Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Embedding Content with a URL

Blogging Tip: Embed Content With Just A URL

BY JASON TEITELMAN · AUGUST 15, 2014

The Edublogs support team gets a lot of emails about the best way to add certain types of content to a blog. Often users are looking for a widget or a plugin that can help them embed content. What many users don’t realize is that you can embed lots of content just by pasting a simple URL into your blog post.

What Kinds Of Content Can I Embed Via A URL?

You can embed many different types of content from many different sources. Here is a quick list of the most popular sites that let you embed content with a URL:

Video:

blip.tv
Flickr
DailyMotion
TED
Viddler
Vimeo
YouTube (Public Videos Only)

Photos

Other

Using URL Embeds Tutorial

URL Embed Tips

1. URLs you are using to embed content must NOT be hyperlinked!

If the URL is blue, like it is in the example below, then it is hyperlinked.

To make it work, you should highlight the entire URL and then click Unlink Icon in your Visual Editor toolbar.

2. The URL should be on its own line.

Make sure the URL is on its own line.

If the URL is on the same line as any other text, the embed will not work. Make sure it’s on its own line and that there are no characters or whitespace before or after the URL.

If the video appears to be on its own line in the visual editor but is not displaying correctly when you view your blog post, then switch to the Text Editor and make sure there are no <div> or <span> tags around the URL.

Popular Media Sites

Below are instructions for embedding videos from YouTube and Vimeo, as well as tweets from Twitter. For instructions on how to use embed URLs from the other sites listed above, check out our Edublogs help page.

YouTube

To embed a video from YouTube:

1. Click the “Share this video” link under the YouTube video.

2. Copy the Video URL.

3. Go to your blog and paste the URL on it’s own line in the Visual Editor. Then save.

4. The video will look like this on your published post.

Vimeo

To embed a video from Vimeo:

1. Copy the video’s URL from your web browser’s address bar.

2. Go to your blog and paste the URL on it’s own line in the Visual Editor. Then save.

3. The video will look like this in your published post:

Twitter

To embed a tweet from Twitter:

1. While viewing the tweet, click on the timestamp.

2. You’ll then be taken to the tweet’s page where you can copy the URL in your web browser’s address bar.

3. Go to your blog and paste the URL on it’s own line in the Visual Editor. Then save.

Below is what it an embedded tweet looks like in your published blog post:

You embed from Pinterest as follows:

1. Copy the profile, board or individual pins URL from your web browser’s address bar.

3. Paste the URL on a line by itself in your post/page editor.

Below is what it looks like embedded when you view your post:

Profile

Edublogs Team

Ms Leonard's Grade 3 Blog student dot artwork.

What's New in Room 1? celebrated Dot Day by reading the story and listening to a Dot Day song. Then created our own unique art pieces, each one starting with just a dot! Finally we “made our mark” on our Dot Day fabric poster by drawing a dot, writing our names and sharing a time we were brave.

Mrs. Bowker's Classroom Blog skyped with Mrs. Draper’s class and introduced ourselves, shared our favourite part of the book and saw their classes beautiful dot artwork!

Video of Dot Day work from Ms. Cassidy's Classroom Blog students.

Explore their ThingLink to hear Vashti’s story, find out who has been creating celebridots and about some artists who use dots in their work. Hover over the image and follow the links attached to it. 5/6 Clark/Smith - International Dot Day

Students from http://mspetley.edublogs.org/2014/09/15/international-dot-day/ wrote a post on their student blogs to explain what their dot created using DooDooLite meant to them. This is an example of a student post.

Tiger Attractions spend a week celebrating International Dot Day. This year Kindergarten and first grade students will create 3D dot artwork. Students will design their dots and then bring them to life using the colAR Mix app. Second thru 5th grade students will use DoodleBuddy, DoodlePro, or CraftStudio apps to design their digital dots. You can check out their work here http://instagram.com/room303projects

Introductory post on International Dot Day. On September 15, students in Miss Daphne’s class should wear dots. Polka Dots, dotted face paint, or anything dot related!

Ten Tips for Great Blog Comments on Vimeo

International Dot Day, a global celebration of creativity, courage and collaboration, began when teacher Terry Shay introduced his classroom...

Mrs. Morgan's Superstars series of posts on how they connected with classes around the World to celebrate International dot day.

Photos of students creating and connecting dots through Art, Literature, Design, Creativity and Technology from across an entire school.

Mrs. Rosenquist's Classroom Blog skyped with Mrs Morgan's class to read the book together and created a slideshow to share the experience.

Rutledge Library Blog explains how they used International Dot day to connect with classes around the World and had it as a week long event.

I love Art blog shares great examples of all their student work and includes information on what they learnt from participating in International Dot day.

5/6C @ The Junction skyped with a class in Hawaii to share their dot day experience.

5/6C @ The Junction class blog created stop motion animations with skittles to celebrate dot day.

Students from Mrs. Schmidt's Classroom Blog used iPads and the app coLAR to make their dot day drawings 3D and interactive.

Links to a series of posts on how each different grades and subject areas celebrated International Dot day in their school.

Sixth Grade Shennigans International Dot day work.

