The Remote News Feed (or Remote RSS Feed) block allows RSS feeds from external websites such as UCSF Educational Technology Services’ Class Capture to be displayed within a CLE course. For example, as lectures are recorded by Class Capture, the Remote News Feed block updates automatically to display the latest lectures. This document explains how to setup the Remote News Feed block to display Class Capture content (audio or video) in a CLE course.
Audience: Managers, Instructors, Content Assistants, Grading Assistants, Students.
Add the Remote News Feed Block to a CLE Course
Follow the instructions below to:
1. Add the Remote News Feed Block to a CLE Course
2. Remove the Block
1. Add the Remote News Feed Block to a CLE Course
The Remote News Feed block must be added to a CLE course before you can configure the block to display Class Capture or other RSS feeds. Only the Manager, Instructor, and Content Assistant roles can add the Remote News Feed block to a CLE course. To add the Remote RSS Feed block to a CLE course:
- Navigate to the CLE course where you would like to add the Remote News Feed block
- From the Administration block, click Turn editing on (or use the Turn editing on button located in the top-right corner)
- Near the bottom-portion of the course, find the Add a Block drop-down menu
- From the “Add a Block” drop-down menu, scroll down the list, and choose Remote RSS Feed
- After a moment, the window will refresh, and the Remote News Feed block will be located near the bottom-left corner of the CLE course page. To move the block to a new location, use the move iconlocated in the top-right portion of the block (with editing is turned on) Moving this block will affect all visitors in your course
After the Remote News Feed block has been added to the CLE course, continue to the Setup Class Capture tab above for detailed instructions on configuring the Remote News Feed block to display Class Capture content in a CLE course.
2. Remove the Block
Want to remove the Remote News Feed block from a CLE course? Follow the instructions below:
- Turn editing on in the CLE course where the Remote News Feed block has been added.
- Navigate to the RSS Remote Feed block and click the gear icon.
- Click Delete Remote News Feed block.
Setup Class Capture in Remote News Feed Block
Recorder Class Capture lectures can be shared in three different ways:
- Share a direct link to the Course Catalog page. Simply share the link that ETS provided to you, with your audience.
- Share a link to a single session. You can copy a link to a single session and share that with your audience.
- Share a syndicated feed of your Class Capture content. You can copy an RSS feed link for your Catalog, and use that to display a dynamic list of past, live, and future lectures in the Remote News Feed block.
The Remote News Feed block sharing method is most common, because it only needs to be setup once per course. After that, new Class Capture recordings will appear automatically for students. To complete the steps below, you must have the role of Content Assistant, Instructor, or Manager in the course.
Follow the instructions below to:
1. Locate Class Capture RSS Feed
2. Add Class Capture RSS Feed to Remote News Feed Block
3. Confirm Working
1. Locate Class Capture RSS Feed
When you complete your request with ETS to use the Class Capture system, they will email you with a link and information about sharing the live and recorded sessions. If you did not receive this information, please contact ETS.
Class Capture lectures are available in audio or video format. The instructions below provides steps for setting up Class Capture video content in the Remote News Feed block. Please follow the same instructions for setting up a separate Remote News Feed block for audio (mp3) versions of the lectures using the unique audio catalog page.
To find your Class Capture RSS feed:
- Locate and open the Class Capture catalog page using the URL that was emailed to you from ETS.
- You should see the RSS link in the top-right corner.
- Right-click on the RSS link and select Copy Link Location from the pop-up menu. Note: Some browsers will use different phrasing in their pop-up menu, but they all provide a mechanism for copying the link address. This screenshot shows Firefox’s context menu. Internet Explorer uses the phrase “Copy Shortcut.” Safari uses the phrase “Copy Link.” Chrome uses the phrase “Copy Link Address.”
2. Add Class Capture RSS Feed to Remote News Feed Block
After adding the Remote News Feed block to a course and locating your Class Capture RSS feed, you are ready to configure the block to display Class Capture recordings. Follow the instructions below to add the Class Capture RSS feed to the Remote News Feed block:
- Turn editing on in the CLE course where the Remote News Feed block has been added
- In the Remote News Feed block, click the gear icon and select Configure Remote News Feed block
- The “Configuring a Remote News Feed block” page will appear. Click the Add/edit feeds link to setup the Class Capture RSS feed
- Click the Add a new feed button
- Paste the Class Capture RSS feed that you copied earlier into the “Feed URL” field
- It is not necessary to check the Enable auto-discovery of feeds? box, because we are copying/pasting a direct link to the RSS feed from your Class Catalog. If you were linking to something else, like a news website, you may need to check this box because you may not have access to the actual RSS feed. In that case, the CLE will attempt to find a feed on that page for you
- Enter a Custom title to override the default title from Class Capture. The title will be supplied by the feed and can be edited later. For this example we will enter NURSING Spring Lectures as a custom title for the feed
- Please DO NOT change the “Shared feed” option to Yes. Doing so will cause your Class Catalog RSS feed to appear as an option to display in everyone’s Remote News Feed block
- Click the Add button when complete
Once the Class Capture feed has been added, return to the front page of the CLE course to finish configuring the Remote News Feed block.
- In the Remote News Feed block, click the gear icon and select Configure Remote News Feed block (with editing turned on in the course). This will take you to the “Configuring a Remote News Feed block” page
- Choose to display the each link’s description in the block. This includes any descriptive information provided by the Class Capture system
- Select the max number of entries (or lecture recordings) to show per block
- Choose the feed to display in the block. For this example, choose the feed created above, titled NURSING Spring Lectures
- Enter a custom title for the block. For this example, we will again use NURSING Spring Lectures
- Choose to display the link to the original website (if you would like students to be able to add the RSS feed to a podcatcher on a mobile device, choose Yes)
- Choose to Show the channel image in the block if one is available
- Configure where and how the block displays on the course page
- Click the Save changes button
3. Confirm Working
The Remote News Feed block is now setup in your course. New lectures that are recorded using Class Capture will automatically appear in the block 30-60 minutes after the lecture has ended and students can click the links to view individual lectures.
Here are a few quick tips for managing the Remote News Feed block has been added to a course:
- To make changes to the block configuration, click on the gear icon and select Configure block. You can update settings such as the maximum number of lectures that appear, or change the title that appears in the block.
- You can move the block to any location on the left or right of your course. Turn editing on, then click the cross icon to drag the block to the location you prefer.
- To hide the block form students, turn editing on, click on the gear icon, then select Hide. Course instructors will still be able to see the block.
- If a Class Capture catalog is set to private, only UCSF community members logged into MyAccess will be able to watch the Class Capture content. If you would like to allow others outside of UCSF to be able to review the Class Capture content, please contact ETS to request that the catalog be made public.
- Want to use Class Capture for your UCSF class? Contact Educational Technology Services.