Opencast is an open-source video-management system, mostly used in higher education. It has a wide variety of learning management integration (Moodle, Ilias, Stud.IP, LTI), includes a browser-based recording tool (Opencast Studio) and supports automated recordings in classrooms. The Opencast player supports the playback of multiple synchronous video-streams and features several other unique features, like a zoom into the video.
The purpose of the Worpress-Opencast-Plugin is an easy to use, secure and reliable integration of Opencast into WordPress for administrators, authors and viewers. The plugin features the ability to upload videos to Opencast, create videos with Opencast Studio and easily include the Opencast Player and restrict access to the recordings based on Worpress roles.
You can find more information on Opencast here:
There is currently no public WordPress demo instance with the Opencast-plugin installed available.
The first version of the Opencast plugin offers these features:
This version has currently some limitations:
Opencast Series ID, Opencast API url, Username for API calls, Password for API user, Consumer Key and Consumer Secret are the required parameters to connect and communicate with Opencast Server. Failure to provide valid parameters can result in a whole or partly misfunction errors!
There is also recommended to provide Connection timeout in seconds which has a default of 1 second. In this section there is another parameter which helps to manage who can be consider as LTI Instructor by simply assigning the role of the user provided by WordPress.
The Opencast Video Upload Box can be managed through this section. Access Permissions is needed when the checkbox is set and must have WordPress users’ roles. Workflow as well as Max. Upload Size in (MB) can also be set here.
This section is used to manage Opencast Studio Button. Access Permissions will be applied when the checkbox is set and WordPress Users’ roles are selected.
In this section administrators are able to manage the Opencast Video list. It is possible to provide different Endpoint and Series ID, in case there is a separate Opencast display server. Pagination as well as Access Permission on User roles can be also applied here.
Each Opencast Single Video display can be managed separately in a table view, in the action column Edit and Delete (shown in icons respectively) help admins to do so. Opencast Episode ID (video ID) and css style class as well as Access Permission can be set in Edit pop-up window.
Upon entering server credentials, a list of available videos is represented in this section as a table view in which administrators are able to delete selected videos only (version 1.0).
There are 5 different Shortcodes provided for this Plugin:
This Shortcode is used to display the Opencast Video List, and it accepts 3 Attributes:
This Shortcode is used to display a single Opencast episode video. It provides a list of videos at first to search and select. It accepts 3 Attributes:
It can be used for a single public video which has been made public specifically in Opencast.
from v1.0.1 administrators are able to pass the episode url of the public video and show them to the users without any configuration or access limitations.
This Shortcode makes a link button which redirects users to Opencast Studio. It accepts 2 Attributes:
By using this Shortcode, users can upload their videos via a Upload Box which gets the Author name and a Title and an uploaded video, then sends it to Opencast server directly. It accepts 6 attributes:
Except [ opencast-episode-single-public ] Shortcode, others will apply the Access Permissions if it is enabled. The users who do not get the permission to access will see nothing.