All About Using Video in Your Lessons

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If you are like many of our creators, video will be featured in a significant portion of your lessons. In this article, we will explain how the Heights video player works to help you provide the best experience for your students. You can upload videos to your lessons in three ways:

  1. Via Video Upload
  2. Via URL
  3. Via Embed Code

Adding via Video Upload

Heights Platform offers a robust video hosting and encoding service with multiple benefits over third-party video providers. If you prefer to upload your video files directly to Heights instead of using a third-party video service, you can upload a video file from your computer and we will transcode it into multiple resolutions and file types so that it can be played back quickly across every kind of device.

Why upload videos directly to Heights?

  • Built-in security. Students cannot view or embed your video on any domain other than your program.
  • Built-in analytics. When editing a lesson with a video attached that is hosted with Heights, you will see total watch time right on the lesson itself.
  • Timestamp links. Any times you write in your lesson text will automatically turn into links to allow students to jump to the time in the video.
  • Adjustable playback speed option on the player.
  • Upload in any resolution and we’ll convert and encode your video for all devices from 240p to 1080p. Playback can dynamically adapt resolution and video is delivered to your students via a CDN for fast loading anywhere in the world.

How to Upload a Video

Select the lesson where you want to upload your video. In the lesson editor, scroll down to “Lesson Type Attachments” and select the Video Icon, as shown below. Read more about how you can combine multiple types of attachments in your lessons. 

Click on the button "Choose Video File" and select the video you want from your computer.

Once you’ve selected the video, the uploading will start and you should see the progress as in the example below: Remember to click "Save Lesson" once the upload is completed! 

After you save, we will begin encoding your video in multiple resolutions for fast playback across devices and geographic locations. If you upload a large video, it will take a few minutes to finish the encoding process. 

Below is what you’ll see if you view the lesson shortly after you’ve uploaded the video. You only see this message right after you upload a video. After the upload has finished processing, you and your students will be able to view the video normally. The encoding process will only take a few minutes and ensures we can convert your video into different formats so that it can be viewed correctly across any device.

We recommend you save your videos at the following bitrates for faster processing/uploading and the best quality possible: 1080p content at a bitrate of 8 Mbps or 720p content at 4.8 Mbps.

If you are looking for recommendations on how to improve the quality of your videos, you may want to read this article from our blog: How to Get Great Lighting and Audio for Your Online Courses

Videos uploaded to your Heights account will be encoded at a max of 1080p resolution and the video player will automatically show the highest resolution. It will also include a playback speed option - which may be helpful to students who would like to listen to your content either faster or slower.

The video thumbnail will automatically be the first image of your video.

Adding via Video URL

The "Video URL" is simply the link you see in the address bar of your browser when on the desired video page. There is no need to find your video platform's specific embed code. Simply copy the URL of the video on Youtube, Vimeo, Wistia, or almost any other popular platform and paste it in the "Video URL" field (picture below). 

Remember to click “ Save Lesson” after you paste the link.

Adding via video URL is a great option if you already have your video content stored somewhere online, or if you prefer the video player of a different service.

Embedding a Video

You can also choose to add a video via embed code. To do this, choose the lesson where you wish to add the embed video and click on " Edit". On the lesson editor, scroll down until you see the box called "Lesson Type Attachments" and click on "Add video with embed code instead?":

Paste the video embed code in the dedicated space and click " Save Lesson". 

You can also embed videos and other HTML content into the text portion of your lessons. Learn more about embedding HTML in your lessons.

Writing a video timestamp into your lesson content will automatically turn it into a clickable link for your students to jump to that time in your video. Timestamps are particularly useful to send students to a specific point in your video and create helpful transcripts. 

Timestamp links can be created in the following format: HH:MM:SS. 

To add a timestamp in your text, first upload the video on your lesson as explained above. Once the upload is completed, go to the lesson editor and simply type the timestamp (format HH:MM:SS) in the text bar:

Hit the "Save Lesson" button and the timestamp will automatically turn into a link that redirects to the specific time in your video.

Heights will understand your natural writing style when adding timestamp links: you can simply write 0:51 to link to 51 seconds, even in videos longer than an hour. It is not necessary to add the additional zeros and write 00:00:51, but this is supported as well if you prefer.

This is how your students will see the timestamp:

Example of a timestamp link inside a lesson

The timestamp feature is especially useful if you are adding the video transcription to your lessons. If you are looking for a recommendation for video transcription software, check out Otter.ai

Please note that timestamps will only work if you upload a video from your computer. These features are supported for our built-in video hosting option only. It is not possible to add a timestamp link to third-party video players such as a video embedded from a service like Vimeo or Youtube.

Uploading Preview Videos for your Course Page, Lading Page, Bundle

You can add a preview video to showcase your course or bundle to students and potential customers. Everyone can see the preview video on your main course page or landing page.

A well-done preview video can increase your sales since it provides sneak peeks of your content to interested viewers and helps them decide if it is the right course for them to purchase. 

To add a preview video to a course, click on the course and select "Edit" on the right side of the screen. Scroll down the editor page and select "Choose Video File" under "Preview Video Upload or Embed":

Select Course > Edit > Preview Video Upload or Embed > Choose Video File

Then select the video you wish to upload from your computer and let it load. Once the upload is completed, scroll down and click "Upload Course".

You can see the preview video by clicking on the related course. It might take a couple of seconds to show up the first time after the upload.

A Preview Video can be added to your bundles and landing pages in the same way.

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use keyboard shortcuts to navigate the videos you have uploaded. 

⏯️ Spacebar → play & pause

⏪ Left arrow key → jump backward 10-seconds

⏩ Right arrow key → jump forward 10-seconds

🔊 Up arrow → increase volume

🔇 Down arrow → decrease volume

⚙️ "S" key → change playback speed

Maximum Upload Requirements

Heights Platform plans allow unlimited videos. The maximum upload file size per single video is 2.5GB. There is no limitation on the length and time of the uploads.

If your video file size is too large, you could try to split the video into several shorter videos, or encoding at a lower quality in order to upload it.  We recommend you save your videos at the following bitrates for faster processing/uploading and the best quality possible: 1080p content at a bitrate of 8 Mbps or 720p content at 4.8 Mbps.

If your video is very long (ex: over 1 hour) we recommend you split it into shorter clips and multiple lessons. While there are exceptions (such as uploading a recording from a live event), we find that creators generally see better student engagement on videos that are 30 minutes or less. 5-10 minute videos generally work great, but naturally, the ideal length will vary based on the type of content you are teaching.  

Please note that these requirements only apply to videos uploaded to Heights Platform from your device. For videos added via URL or embed code, there is no limitation in file size, however, we still recommend aiming to keep the video for each individual lesson under an hour in length when possible to improve student engagement.

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