Author: Brandon

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New Zoom YuJa Connector Makes Saving and Sharing your Zoom Recordings Easier!

YuJa and Zoom company logos being added together
 

ITS has just implemented a connector linking our Zoom web conferencing tool with our video capture and media management system, YuJa. Moving forward, all recordings made in Zoom will automatically import into your personal media space within YuJa for storage and sharing.

What does this mean for you? First off, you are no longer limited by the 30-day retention policy for recordings within Zoom. You can feel confident that any recordings made during Zoom meetings will automatically and seamlessly transfer to YuJa for permanent storage and retrieval. In addition, you can take advantage of many features within YuJa to autocaption, edit, clip, and share recordings with individual students, classes, external colleagues, or to the public. If you use the Zoom tool within Canvas to schedule your class Zoom sessions, resulting recordings will even automatically publish to your course channel, making them immediately accessible to your students from within Canvas. 

You can access your imported recordings by navigating to YuJa from your MyApps page or by clicking the YuJa link in any of your Canvas courses. Once in YuJa, look for a folder in your personal media area titled “Zoom Recordings”.

Questions? Want to know more? Contact Brandon Bucy or drop by my office in the Harte Center (Room 117, Lower Level 1 in Leyburn Library).

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FYI! Auto-captioning in YuJa will no longer be automatically generated!

Dear Faculty,

In order to accommodate the dramatic increase in usage for our YuJa video management service due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had to adjust some of the default settings for video recordings and uploads to the service.  In particular, auto-captions will no longer be generated for all recordings and uploads by default.  

All videos added to YuJa still will have the option of auto captioning — it will just need to be requested by interested faculty on a video-by-video basis.  The request is made through YuJa and an email will be sent to you when captioning is complete.  

Instructions for requesting auto captions for a video are available at: https://wlu.box.com/s/4mwhkswgrgydhbsqnqa8ojm566resava.

We apologize for any inconvenience this adjustment may cause.  

Please email the ITS Information Desk at help@wlu.edu or call 540-458-4357 with any questions or concerns.  

 

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Sakai to Canvas – FINAL ROUND of Bulk Migration Requests is now OPEN

Dear faculty and staff,
 
Sakai is officially retiring on May 31, 2020.  Note that you will NOT have access to any Sakai courses or content after May 31, 2020.
 
We are now opening up our third and final bulk migration request to move your course and project sites from Sakai into Canvas.  Beginning now and continuing through May 4, 2020, you may request to have your course or project sites migrated from Sakai into Canvas by filling out the form available at https://go.wlu.edu/migrate.
 
At this point we are accepting migration requests for ANY needed course or project sites from ANY term.  Courses will be ready in Canvas by May 18, 2020.  You will be notified when your courses are available. This will give you time to check the final migrations for accuracy and completeness by the May 31, 2020 deadline.  
 
Note that you will not have access to any Sakai courses or content after May 31, 2020.  All materials you wish to save from Sakai need to be downloaded to your own computer or migrated into Canvas by that time.  
 
Please contact Brandon or Helen directly (bucyb@wlu.edu or x8651; hmacdermott@wlu.edu or x4561) or via help@wlu.edu to ask any Canvas questions or to request personal training.
 
We apologize for asking you to do one more thing during this unprecedented time of virtual instruction here at W&L, but rest assured there will be only a few more emails related to the Sakai-Canvas migration, as our year-long process finally comes to a close at the end of May.  
 
Many thanks for your consideration and support!
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Migrating Sakai Courses to Canvas – Round 1!

As part of our continuing transition from the Sakai learning management system to Canvas, ITS Academic Technologies is initiating our first round of bulk migration requests to move your course and project sites from Sakai into Canvas.  Beginning now and continuing through October 28, 2019, you may request to have up to 10 course or project sites migrated from Sakai into Canvas by filling out the Sakai-Canvas Course and Project Site Migration Request form.
 
This first round of migrations is intended to facilitate faculty in migrating content for their Undergraduate Winter 2020 and Law Spring 2020 courses into Canvas, although you are welcome to request course or project sites from any term.  
 
We will have two additional rounds of migrations to accommodate Undergraduate Spring 2020 courses, as well as any remaining courses or project sites that need to be migrated out of Sakai before it is retired at the end of June 2020.  
 