Summer is a great time to rest and rejuvenate your mind and body as a teacher. How does the art of play impact you or your students?

Karen Lirenman explains how she uses Twitter in her class and the benefits of Twitter. She also provides great tips of using Twitter with students. EduSlam Episode1: Twitter in the Elementary Classroom with Karen Lirenman - YouTube

Grade one students from Ms Cassidy's class explain how they use Twitter in Our Classroom. - YouTube Here is a link to their class blog - http://mscassidysclass.edublogs.org/

Our Educator's Ultimate Twitter Guide 2014. Completely updated with all the information you need to know about using Twitter in 2014.

Excellent explanation of Using Twitter effectively in education - with Alec Couros - YouTube

Tipperary Station School is an incredible class blog that is connecting students in a very remote location with a global education. Located in the Australian outback it provides Transition to Year Six education for the children of residents of Tipperary Station. The school currently has one teacher (the Teaching Principal and an Assistant Teacher. In past years the enrolment has ranged from 8 to 20 pupils, with a long-term average of about 14 pupils.

This is the class blog for a two-teacher school located on the west coast of Co. Mayo in Ireland. Students are from 4-12 years of age. The school was 125 years old in 2011.

Great slideshow embedded into a blog to explain to parents and students how to comment

Great example of how a blog can be used to showcase a person's drawings, films and photos.

Our post on curation with specific examples of how different educators curate.

Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano's comprehensive post on Blogging as a Curation Platform.

We've started creating quotes that educators can use with students or embed into posts. Here is our first quote. Check it out on Edublogs - Google+

Dr Silvana Mengeghin's ePortfolio infographic Get All On Board with ePortfolios for Visible Learning

Seth Godin & Tom Peters explaining why you should blog.

This video provides an excellent explanation of the Digital Writing Process involved in blogging with Grade 3 students - YouTube MUST watch video!

See On

Board

Edublogs Team Educational blogging

This is a series of writing prompts for teachers and preservice teachers. It has been created as a collaborative document to share ideas on what you could blog about on a personal educators blog.

Detailed research report by CIBT"s London Connected Learning Centre that explores the impact blogging has on literacy skills in primary school student.

Excellent explanation by Dean Shareski how blogging is a conversation and why it is important to avoid obsessing about perfect spelling and grammar when writing posts. A must read post!

Detailed post on the reasons why students should blog by @RethinkEDUC . Click on the pin to read the full post.

Excellent explanation by Mrs Rasmussen to students on why they use blogs. She has now blog with students for 5 years.

Creating images from text is a good way of enhancing posts with images. Read Larry Ferlazzo's post on the tools he uses to make images from text to form quotes that he pins into Pinterest and uses for posts.

Explanation of how to Create and Manage Student Blogs in 5 Simple Steps using My Class.

Our Sept 2013 Flipboard magazine. Used to showcase the student and class blog posts from the Student blogging Challenge as well as the tasks they do during the challenge.

Our March 2013 Student Blogging Flipboard Magazine. Contains all the weekly challenge posts and the work done by student and class blog participates. Great way to see what participants did during the challenge.

Comprehensive post on what you need to know about images, copyright, creative commons and using images online.

Quote from "The dumbest generation? No, Twitter is making kids smarter" by Clive Thompson on impact of digital technologies on learning and literacy.

Excellent SlideRocket Presentation that explains why teacher uses blogs with students and shows the process they will follow.

Detailed explanation on how to add widgets to class blogs and the most commonly used Class blog widgets.

Infographic about websites but some handy tops to consider for blogs - 26 Things to Note Before You Develop a Website

Simple infographic to explain Responsive Web Design. It is best to use a responsive theme on your blog so it responds to which device your reader uses to view your blog.

Infographic more targetted at probloggers but has some tips with considering 30 Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts (Infographic) | Social Media Consultant | Social Media Agency | Social Marketing

Alan Levine's advice to his students on why linking is very important when writing posts and how to link.

What to consider when choosing the color of your blog theme

How to grab attention when writing a blog post.

Good explanation about the impact of social timing on posts

Blogging ideas for those times you are trying to work out what to write about.

What to consider when selecting the colors you use on your blog.

Simple explanation of the difference between category and tags to help explain how you use them.

Nice simple explanation of the difference between pages and posts.

Simple explanation of how your blog works for those that ever wondered.

Great info graphic on the evolution of the blogger. While missing the edublogger it gives students a good idea of how blogging is used.

Examples of educational blogs including Class Blogs, Student blogs, Library blogs, EdTeach Blogs, Teacher blogs

Activity 6: Helping parents and students connect with your class blog

Learning About Blogs FOR your Students- Part VI: Consistency

Learning About Blogs FOR Your Students- Part II: Writing

Learning About Blogs FOR Your Students- Part III: Commenting

See On

Excellent No excuse guide to blogging diagram for all those new to blogging who are stuck on what to blog about and a good post to read about blogging.4

Edublogs TeamEducational blogging

Are there any other sites you use that allow you to embed content with a URL?

If so, let everyone know in the comment section below!

Tim's Technology and Learning Blog