Mediathread is a collaborative multimedia analysis tool available through Canvas. Mediathread makes it possible for instructors and students to collect, share, annotate, and analyze media all in one shared space. The tool supports the annotation of multiple media types, such as video, audio, and images. Instructors can also create Mediathread Assignment Selection assignments, which can be private between the instructor and the student or visible to everyone in the class.

If you would like to use Mediathread for your course, submit a request to canvashelp@stanford.edu. Please include the URL or course code (e.g., W25-ECON-101-01) in your request.

Choose a topic of interest or scroll down for more information.

Access

Manage Course

Add Media

Create Selection Assignments

Grade Selection Assignments

Resources

Mediathread Features

Collect video, audio, and image files from public websites directly into Mediathread through a Chrome browser extension
Direct upload of video and audio assets
Asynchronous video, audio, and image annotations
Attach annotations, labels, and tags to video selections
Graded Assignment Selection assignments with directed feedback
Participation statistics
Embeddable Mediathread selections in Canvas through the rich content editor
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Access

Mediathread is only fully accessible to users with an active SUNet ID and only through a Canvas course. Those with a Stanford Canvas account but no SUNet ID cannot fully access and use the Mediathread tool. These users can launch the Mediathread course page and see parts of the website, but media assets will not load. Instead, they will see a 404 error where media assets should appear.

Those with the Teacher and Course Admin roles can create a new Mediathread course through Canvas. Once Mediathread is installed in your Canvas course, click Mediathread from the lefthand course navigation menu and select the Connect Now button. At this time, TAs cannot create a Mediathread course. However, once a Mediathread is connected with a Canvas course, the TA can launch Mediathread through Canvas and will have the same Mediathread permissions as the instructor.

Note: There are certain Canvas roles, such as Observer, that are restricted from accessing Mediathread. Only teaching team members and students can access and use Mediathread.

Manage Course

Below are some of the available options in Mediathread’s Manage Course page.

Preferences

Instructors can set general settings for the course, such as indicating whether students can see other students’ Mediathread items and selections. Instructors can also see a list of users who have access to the Mediathread course and set the course vocabulary (a set of concepts and associated terms used to tag Mediathread items).

Materials

Instructors can add shortcuts to recommended sources onto the Collections page. Instructors can also migrate Mediathread material from other Mediathread courses that they have access to. If, for any reason, a Mediathread course needs to be deleted, this can be done in the Manage Course > Materials section.

Participation

Instructors can get insight into how students are engaging with Mediathread content. The Assignment Responses will show the total number of student responses there are for each assignment out of the total number of students.

Add Media

Mediathread supports video, audio, and image files for annotation. There are three ways to add media. Instructors and students can import media using the source URL or collect media from the web through a browser extension. In addition, instructors can choose to upload certain media types directly from their computer into Mediathread.

Direct Upload

Instructors can upload video and audio files directly from their device. Images can only be collected from the web. To upload directly into Mediathread:

Go to the Collection tab and click the Add to collection button.
Under Upload Media, click Browse.
From your device, find and select the desired video (supported file types are .mov, .mp4, and .avi.) or audio file (.mp3 is the only supported audio file type).
- Note: Files must be less than 2GB.
Add a title for your media file.
Click Upload. You will see a spinning wheel next to the upload button and the page will refresh. It could take a few hours for large files to process. If you don’t see your file after refreshing the browser, check back in a couple of hours.

Import Media

Instructors and students can find publicly available media on the web, copy the link, and import that media asset directly into Mediathread. For media available on the Internet, it needs to be freely available and not subject to copyright restrictions. If you are not sure whether the piece of media you want to add is available, you can simply try adding it to the collection.

In the Collection tab, click the Add to collection button.
Under Import Media, paste the Source URL into the first field. A preview will display beneath the Source URL.
Give your asset a title.
Click Import. The import should be almost immediate.

Note: Imported videos will not have a thumbnail image displayed. The Stanford Canvas team has plans to address this.

Chrome Browser Extension

Instructors and students can collect media from the web using the Mediathread Chrome browser extension.

IMPORTANT: After downloading the browser extension, you must go to your Mediathread course > Collection > Add to Collection and within the Import Media section, click the button for ‘Update Mediathread URL’ so that your assets are saved to Stanford’s domain.

Go to the desired web page.
Activate the Mediathread extension by clicking on the extension icon.
You will see the black Mediathread banner appear across the top of the webpage.
Choose one of the two available options.
- Collect: Pull the item into Mediathread behind the scenes and remain on the web page.
  - Give your item a name and click Save. You will see a success confirmation message if your item is successfully saved to Mediathread.
- Open in Mediathread: Open the item directly in Mediathread. You will be taken away from the web page.

Create Selection Assignments

Mediathread supports graded Selection Assignments, which allows students to annotate selections of a video, audio, or image that is designed by the instructor. Assignments have associated point values but grade passback to Canvas is not currently possible.

To create a new Selection Assignment, follow the steps below.

Go to your Mediathread course and click the Assignments tab.
Click the blue Add an assignment button then Add Assignment.
You will be taken through an assignment wizard that will provide step-by-step instructions. Read the prompt and click Next.
Select an existing course asset from the dropdown list then Next.
Give the assignment a title and include instructions in the text box.
Click Next.
Add a due date.
- Note: Although a due date can be entered in Mediathread, it does not restrict students from annotating and completing the assignment after the due date. Due dates in Mediathread are not binding. All student submissions have a time stamp at the time of submission so that the instructor knows when they were submitted. An instructor needs to administer consequences related to deadlines (if any) outside of Mediathread.
Choose the visibility setting for the assignment then click Next.
Choose whether you want to save the assignment as a draft or publish it now for the whole class to view.
Click Save.
Your assignment will be added with the status of the assignment, Draft or Shared with Class.

By default, assignments are listed in order of due date. You can sort the assignments by clicking on the column headings.

Grade Selection Assignments

As students complete a Mediathread assignment, the number in the Responses column increases.

To grade, click the assignment title. By default, annotations/responses display to the right of the video, sorted based on the author.

To play a selection made by the student, click on the title of the annotation and click Play.
To leave feedback for a student, click on the +add feedback link to the right of a student’s name.
To change the sorting rule, click the dropdown for View Options and choose the method you’d like to sort by.
To unsubmit on behalf of a student because the student misunderstood the instructions or for any other reason, click on the blue Responses and Feedback button, select the student and click Unsubmit.

Resources

Help students get acquainted with Mediathread by sharing the Student Guide to Mediathread article.

If you have any questions, check out the Mediathread FAQ page or contact canvashelp@stanford.edu.