Meeting Needs

Needs Analysis Revealed Need for Video Platform at University of Calgary

Leading up to the implementation of YuJa’s Video Platform at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, faculty who wanted to use video in their courses used either personal accounts on public platforms or a department solution. “Instructors had expressed the need for a video platform for several years, but there wasn’t a campus-wide solution,” explained Isadora Mok-Kulakova, Online Learning Environment Lead at the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning at the University of Calgary.

In response, institutional leaders formed a Video Content Management Advisory Group with representation from Information Technologies, Taylor Institute, Supply Chain Management, Students' Union and key personnel from various faculties and units. The group sought a solution that would work in both blended and online learning, that integrated well with D2L Brightspace, allowed single sign-on, and that was easy to use both for instructors and students.

The evaluation process was conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2017-18. “What drew the university to YuJa was the focus on teaching and learning,” Mok-Kulakova noted, adding that the group requested vendors to demonstrate how their software could support flipped classrooms, lecture capture, live stream, student projects, managing videos in a course and analyzing engagement of students.