Product Updates

We have successfully pushed an update to all YuJa Engage Student Response System instances residing in the United States, Canada, and the European Union. This release provides our users with automatic sync for courses and user data as well as redesigns for our UI. 

1. Enhanced UI for Student Response
   We have updated the UI to provide a more modern look for students and optimize how they view and interact with Polls and Surveys. Future updates will continue to enhance our UI for creators and IT managers.
   
   
2. Automatically Sync LMS Course Data and Users
   In providing a more synchronous experience with our LTI integration, IT managers may enable automatic sync for course data and users. This will allow YuJa Engage to automatically update any changes to the course name, course code, and students enrolled in a course once the LTI link is accessed.
   
   
3. Bug Fixes and Optimizations
   We have optimized the performance of YuJa Engage and made several bug fixes to improve the user experience. Highlighting some of these optimizations and fixes are:
   
   
   • Resolved an issue that prevented images from appearing on the Class Results page.
   • Limited the pagination to ten when viewing polls, courses, and users.
   • Fixed issues for incorrect response count.
   • Resolved copy-and-paste issues. 
   • Minor UI changes to icons.

We have successfully pushed an update to all YuJa Panorama for Digital Accessibility instances residing in the United States, Canada, and the European Union. This release provides our users with significant enhancements to our PDF-Processing sub-system, an upgraded LTI app, re-designed analytics reporting, a new Immersive Reader for Alternative Formats, support for D2L Lessons and Moodle Chapters, and keyboard accessibility improvements.

1. New Elastically Scaling PDF Processing Sub-System for Faster Throughput
   To support extremely high-volume PDF processing-throughput, we are introducing a new elastic-scaling PDF Processing Sub-System. Customers can expect even faster processing of media content, which will make a difference for large institutions at the start of the semester when thousands of courses are being copied-forward and instructors are actively creating large volumes of content.
   
2. New Institution Report with Improved At-a-Glance Summary Information
   Along with significant updates to the UI, the Institution Report now offers administrators the ability to view the Total Number of Files Processed, File Improvements, and Alternative Formats Downloaded. The average accessibility score will now be presented as a yearly graph, which can be downloaded for offline viewing. Users can also review a list of Most and Least Accessible Courses.
   
   
3. Redesigned Institutional Accessibility Issues Report with Analysis of Top Accessibility Issues
   To provide a comprehensive overview of issues detected, Panorama now offers admins a month-to-month breakdown of issues detected. Most occurring issues can be viewed in a list format. These issues are organized into their respective categories (Severe, Major, and Minor), and admins are provided a breakdown of the documents most affected.
   
4. Redesigned Contents Report Provides Breakdown of Popular Formats
   To provide administrators with a full breakdown of content-related issues, Panorama now offers users the ability to review the average file utilization, total number of downloads, most popular format, and most popular format uploaded. Users can also view graphs related to Popular Alternative Format Upload and Download, as well as a Content and Popular Format Download summaries.
   
   
5. Improved Course Report Provides In-Depth Accessibility Scores
   Providing administrators and instructors with information regarding course-specific issues, Course Reports features a month-to-month summary of the average Accessibility Score. Instructors can view the overall popularity of Alternative Formats, view popular document types, and have access to view specific Accessibility Scores and issues for their course content.
6. New Immersive Reader for Alternative Formats
   We have merged High Contrast and Text-to-Speech Alternative Formats and now offer a new Immersive Reader to cater to individual needs. Customize text sizes, font types, themes, and highlight parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The Immersive Reader offers many more customizable options for students to explore, such as Line Focus, Picture Dictionary, and Translations. Students will have the flexibility to adjust these options and follow along with the text reader.
   
   
7. Automatic Document Reprocessing When Using the Moodle File Picker
   Panorama will now detect if a document has been replaced using the Moodle File Picker and will automatically reprocess the new file.
   
8. Support for the New D2L Lessons View
   We have updated the Panorama browser extension to support the new Lessons view in D2L Brightspace.
   
