Blackboard Collaborate -YuJa Connector Release 31st August 2023

Launch of the Blackboard Collaborate – YuJa Connector – 31st August 2023  

As part of our mission to offer an improved and consistent user experience for our staff and students, and to better manage our data, on 31st August 2023 we are launching the Blackboard Collaborate-YuJa Connector.The Policy for the Recording of Teaching and Learning Activities (Learning Capture)  states that T&L recordings must be stored in YuJa, where they will be automatically captioned. The Connector manages this automatically, without the need for staff intervention.

The Connector will:  

1. Create a copy of any scheduled recording in Blackboard Collaborate from 31st August 2023 onwards.   
2. This copy will be placed in a designated folder within YuJa titled ‘My Blackboard Collaborate Recordings’.  NOTE: Normally recordings will be migrated to YuJa within a matter of minutes, but this process may take up to 24 hours. If you do not see your recording in YuJa after this period, please submit a ticket via the DTS Self Service Portal  
3. All Collaborate recordings created from 31st August 2023 will be deleted in accordance with the following schedule:  

Important information regarding past Collaborate recordings: 
For recordings made on Blackboard Collaborate prior to 31st August 2023, they will stay within Collaborate for the time-being. However, in our quest for uniformity and efficient content management, discussions are underway with YuJa to also transfer these older videos to the platform. Further details will be provided shortly.  

 Important points for all users to note:  

1. Data clean-up initiative: We urge you to sift through past Collaborate recordings and eliminate any unnecessary videos. Do not remove recordings linked to assessments.  
2. Embedding post-31st August: Post the aforementioned date, please refrain from embedding Blackboard Collaborate links within courses due to the eventual deletion of this content.  
3. Making YuJa media available to students: For ease of access, always use YuJa channels, folders or links. For assistance, refer to our guide on Making videos available with YuJa.
4. Course Room session information: These sessions will not be carried over and will face deletion alongside the scheduled recordings. To preserve Course Room recordings, users are encouraged to utilise scheduled recordings or, post-session, download the Course Room recording and subsequently upload it to YuJa.   

*This post was sent as a Blackboard-Users’ email on Tuesday 29 August 2023.