Do you add presentations, video, images or audio that are stored on external websites into your modules on Blackboard using embed code?
If you include resources or content from certain websites using embed code, then recent improvements to browser security settings can affect how this content can be viewed and prevents it from automatically displaying in Blackboard.
Internet browsers, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer, have improved their security settings for what is described as ‘mixed content’. Browsers now prevent ‘non-secure’ content that is stored on other websites being viewed in ‘secure’ websites such as Blackboard.
There isn’t necessarily a problem with the content, the browser is are just being careful and it only happens with some content from particular websites, for example YouTube is not affected.
How can I tell this is happening?
You can tell when this happens if there is a blank space where the content should be displaying.
To make the content display you will need to prompt your browser to show the content. Your students will also need to do this and the help guide shows them what to do.
If this issue does occur, you can direct your students to the help guide that describes how to allow the content to display.
Why does this happen?
This issue occurs when external content embedded into Blackboard is stored on a website which has a web address that starts with http://. A website with an http:// address is classed as a ‘non-secure‘ website. Blackboard is a ‘secure’ website, with a web address that starts with https://. Because of these different security levels, the browser blocks the non-secure content from displaying.