Videos not showing up in Canvas (Instruture)
Regarding how to get videos to show up in Canvas: An email to a student:
During my (many) years of attending college -- I have come to think of the "college experience" more often than not as being more about learning how to overcome obstacles than about the actual content of the courses -- since it seems that for most areas of study the content changes or becomes obsolete a short time of graduation (or even before graduation).
If we manage to get this problem solved (you--being able to watch the videos) it will be a major win for you in terms of having gone through the "troubleshooting process" and having successfully overcome the problem. Then, later, when an employer at a job interview asks you for an example of when and how you solved a problem you will then have a ready to go answer about the time you took an online ASL course.
I took a look at the error popup message you received. It indicated: "This file doesn't have a program associated with it." The file listed ended with ".swf" which indicates that you are dealing with a "Flash" video file.
There are two things I would like you to please do.
1. Clear your internet cache.
You can find instructions here:
http://www.refreshyourcache.com/en/home/
Or here:
https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2480401,00.asp
(If you use that second link, just "X" out of any popup advertisements).
This will likely have the added benefit of speeding up your online experience.
2. Install a Flash player on your system capable of handling Adobe Flash videos. Youtube tends to use .mp4 video formatting but apparently we are dealing with some Flash videos. The error message indicates .swf and so we need to solve that issue for you. From within the Microsoft internet browser (either Internet Explorer or Edge) go here: https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and deselect the "optional offers" (make sure the little check boxes for "McAffee" products are NOT checked since you do not want McAfee interfering with any existing programs on your system). Then click on the install now button. Try this first from the Microsoft Browser (Internet Explorer and/or Edge) then from any other browsers you are using. When you attempt to install Flash (using that address: https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/) on Chrome (the browser) it will probably tell you it is unnecessary and that it already has "Flash" built in. Okay, so we will now tell Chrome to "let it work." To enable Flash for all websites, open your Chrome browser and type:
chrome://settings/content
in the address bar, then press enter.
Then scroll down to the Content Settings link and click it, then on the Content Settings page, scroll down to Flash and select the button next to 'Allow sites to run Flash'.
It is there, if you can't find it then type "Flash" into the "Search Settings" box near the top of the settings console.
Then reboot your computer and (yet again) access the Final Exam to see if the videos are showing up. As before, if they don't show up in the regular test format then attempt to click on the alternate links.
IF the above doesn't work (but it should) I'd like to tell you about the "coolest" browser in existence. It is the Puffin Browser and it tends to play Flash videos natively. It is also faster than any other browser I've seen. I use it personally on my computer. See: https://www.puffinbrowser.com
That browser has actually allowed me to access my email when Chrome or Edge would not (due to traffic or other issues). You should consider downloading and trying the Puffin Browser.
If NONE of the above work for you -- you will need to ask your instructor to devise an alternate Final Exam (perhaps having you create a video wherein you sign to him 100 sentences or some such).
- Dr. V
___________________
William G. Vicars Ed.D.
Notes: Related to the above issue, one of the problems was that the code in the test was pointing to videos using "http://" links instead of "https://" links.
The two work around methods for that were to:
1. Enable "mixed content" in the browser settings. [This is a lazy solution that puts the work and risk on the student. -- Bad.]
2. Fix the code by changing the links from http: to https: [This will take some work but will result in a better solution.]
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This is a "not recommended" solution to viewing sites that have mixed content (which means the page is trying to load from both http: and https: sources).
To set your Chrome browser to ALWAYS allow mixed content:
1. In an open Chrome browser, press Ctrl+Shift+Q on your keyboard to force close Chrome.
2. Right-click the Google Chrome desktop icon (or Start Menu link).
3. Select Properties.
4. At the end of the existing information in the Target field, add: " --allow-running-insecure-content" (There is a space before the first dash.)
5. Click OK.
6. Open Chrome and try to launch the content that was blocked earlier. It should work now.
After you have accomplished your objective it is recommended that you go back and remove the " --allow-running-insecure-content" from your shortcut (the target field).
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