Box of Broadcasts (BoB) is an off-air recording service and media archive, providing staff with the ability to request programmes which will be broadcast over the next seven days, or to retrieve previously recorded programmes. It is powered by Learning on Screen.
Once archived, BoB stores recorded programmes indefinitely; the archive offers thousands of TV and radio programmes from free-to-air channels.
Staff can link from their Blackboard course to individual programmes, to video clips, or to playlists. These can also be embedded into a course content area.
Find out more from this Library guide Finding video, image and sound resources.
Logging on to Box of Broadcasts
- Go to https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand and click the Sign In button.
- Type ‘reading’ in the ‘Where are you from’ box.
- Select ‘University of Reading’ from the list and press Go.
- You will be presented with the University’s Single Sign-On page: enter your username (xx123456@reading.ac.uk) and password.
Creating a link or embed code
Within Box of Broadcasts, locate the programme, video clip or playlist you wish to share with your students and either copy
The copied URL or embed codes can be used to share the video with students in Blackboard.
Copy URL
You can then simply copy the URL from your browser address bar. This is possible for:
- Programme – open programme video from your search results – copy the URL
- Video Clip – open clip you have created on BoB – copy the URL
- Playlists – right click on the relevant playlist in your playlist area – select copy link address
Or right click on the link and select “copy link address” from the menu.
When a user clicks on the link, they will be taken to the main Box of Broadcasts login page, and will have to select ‘University of Reading’ before they can log on and view the recording.
Use video share options (includes embed code)
When viewing a BoB recording, you can click on the Share button for link and embed code options.
- Programme – open the programme video to see the share button
- Video Clip – open the clip video to see the share button
- Playlists – open a video in the playlist and use the Share button on that video, the resulting links or embed codes will send students to the playlist.
Three share options are presented:
- Link
- Copies a link that will send users to the main BoB login page, they need to select their institution and then login, once logged on, take them to the recording itself.
- WAYFless Link
- Copies a link that will send users straight to the University’s BoB login page, and then, once logged on, take them to the recording itself.
- Embed
- This allows you to embed the recording into your course – see more detail below. Users will need to log into BoB.
Share with Students on Blackboard
Create link in Blackboard course
Link is one of the options on the Create Content menu. You can use this to create a link to a Web page, or to link to content inside your Course or Organisation.
Step 1: Go to the point inside a Learning Module, or on the Course Content are, where you would like to add the Link.
Step 2: Hover over the dividing line until a plus sign icon appears click on the plus sign icon to open the Add Content menu.
Step 3: Select Create from the Add Content menu. The Create Item panel will open on the right-hand side of the screen.
Step 4: Select Link. The New Link page will open, there are two tabs in the top menu, Web Link and Course Link.
Step 5: Select the Web link tab.
- Student visibility – select as appropriate (can be changed later)
- Display Name – add the text you wish to appear on the link
- Link URL – add the url i.e. https://www.bbc.co.uk/
- Open in new window – untick this option
- Add a description (optional)
- Press Save.
Once saved the link will appear in the Course Content at the place on the course at which you started this process.
Embed a video on your Blackboard course
You can embed a recording directly in your Blackboard course by using the HTML block in a Document in your Ultra course. See our guide Create an Ultra Document for further details.
Step 1: Go to the point inside a Learning Module, or on the Course Content are, where you would like to add the Document.
Step 2: Hover over the dividing line until a plus sign icon appears click on the plus sign icon to open the Add Content menu.
Step 3: Select Create from the Add Content menu. The Create Item panel will open on the right-hand side of the screen
Step 4: In the Create Item panel select Document.
Step 5: In the Document add any contextual information using the content block.
Step 6: To add the video select the HTML block. In this block paste the embed code you have copied from the share options in BoB.
The vide will appear to students with the Box of Broadcasts sign in page showing. Students can sign in with their University of Reading credentials.
Guide last updated on September 22, 2022