9. Support for Moodle Chapters
   In continuing to integrate Panorama into new areas of Moodle, we now generate Alternative Formats for Moodle Chapters. Future updates will further expand Panorama into other areas, such as Discussion Topics.
   
   
10. More Responsive and Accessible Keyboard Navigation
    As an accessibility product, Panorama is dedicated to continuous improvements to our UI to ensure that it’s responsive and accessible to all users. In this release, we’ve improved the keyboard navigation of our tools.
    

We have successfully pushed an update to all instances residing in the United States. For a summary of the release, please refer to the corresponding tag for the most recent Canadian and EU zones release.

We have successfully pushed an update to all YuJa Engage Student Response System instances residing in the United States, Canada, and the European Union. This release provides our users with an improved Grade Book UI, live poll results for PowerPoint slides, and several optimizations and bug fixes.

1. Live Poll Results for PowerPoint Slides
   We have updated our PowerPoint poll integration to provide instructors and students with instant feedback for polls and surveys. View live results during PowerPoint presentations to enhance the overall experience of class participation.
   
2. Improved Grade Book UI
   We have updated our Grade Book UI to provide instant access to poll questions and participants. Instructors may simply access their published polls, view questions, and analyze individual student responses.
   
   
3. Bug Fixes and Optimizations
   We have optimized the performance of YuJa Engage and made several bug fixes to improve the user experience. Highlighting some of these optimizations and fixes are:
   
   • Names entered for anonymous poll participants will now appear in the Grade Book.
   • Optimized backend LMS integration for Canvas and Blackboard Learn.
   • Poll codes for PowerPoint will now appear for each poll slide.
   • Fixed issues for missing question labels.

We have successfully pushed an update to all YuJa Verity for Test Proctoring instances residing in the US, Canada, and the European Union. This update includes access to our new Institution Reports, student access to listed URLs, and passwords for Verity-enabled quizzes.

1. New Admin Reporting for Institutions
   YuJa Verity now offers system-wide information for test proctoring. Institution Reports allow admins to view:
   
   
   • The overall proctoring results Flag Level of their institution. 
   • The number of Proctored Extensions downloaded.
   • A monthly count of proctored tests taken.

   Admins may also view top flagged courses within each category (i.e., Severe, Major, Minor) and have quick access to the Verity Results table for each course.
   

2. Allow Student Access to Only Listed URLs
   Instructors can allow students to connect to specific websites by creating a list of accessible URLs for test proctoring. This feature is perfect for students to access resources such as public domain libraries or any other URLs the instructor wishes to add. 
   
3. Integrated Passwords for Proctored Quizzes
   To ensure students cannot take a proctored quiz without the YuJa Verity extension enabled, we have integrated auto-generated LMS passwords for all Verity-enabled quizzes to provide an additional level of security and integrity to the proctoring process. Students will automatically be allowed access to quizzes once authenticated through the Verity extension.   

We have successfully pushed an update to all YuJa Enterprise Video Platform instances residing in Canada and the European Union. This release provides our users with remote management tools for Software Capture, new third-party hardware support, new API scoping capabilities, Video Quiz improvements, Bulk Merge for videos, and much more. This update will be released to the United States zones next Friday.

1. Enhanced Fleet Management and Remote Administration Capabilities for Software Capture Devices
   Building upon the recently improved Devices Panel, Content Creators may access the Devices page to perform operations on classroom-installed Software Capture application including:
   • Remotely create custom recording profiles for the YuJa Software Capture application.
   • Update existing profiles to shared recording profiles.
   • Adjust bitrate settings for live streaming and adjust recording devices settings.

   In essence, institutions can now remotely deploy Software Capture application packages, configure them with pre-defined configuration files, and then use the new Fleet Management tools to adjust remote configuration, deployment, and monitoring of the Software Capture application. To learn more about our remote profiles feature, please visit our support guide on Creating a Profile Remotely.
   

2. Audio Segment Amplification Adjustments Available Within the Video Editor
   Content Creators may now digitally raise or lower the audio within their video with the Video Editor. Select specific segments and then adjust the audio to the desired volume for that specific section. To learn how to adjust audio, please visit our support guide on Adjusting Audio Levels in the Video Editor.
   