Please refer to the following bulk migration schedule for more details and deadlines:
 
  • First round: Requests due by October 28, 2019.  Courses will be ready in Canvas by November 4, 2019
  • Second round: Opens January 27, 2020.  Requests due by February 17, 2020.  Courses will be ready in Canvas by February 24, 2020
  • Third (and Final) round: Opens April 1, 2020.  Requests due by May 29, 2020.  Courses will be ready in Canvas by June 15, 2020
If you request to have courses or project sites migrated, you will be notified when the courses will be available in Canvas.  Please note that you must check your courses after migration to ensure that they are set up properly. While the migration pathway from Sakai to Canvas is robust for Resources, Assignments, Forums, Tests & Quizzes, and Lessons, there are a number of items and settings that will not migrate over and will require positive action on your part in Canvas to correct or address.  
 
You are also welcome to migrate your own course content from Sakai into Canvas at any time.  The first step is creating a sandbox course in Canvas to host your migrated content.  After that, you may follow these detailed migration instructions.  
 
For those of you beginning with Canvas, we have daily Canvas sessions scheduled for faculty during Winter Academy (December 9-13), and are also offering a 2-day Camp Canvas workshop during Undergraduate Reading Days (October 10-11).  As always, Academic Technologies staff will also be available at any time for one-on-one faculty training, migration requests, and support sessions.  
 
Please contact Brandon or Helen directly (bucyb@wlu.edu or x8651; hmacdermott@wlu.edu or x4561) or via help@wlu.edu to ask any Canvas questions or to request personal training.
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Please Welcome Canvas to W&L!

stork carrying a "baby bundle" with the Canvas logo

Woo-hoo! Canvas is Live!

You may now access the Canvas Learning Management System at https://canvas.wlu.edu.  Fall 2019 courses have been imported and are available for you to begin building out.  

During the 2019-20 school year, both Canvas and Sakai will be available, and you are free to use either platform until the end of Spring 2020 when Sakai will be retired. However, professors who wish to use lecture capture as part of their classes will need to use Canvas in order to do so.  Tegrity has been discontinued by their parent company, McGraw Hill, and we are employing a new lecture capture software called YuJa, which is available only through Canvas.

In preparation for the upcoming school year, Academic Technologies will be conducting numerous Canvas training sessions.  We have daily Canvas sessions scheduled for faculty during Fall Academy (August 19-30, 2019), and are also offering a 3-day workshop called Camp Canvas (August 13-15, 2019).  Participants in this workshop will leave with a thorough understanding of the new LMS and a Canvas course ready to go for the 2019-2020 academic year.  Additional training opportunities will be provided the week of August 5-9 for Law School faculty. As always, Academic Technologies staff will also be available at any time for one-on-one faculty training, migration requests, and support sessions.  Please contact Brandon or Helen directly (bucyb@wlu.edu or x8651; hmacdermott@wlu.edu or x4561) or via help@wlu.edu to ask any Canvas questions or to request personal training.

To view further details about the transition timeline, upcoming events, and migration/training resources, please visit our Canvas website at https://canvas.academic.wlu.edu. 

Many thanks, and welcome to Canvas!

 

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Transitioning from Tegrity to YuJa for course lecture capture

Washington and Lee is transitioning to YuJa as the university’s official lecture capture service.  YuJa is a recognized leader in enterprise video solutions, serving over 4 million clients at universities, school districts, and institutions around the world. YuJa is an innovator in video capture and management, and their lecture capture and media management platform is recommended for being customizable, adaptable, and reliable.
 
W&L has used Tegrity as our lecture capture service  since 2009. Originally Tegrity was a very innovative and responsive privately-owned company, but it was bought by McGraw-Hill several years ago and development has since stagnated.  Earlier this year McGraw-Hill notified W&L that they were suspending future licensing of their Tegrity service, which would be completely shuttered by June 2020.  The selection of YuJa was made after consideration of multiple lecture capture replacement solutions.  It was determined that YuJa offers the best pathway to preserve our existing Tegrity assets while at the same time dramatically improving the lecture capture and media management features available to faculty and students.  
 
YuJa will be up and running as a part of our new Canvas LMS by mid-July 2019, and will be available for all faculty and in all lecture capture-enabled classrooms beginning in the Fall 2019 term.  Beginning in the Fall 2019 term, professors who wish to use lecture capture as part of their classes will need to use Canvas and not Sakai in order to do so.  As of July 25, 2019, all Tegrity services and functionality will be terminated on campus. 
 
