Introduction
Looking to manage YouTube videos embedded in your classroom materials? This blog covers how to control embedded video features to enhance your students' learning experience. YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing platform, is a fantastic tool for teaching, allowing teachers to embed educational videos in lesson plans or websites with ease.
However, as useful as YouTube is, it comes with some distractions. The controls on YouTube videos like the play and pause buttons, or the suggested videos at the end can tempt students to wander off from the learning material. Students may click around and watch unrelated content, share videos, or even use them to cheat. This can be challenging for teachers trying to keep students focused on the lesson.
So, how can you make sure that students stay on track and don’t get distracted by these extra controls? The simple solution is xFanatical Safe Doc.
What is a xFanatical Safe Doc?
xFanatical Safe Doc is a comprehensive solution for maintaining a focused and secure online environment for Google Workspace admins and users. It provides robust tools to manage and restrict access to various online content, ensuring a safe and productive digital environment. xFanatical Safe Doc integrates seamlessly with Google Workspace, offering administrators the ability to customize content filtering policies according to their needs.
Why should teachers use Safe Doc to remove controls in YouTube embed videos ?
Safe Doc helps teachers by giving them more control over what students see and do with online videos. It blocks unnecessary YouTube features so students can focus on learning, not wandering around the internet.
Let’s understand the scenario through a user story:
- Problem: Teacher Elizebet assigned a video-based lesson to her students, Mario and Vector, to guide them through a creative project. However, both students became distracted. Vector finished the task quickly but was sidetracked by suggested videos that appeared at the end, leading him to explore unrelated content. Meanwhile, Mario was distracted by the clickable controls, pausing and skipping through parts of the video, rushing through the project without fully engaging. As a result, both students missed out on the learning opportunity.
- Solution: To ensure students stay focused, Elizebet could implement a tool like Safe Doc to disable suggested videos and remove clickable controls during video-based lessons. This would help prevent distractions and keep students focused on the lesson content.
- Result: By eliminating suggested videos and disabling clickable controls, students like Mario and Vector would be more likely to watch the lesson in its entirety and engage with the material as intended. This solution would enhance learning by keeping students focused on the lesson and minimizing distractions, ensuring they fully benefit from the educational content.
By embedding YouTube videos without distracting controls, Teacher Elizebet can help Mario and Vector stay focused on the lesson. This way, they will fully engage with the content, develop their creativity, and complete their assignments without interruptions.
Video Demo
Remove controls in YouTube embed videos with xFanatical Safe Doc
Block YouTube related videos
When embedding a YouTube video for students, it's essential that they stay focused on the intended content, without being distracted by suggested videos. YouTube's algorithms recommend these related videos based on student data and the video itself. Often, these recommendations are completely irrelevant to the lesson, disrupting the learning flow. This becomes problematic for students when they get distracted and start to explore unrelated and unsafe content.
Related videos typically appear in two situations:
- When you pause the video: An overlay of suggested videos or a More videos button may appear, encouraging students to divert their concentration from the lesson.
- When the video ends: A full wall of related videos is displayed, tempting students to click and explore other content.
xFanatical Safe Doc remove controls in YouTube embed videos
xFanatical Safe Doc remove controls in YouTube embed videos
Disable YouTube button
Keep your students focused on their learning by preventing distractions like YouTube during class time. It's important that students understand they’re in a classroom, and YouTube should be used solely as an educational tool.
By enabling the BlockYouTubeButton property, you can remove the YouTube button from the control bar, ensuring that students stay engaged in their lessons without the temptation to browse unrelated content. This simple adjustment helps maintain a productive learning environment.
xFanatical Safe Doc remove Copy Link Button
Inactivate YouTube copy link button
In a classroom setting, the educational materials you provide are considered school property, and it's important to prevent unauthorized sharing. To maintain control over your content, you can disable the ability to copy links from embedded YouTube videos.
When videos are embedded in Privacy-enhanced mode, the Copy link button appears in the title bar. To prevent students from copying and sharing these links, set the BlockCopyLink property to true. This ensures that your educational materials remain within the intended environment and are not distributed without permission.
xFanatical Safe Doc remove Copy Link Button
Constraint on YouTube context menu
To maintain focus and control in educational settings, it's important to limit access to additional features that could distract students. The context menu on YouTube provides options that can lead to off-task behavior.
By constraining the YouTube context menu, you can prevent students from accessing features such as video sharing, playback controls, or other options that are not relevant to the lesson. This ensures that the video remains a focused educational tool and helps keep students engaged in their learning.
To remove the context menu from YouTube, set the BlockContextMenu property to true. Now students would no longer see the context menu given by Youtube when they right click. Instead, the browser context menu will be displayed.
xFanatical Safe Doc remove YouTube context menu
Block YouTube watch later button
The Watch later button on YouTube allows students to add videos to their Watch later list, which can be a distraction in the classroom environment. To help maintain a focused and distraction-free learning space, it’s important to simplify the interface.
To remove the Watch later button from the title bar, set the BlockWatchLater property to true. This adjustment ensures that the interface remains clean and that students stay concentrated on the educational content provided.
xFanatical Safe doc removes YouTube watch later button
Block YouTube share button
Similar to the Copy link button, the Share button on YouTube allows users to distribute your materials without permission. To prevent students from sharing educational content outside the classroom, it’s important to remove this feature from the title bar.
Set the BlockShare property to true to eliminate the Share button. This ensures that your materials remain within the intended educational environment and are not distributed without authorization.
xFanatical Safe doc removes YouTube Share button
How to Remove Controls in YouTube Embed Videos using xFanatical Safe Doc
Step 1: Install Safe Doc:
The first step is to install Safe Doc in your Google Workspace environment. Safe Doc is a browser extension that seamlessly integrates with Google workspace, providing enhanced control and security features.
Step 2: Configure Safe Doc settings:
Once Safe Doc is installed, you can configure its settings to turn off the controls in YouTube embed videos.
Step 3: Access Google Admin Console:
Now, navigate to the Google Admin Console. In the Google Admin Console, click on Devices followed by Chrome. Then, select Apps & Extensions and click on Users & Browsers.
Step 4: Copy the Policy:
Locate the policy that you wish to apply and copy it. The policy will display in a specific format similar to the example provided below:
"BlockYoutubeEmbedPlayerFeatures": {
"Value": {
"BlockRelatedVideos": true,
"BlockYoutubeButton": true,
"BlockCopyLink": true,
"BlockContextMenu": true,
"BlockWatchLater": true,
"BlockShare": true
}
}
The BlockYoutubeEmbedPlayerFeatures policy is like a folder that controls various YouTube embed settings. By default, all features are enabled (set to false). To block specific features, you need to set the corresponding options to true.
Step 5: Save the Policy:
After copying the policy, click the Save button to apply it.
How to configure Safe Doc?
First of all, ensure the deployment of Safe Doc on your students' Chrome browsers, and review the xFanatical Safe Doc Configuration document.
Conclusion
In conclusion, removing controls from embedded YouTube videos enhances their suitability for classroom settings by minimizing distractions and keeping students focused on the lesson.
By using xFanatical Safe Doc, administrators can impose restrictions to find the right balance between control and accessibility, ensuring that the learning environment effectively meets both instructional goals and students' needs.
To learn more about how xFanatical Safe Doc can help enhance online safety in your educational institution, visit our website Safe Doc
If you have yet to install Safe Doc, please get a 30 days trial.
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