YuJa logoThe Yuja enterprise video system coming to campus April 29 will enhance use of the technology across the University.

System to ease instructional use of video

An enterprise video system coming to campus April 29 will enhance use of the technology across the University, says Lorie Stolarchuk, a learning specialist in the Office of Open Learning.

"Yuja is a powerful set of online tools to complement and enhance the campus’ ability to store, stream, create, edit, and embed videos in Blackboard courses and on websites,” she says. “Yuja is a part of the next Blackboard upgrade.”

With Yuja’s automated captioning feature, instructors can easily convert downloaded Blackboard Collaborate Ultra recordings into accessible versions and delete the non-captioned recordings to reduce storage in Blackboard.

Stolarchuk explains that Yuja allows users to make videos into interactive quizzes for more engaging learning.

“The students’ quiz results for low stakes assessments can be directly connected to Blackboard’s Grade Centre,” she says. “Students can also search for keywords inside videos to save time and focus their studying efforts or take notes at key points during the video that they can download later.”

Faculty, students, and staff who participated in the pilot project during the winter 2021 semester explored Yuja’s features.

“The English Language Improvement Program continues to focus on strategies to enhance online English academic learning, engagement, and interactivity,” says Anouchka Plumb, manager of language programs at the Centre for English Language Development. “Specifically, we are exploring how we can best utilize Yuja within and outside of Blackboard Learn.”

Hussein Merza, a third-year electrical and computer engineering major and a co-op student with the Centre for Teaching and Learning, notes,:“The ability to share all media — documents, videos, audio files — by providing a direct link is very useful when sharing content. You don't need to download anything or email any files. Instructors can also easily attach Yuja media within Blackboard’s content areas or anywhere else.”

Registration is now open for “Introduction to Yuja” workshops for instructors and assistants at https://ctl2.uwindsor.ca/openlearning/workshops/.

For more information, visit the OOL’s Yuja support webpage, contact the Office of Open Learning by email at ooltech@uwindsor.ca, and watch an introductory video: