Product Updates

We have successfully pushed an update to all YuJa Panorama Digital Accessibility Platform instances residing in the United States, Canada, European Union, and Australia. This release provides our users with updates to our Remediation Engine to support HTML documents, the option to add alt-text to all occurrences of an image in Canvas, a new OCR conversion engine, enable Panorama in specific LMS sub-accounts, new design tool elements, Themes and Templates for the Accessible Design Tool, increased accessibility checks for images, HTML and DOCX files, and so much more!  

1. New Inline WCAG 2.1-Aligned Remediation Engine for HTML Issues Directly within Accessibility Reports Complementing our Remediation Engine for inline accessibility issue resolution of Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoints, we’ve now extended these capabilities to HTML documents inside Accessibility Reports to resolve issues such as:
   • Alternative text for images.
   • Non-descriptive hyperlink text.
   • Unformatted lists.
   
2. Find-and-Tag to Add Alt-Text to all Occurrences of an Image Within Canvas Tired of alt-tagging the same image in multiple courses? Now Content Creators can instantly create and apply alt-text to all instances of the same image in multiple HTML areas of their LMS or only to instances without a description.
3. Enhanced Support for OCR, PDF Tagging, DOCX, and HTML Conversions We’re introducing an OCR conversion engine to provide greater capabilities in generating distinct documents based on the OCR-ed content.
   • OCR Overlaid Tagged PDF: Generate a tagged PDF that allows for selectable text overlaid on the original document.
   • OCR Reconstructed Tagged PDF: Generate a brand new tagged PDF.
   • OCR Reconstructed DOCX Document: Generate a brand new DOCX file.
   • OCR Reconstructed HTML Document: Generate a brand new HTML file.
   
4. Enable Panorama in Specific Sub-Accounts / Sub-Orgs / Nodes Admins can now view a hierarchical list of institution sub-accounts / sub-orgs / nodes and choose which accounts to enable Panorama in to allow course-scanning for Accessibility Reports, Alternative Formats, and more.
5. Accessibility Report: Docx Lists Will Be Checked for Proper Formatting The Accessibility Report for DOCX files will check if ordered and unordered lists within the document are formatted correctly.
6. Broader Set of Accessibility Checks for Images We’ve added additional accessibility checks to ensure images are accessible to all viewers.
   • Flag alternative text longer than 120 characters.
   • Flag images that have the file name as the alternative text.
   • Flag images that have placeholder text as the alternative text (e.g. “Photo” or “Image”).
   
7. Increased the Number of Accessibility Checks for HTML Content We’ve also added additional accessibility checks to ensure that HTML content is accessible with two additional checks:
   • Flag adjacent links with the same URL.
   • Flag tables with no content.
   
8. Accessibility Check to Ensure Vimeo Videos Contain Captions Linked Vimeo videos in HTML documents will be scanned to ensure the video contains captions.
9. Export Reports With a Date Range and the Preferred File Format Admins and Instructors can now select the date range of data to include in their reports and receive them as a JSON or Excel file via email.
10. Downloaded Course Reports Will Include All Issues When downloading a Course Report, it will now contain all issues detected within the course. This will allow admins and instructors to receive all the information of the report as seen within the Panorama LTI app.
11. New Alternative Format: Enhanced HTML View With Enhanced HTML view, HTML documents can be displayed in a dedicated tab to customize the appearance of the document using the Website Accessibility tool for a more personalized viewing experience.
12. Keyboard Accessibility Support for the Design Tool Creators can access and navigate through the Design Tool through the use of their keyboard.
13. Disable the Check for Specific Accessibility Issues We now allow administrators to turn off their preferred checks for accessibility issues. While we recognize the significance of not disabling issues that Panorama can detect, we understand the importance of providing institution administrators with the flexibility to meet their institution’s accessibility needs.
14. Panorama REST API to Generate Alternative Formats Reports We have added additional support for third-party API integrations to allow individuals to access information regarding their documents and options to generate Alternative Formats and Accessibility reports. To learn how to use our APIs, please visit our Panorama API guide.
15. Option to Disable the Panorama Design Tool We have provided a course-level setting instructors can use to disable the Panorama Design Tool.

 

We have successfully pushed an update to all Enterprise Video Platform instances residing in Canada, Australia, and the European Union.

1. New Generative AI to Detect Video Chapters (Moments of Impact) With the use of new Generative AI capabilities, Video Chapters allow viewers to automatically select key moments of impact within a video or audio recording.
2. Video Editor Introduces New Audio Waveform Engine to View Multi-Track Audio The Video Editor features an updated audio waveform processing engine that allows you to view independent audio streams on separate tracks instead of the previous single track that displayed all audio waveforms.
3. Video Editor Adds Synchronized Splits for Video and Audio Streams Our updated Audio Waveform engine allows Content Creators to split a video and its associated audio track simultaneously, enabling synchronized splitting and movement of tracks.
4. Video Editor Can “Build a Multi-Stream Video” By Adding Full-Length, Independent Streams Content Creators can import video clips as new, independent streams, allowing them to create multi-stream videos with up to four streams within a single video.
5. Umbrella System Now Supports the Canvas LMS Quick recap, the Umbrella System enables better support of multi-campus systems with both central administration alongside distributed sub-administration of individual campus nodes. Umbrella System now supports the Canvas LMS complementing our existing support of Blackboard and D2L Brightspace.
6. More Granular Live Captioning Permission Management Administrators can set specific permissions on a per-user or role basis to administer the use of live captions for Software Capture, Hardware Hub, and RTMP live streams.
7. Updated Sidebar Iconography with Subtle Animation Element The Video Platform’s Sidebar within the Admin Panel, My Account, and Himalayas has been enhanced with a new color palette and the introduction of new icons featuring animated elements.
8. Video Quizzes Support Automatic Grading for Short Answer Video Quizzes will allow instructors to set grading options for Short Answer question types. Instructors can manually review the answer and enter a grade or automatically assign full points for answers greater than a specified word count.
9. Video Quizzes Support Partial Points for Select Multiple  Content Creators can now award partial points for the Select Multiple question type when students select some of the correct options instead of requiring them to select all the right answers.
10. New Micro-Interactive Elements Within the Video Player To enhance the viewing experience when utilizing the Video Player, we have added subtle fade and slide transitions when navigating through various features.
11. Visual Refresh for the Organization Tab Within the Admin Panel Building on our recent enhancements to the Organization tab’s UI elements, we’ve extended our improvements to other key sections, including the Courses and Devices pages, to provide new icons and a refined color palette.
12. Moodle 4.1: TinyMCE Support for the Media Chooser Directly Within Insert Menu Content Creators using the newest TinyMCE plugin for their Moodle 4.1 instance will now be able to access the Media Chooser directly from the Insert menu.
13. Prioritized Human-Captioning Over Auto-Captions Video content will now prioritize human-generated captions, automatically replacing any auto-generated captions. These human-generated captions will then be utilized for transcript generation, ensuring content is accurately transcribed.
14. Visual Refresh of Toast Messages We have improved our toast messages by adding new animations, colors, and icons.

We have successfully pushed an update to all YuJa Himalayas Data Archiving Platform instances residing in Canada, Australia, and the European Union. This update provides automatic regeneration of video transcodes, a Data Management Policy to specify folder tags, and the option to archive content within its original location.

1. Show Archived Content Within My Media or My Archive Administrators can archive content to its original published location or archive to My Archive, consolidating all archived media in a single location. If administrators prefer, both options can be enabled, providing the flexibility of having both choices simultaneously.
   • My Media
   • My Archive
2. Automatic Regeneration of Video Transcodes Based on View Behavior Administrators can set the minimum weekly view count for videos to automatically generate their transcodes, regardless of whether they were never uploaded or deleted through a Recurring Policy Action—Delete Transcodes or Archive to EVP.
3. New Data Management Policy to Specify Folder Tags Administrators can now scan for content within specified tagged folders using the new Data Management Policy. This policy allows access to content within these folders and any sub-folders contained within them.

We have successfully pushed an update to all instances residing in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the European Union. This update includes a new redesign for the Live Proctoring Dashboard, the option to assign custom flag levels for events, ability to take private proctoring notes within the Proctoring Video Player when reviewing results, new proctor settings – such as Audio Detection, Block Virtual Machines, and Block Applications – ability to create institution-wide Proctoring Global Profiles, a pre-assessment compatibility check, and a new UI redesign for blocking embedded content.  

1. Verity Live: New Dashboard for Live Proctoring Verity Live, a module within the YuJa Verity Test Proctoring Platform, has undergone a significant update to its dashboard, with an emphasis on adding new capabilities and user experience improvements. These changes provide a more intuitive and seamless navigation experience for proctors. Now, proctors can effortlessly explore various views, including:
   • Gallery: Conveniently view multiple live cameras within an improved dashboard panel
   • Screen View: Single-click to flip to view all proctored student’s screens
   • Student-Specific View: Select and focus on a single student’s view with a specialized full-screen view.
   
   
2. Verity Live: Student-Specific View Expanding upon our Student-Specific View, this feature will allow proctors to direct their attention to a specific student during an assessment by simply selecting a student and accessing a full-screen view of the live recording to oversee a detailed perspective of the student’s testing environment.
3. Assign Custom Flag Levels for Events Instructors have the flexibility to tailor event flagging to meet their standards by assigning custom flag levels—Minor, Major, or Severe—for events recorded during proctored sessions. Additionally, instructors can choose to have certain events ignored by Verity by simply choosing not to flag an event.
4. Proctoring Video Player Notetaking When Reviewing Sessions Complementing Verity’s automated event tracking and logging, when reviewing proctored assessments, instructors can now take notes directly within the Proctoring Video Player to manually keep track of important details in recorded sessions.
5. New Event to Flag Audio Detection To ensure the integrity of a student’s testing environment, any loud audio occurrences during the assessment are automatically flagged if the Record Audio setting is enabled. This will allow assessment reviewers to focus on areas of concern, aiding in the detection of potential unauthorized assistance.
6. New Lockdown App Setting: Block Virtual Machines Virtual machines provide students access to multiple operating systems on a single device, which can be used to bypass proctor settings. The Lockdown App will allow instructors to enable virtual machine detection to provide online integrity during proctored assessments. If a virtual machine is detected, this will prevent students from starting or continuing their assessment.
7. New Lockdown App Setting: Block Applications from Running Instructors now have more control during online proctored assessments with the new Block Application feature for the Lockdown App. By listing as many applications as desired, instructors can prevent students from using tools, such as social media and Microsoft apps, to provide distraction-free assessment.
8. Create Global Profiles for Institution-Wide Proctor Settings To streamline access to proctor settings on a per-assessment basis that consistently meets requirements for a standardized online environment, administrators can now establish Global Profiles for their institution. Instructors will then have access to select these profiles to apply the required proctor settings to their assessments.
9. Lockdown App: Pre-Assessment Compatibility Check Students requiring the use of the Lockdown App for their assessments will now have the opportunity to conduct a comprehensive pre-assessment compatibility check. This will provide students with information regarding the upcoming proctored assessment, including details on monitored actions, assessment restrictions, and verification of external devices, such as audio and video. This proactive step ensures students are well-prepared and their devices meet all necessary requirements before starting the assessment.
10. Refreshed UI to Block Embedded Content Assessment administrators can allow students to access specific web pages during their assessment; however, some pages may incorporate embedded content from external sources. To provide students with a clear indication that they do not have access to this content, we’ve provided a refreshed UI that will only block the embedded areas, ensuring the rest of the web page is visible.

We have successfully pushed an update to all Software Capture for PC instances residing in the US, Canada, Australia, and the European Union. This update includes our improved user interface across the Software Capture Application, a new Recording Mini-Bar for video and audio preview, the ability to start scheduled sessions when signed out of Windows, initiate scheduled recordings when offline, enhanced video quality for live streaming, improved remote monitoring capabilities, auto-recognition of devices during a session, auto-publish recordings from the course channel Software Capture was launched, and instant synchronization of remote profile adjustments.