All current recordings marked for migration in the Tegrity environment have successfully been migrated over to YuJa and will be available to faculty when they log in to the new system.  Please do not use Tegrity recorder to record any further sessions between now and July 25, as newly recorded sessions will not be migrated.  
 
In preparation for the upcoming school year, Academic Technologies is preparing detailed documentation to assist faculty with their use of lecture capture in the classroom, and will be conducting several YuJa (and Canvas) training sessions before the start of the term during Fall Academy (scheduled for August 19-30).  Additional training opportunities will be provided earlier in August for Law School faculty, and Academic Technologies will be coordinating with Law Technology ensure a smooth transition and personal training opportunities. As always, Academic Technologies staff will also be available at any time for one-on-one faculty training and support sessions.  Please contact me directly (bucyb@wlu.edu or x8651), or via help@wlu.edu to ask any questions about YuJa or to request personal training.
 
Be on the lookout for additional information as the summer progresses.  We will continue to send updates via email and Campus Notices.  To view further details about the LMS and lecture capture transition timeline, upcoming events, and training resources, please visit our Canvas website.  We will also post additional information and updates about Canvas and YuJa on our blog page located at this site.  
 
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Important information about the upcoming transition from Sakai to Canvas

Greetings members of the W&L Community,

Washington and Lee is transitioning to Canvas as the university’s official learning management system (LMS).  Canvas is the world’s fastest-growing LMS, used by more than 3,000 universities, school districts, and institutions around the world. Canvas is an innovator in educational technology, and their learning platform is known for being customizable, adaptable, and reliable.

The selection of Canvas was made after consideration by an LMS replacement working group composed of faculty, staff, and student representatives from across the university, charged with finding a solution that offers the best possible learning experience for students and an optimal platform for course delivery.  The working group also conducted a thorough review of best practices at peer institutions. As an enterprise-wide technology, Canvas will be managed and supported by ITS Academic Technologies.

W&L has used Sakai as our LMS  since 2008. The system is open source and was originally supported by a large number of R1 institutions. Sakai’s share of the LMS market has been decreasing for the last five years and  the decline is now accelerating, with “no new significant institutional deployments in the US.” (Source:  www.edutechnica.com).  Additionally, almost all of the original founding Sakai schools have moved to Canvas, with Stanford being the last to move in 2016.

At W&L, Canvas will be up and running by mid-July 2019, and will be fully available for all courses beginning in the Fall 2019 term.  Sakai will continue to operate as usual during the transition year (2019-2020 Academic Year). During this period you are free to use either platform, and assistance will be provided for any faculty wishing to migrate course content from Sakai into Canvas.  However, professors who wish to use lecture capture as part of their classes will need to migrate to Canvas in order to do so. (Tegrity has been discontinued by their parent company, McGraw Hill, and we’ve been obliged to change to a new lecture capture software.) The new lecture capture software is YuJa, and it will be available only through Canvas.  Please note that at the end of Spring Term 2020, no more classes may be offered in Sakai, as it will be retired in June 2020.

In preparation for the upcoming school year, Academic Technologies will be conducting numerous Canvas training sessions.  We have daily Canvas sessions scheduled for faculty during Fall Academy (scheduled for August 19-30), and are also offering a 3-day workshop called Camp Canvas, running August 13-15.  Participants in this workshop will  leave with a thorough understanding of the new LMS and a Canvas course ready to go for the 2019-2020 academic year.  Additional training opportunities will be provided earlier in August for Law School faculty. As always Academic Technologies staff will also be available at any time for one-on-one faculty training and support sessions.  Please contact Brandon or Helen directly (bucyb@wlu.edu or x8651; hmacdermott@wlu.edu or x4561) or via help@wlu.edu to ask any Canvas questions or to request personal training.

Be on the lookout for additional information as the summer progresses.  We will continue to send updates via email and Campus Notices.  To view further details about the transition timeline, upcoming events, and training resources, please visit our Canvas web site: https://canvas.academic.wlu.edu.  We will also post additional information and updates about Canvas on our blog page located at this site.

Many thanks, and have a great summer!

Regards,
Brandon Bucy

ITS Academic Technologies