Overview
In a course's curriculum, a video lesson can play from YouTube, from Vimeo, or from a file you upload to tuition.in. Uploaded files are kept in private storage, never at a public address, and are only ever sent to a student who is allowed to watch them.
Uploading a video
- Open the course's Curriculum and press Edit on a video lesson.
- Under Where the video is, choose Upload a file (protected).
- Press Upload a video file and pick the file: MP4 or WebM, up to 2,000 MB.
- A progress bar shows how much has gone up. If your connection drops, the upload picks up where it stopped; it doesn't start again from the beginning.
- When it finishes, the lesson's duration is filled in from the file. Press Save lesson.
A file whose contents aren't really an MP4 or WebM, such as a renamed document, is refused as soon as the upload starts.
Using one video on several lessons
Every video you upload is kept in your library. In the lesson editor, Or use a video you've uploaded before lists them with how many lessons use each one. Pick one to put the same recording on another lesson, for example in a second batch's course, without uploading it again.
Who can play it
| Who | Can play? |
|---|---|
| You, the video's owner | Yes, always. |
| A student actively enrolled in a batch of the course | Yes, once the lesson is published and its release date has passed. |
| Teachers assigned to a batch of the course | Yes. |
| Anyone signed in, if the lesson is a free preview | Yes, with their own name watermarked. |
| Anyone not signed in | No. They are asked to sign in. |
| Students of other courses, other tutors and institutes | No. |
Only lessons in your own courses count. Another tutor can't put your video on a lesson of theirs: the lesson editor refuses it, and the player wouldn't honour it anyway.
How it is protected
- Private storage. The file has no public address. There is no link that plays it for anyone else.
- A link per student, per device, that expires. When a student presses play, tuition.in makes a link just for their account on that device, valid for a few hours. Every piece of video it sends is checked against that link and the account that is signed in. A link copied to someone else, or tampered with, gets nothing.
- A moving watermark. The student's name, part of their email and the last four digits of their phone, with the date and time, drift across the picture and move every few seconds. They are drawn in full screen too.
- No download. The player has no download button, no picture-in-picture, and right-click "Save video as" is turned off.
- A device limit. One account plays on at most two devices at a time. See below.
What it can't stop
If a recording of your class turns up where it shouldn't, the watermark tells you whose account it was. Raise it through Support.
The two-device limit
A student can watch on, say, a laptop and a phone at once. If the same account starts playing on a third device, the device used longest ago stops. The next time that device presses play, or within a minute if it is already playing, it shows This account started watching on another device with a Watch here instead button, which moves playback back to it and stops the other one.
This is what stops one login being shared around a class. It applies to student accounts only; you and your teachers are not limited.
What students see
The video plays in the lesson like any other, with the usual play, pause, volume and seeking. Full screen is the button in the top-right corner of the video. See the student learning experience.
Replacing and deleting
- Replace a lesson's video by uploading another from the same editor, or choosing another from your library.
- Delete a video only once no lesson uses it. If one still does, you are told which, so a lesson never ends up pointing at nothing.
Upload, YouTube or Vimeo?
| Uploaded to tuition.in | Unlisted YouTube | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can watch | Only your enrolled students | Anyone with the link |
| Sharing the link | Useless to anyone else | Works for everyone |
| Watermark with the viewer's name | Yes | No |
| Download | No download button | Easy with third-party tools |
| Adaptive quality on a slow connection | No: plays the file you uploaded | Yes |
| Good for | Paid lectures, test solutions | Free previews, public teasers |
Questions
The uploader says video hosting isn't set up.
Uploads need private storage to be switched on for the site. Until it is, use a YouTube or Vimeo link.
A student says the video stopped with a message about another device.
Someone started the video on their account on another device. Pressing Watch here instead continues on this one. If it keeps happening, they may be sharing their login.
Does a student lose access when their enrolment ends?
Yes. A new link needs an active enrolment; an existing link runs out within a few hours.