1. Refreshed User Interface Using Material Design System The entire Software Capture user interface has been refreshed to use a Material Design interface. This refreshed design offers a cleaner interface with a key emphasis placed on updating colors and buttons to provide a clear indication of UI elements, all of which are keyboard accessible.
2. Application Settings Redesign for Streamlined Adjustments The Software Capture Application Settings have undergone a redesign, redefining our approach to organizing settings within individual tabs. Recognizing the limitations of extensive tabular views, we’ve consolidated tabs and introduced distinct sections complete with headers and sections. Merged tabs, such as Profiles and Hotkeys, Screen Capture, and others, contribute to a more intuitive experience and ensure a well-organized interface where settings are clearly identifiable.
3. New Recording Mini-Bar with Slide-Out Video and Screen Preview The Software Capture’s Mini-Bar is fully redesigned to provide a sliding video and screen preview that doesn’t show up in the final recording. Previously, Content Creators could only check their video or screen preview by accessing the Confidence Monitor, which unfortunately interrupted the presentation by bringing it into the screen recording.
4. New Fleet Management Capabilities – Automatic Start of Scheduled Sessions When Signed Out of Windows As part of our Fleet Management capabilities, we are continuing to develop tools to enhance remote deployments of the Software Capture application. In cases where a computer is signed out of Windows and Creators cannot access the device, the updated Software Capture application ensures that scheduled sessions will still start on time, capturing active devices such as video and audio sources while awaiting the screen source. Upon signing back into Windows, the Software Capture application will automatically connect to the screen source, ensuring all devices are enabled for a continuous recording experience.
5. New Fleet Management Capabilities – Long Duration Offline Mode Resilience for Auto-Scheduled Sessions Using Session Caching Similar to our Hardware Hub capabilities, we have added additional resilience to auto-scheduled sessions by adding localized schedule caching and opportunistic cloud-synchronization. That may sound like a mouthful, but what it means is that if an auto-scheduled Software Capture application loses internet connection up to a week prior to a session, as long as it was connected at some point for a few minutes, it will continue with the recording schedule because a copy has been synched locally. Once an internet connection is re-established, finished recordings will be uploaded to the Video Platform, and additional schedules will be synchronized.
6. Media Foundation Engine Now Used for Live Streaming, Offering Enhanced Live Streaming Performance Following our transition to the Media Foundation engine as our primary capture engine for recording, we have now extended this capability to live streams. This enhancement is set to significantly improve the live stream experience for viewers, ensuring the highest quality output is received. On the roadmap for a future release is to extend this new Engine to replace the existing Engine for NDI and RTSP-enabled sources.
7. New, Higher-Performance Device Monitoring with Lower Memory Footprint Our Device Monitoring capabilities were introduced years ago, and since then, a lot has changed in the audio and video landscape. To better manage fault-tolerance remote device monitoring, we’ve built a brand-new Remote Device Monitoring Module that accompanies the Software Capture application but works on an independent architecture. The architecture is built on the Media Foundation engine to take advantage of GPU performance alongside the CPU. The result? This upgraded infrastructure provides greater fault tolerance, better performance, and fewer disconnections for the audio and video previews on the Devices page.
8. Auto-Retry and Connect Profile Devices During Active Recording Sessions If a recording device assigned to a selected profile is not plugged in at the start of a scheduled session, Content Creators can simply connect the device during the session. The Software Capture application will then automatically detect and integrate the device into the ongoing recording.
9. New Interface for Selecting Channels for Publication We’ve updated how Content Creators choose channels by showcasing a side-by-side comparison of Available and Selected Channels alongside an improved hierarchical view. Simply utilize the new arrow icons to effortlessly adjust your preferred publication locations.
10. Publish to the Course Channel From Where Software Capture was Launched When launching the Software Capture application from a Course Channel on the Video Platform, the course information will automatically be pre-selected.
11. Instant Synchronization for Remote Profile Management Remote adjustments to Profiles on the Video Platform now take immediate effect in the Software Capture application, removing the previous requirement to restart the application for changes to appear.