3. Customizable API Endpoint Scopes for API Tokens
   Administrators now have granular control of API tokens for API endpoints. Create customized tokens that allow token-holders to have access to specific APIs.
   
4. Streamlined Way to Bulk-Merge Videos into a New Video
   Content Owners looking to combine multiple videos into a single video can now easily do so. Our new Bulk Merge feature allows users to connect multiple videos without having to even launch the Video Editor. For example, this will allow individual students to merge their assignments effortlessly before submission.
   
5. Add Multiple Video Quiz Questions at Given Timepoints
   In providing a complete learning experience, instructors can choose to add multiple pre-assessment, mid-video, and summative assessment questions to their Video Quiz at a given timepoint.
   
6. Sync Video Quiz Gradebook Data for Group Owners
   Instructors wishing to preview the Video Quiz, including the Gradebook Sync, can now do so for their courses. Additionally, this feature will allow students with TA roles or other higher-level roles to take part in graded video quizzes.
7. Drag & Drop Media Content Now Available in List View
   Achieving parity with the Grid View, Content Owners may now simply drag-and-drop media content into their media folders while in List View. This feature provides a completely streamlined experience between our Grid View and List View for media content.
   
8. Metadata Schemas are Now Integrated with the Advanced Search Console
   The Advanced Search Console will now auto-populate metadata schemas that are defined by an Organization’s administrator.
   
9. Improved Auto-Scaling and Detection for Video Playback
   To provide users with faster initial playback, we have made improvements to the Media Player to adjust the video quality ahead of the initial playback based on the initial network characteristics.
10. Added Support for NCast Third-Party Hardware Encoders
    Complementing our market-leading integration with Matrox, Extron, and Epiphan, we have now added support for NCast hardware encoders. Users can now register their NCast devices and upload recordings directly to their My Media folder.
    
11. Live Stream Player Chat Can be Disabled
    Complementing the new Live Stream single sign-on capabilities added in the previous release, we now allow administrators to disable the Live Stream Chat for a live stream.
12. Create Custom URLs for Videos
    Content Owners wishing to create personalized links to enhance URL branding may now do so for their media content. By creating unique links, media content will retain the underlying URL while providing custom identifiers.
    

We have successfully pushed an update to all YuJa Verity for Test Proctoring instances residing in the US, Canada, and the European Union. This update includes the ability to enable full-screen viewing of the Video Player, a new expandable student verification window, support for additional browsers, and new Verity Results placements for Canvas and Moodle.

1. Enable Full-Screen Viewing of the Video Player
   The Video Player features a full-screen viewing experience for instructors reviewing proctoring sessions. Full screen can be enabled for individual screen-capture or webcam recordings, or instructors can choose to view both recordings in full screen.
   
   
2. New Expandable Student ID Verification Window
   We have implemented a new feature that will allow instructors to see the ID verification easily. Instructors can click any ID within the Results table to view high-resolution images.
   
   
3. Support for New Canvas Quizzes
   In keeping pace with updates for our Canvas users, YuJa Verity is now available to use within New Quizzes for Canvas.
   
4. Support for Additional Browsers
   YuJa Verity is now supported by the following browsers: Google Chrome, Opera, Microsoft Edge, and Brave. Future releases will focus on providing support for additional browsers, such as Safari and Firefox.
   
   
5. New Verity Results Placement for Canvas and Moodle
   The Verity Results table is now easily accessible under Related Items for Canvas instructors. Moodle instructors will be pleased to see access to Verity Results directly from the Verity-enabled quiz.
   
   
6. Bug Fixes and Optimizations
   To improve the overall user experience for Verity, we have made improvements to the UI and resolved several bugs.
   
   
   • Resolved issues related to UI text for student names.
   • Flag Level 0 will display as “None.”
   • Fixed issue for new courses with users being unable to access Verity-enabled quizzes.
   • Exit Tabs Here button will close Incognito tabs.

We have successfully pushed an update to all YuJa Engage Student Response System instances residing in the United States, Canada, and the European Union. This release provides our users with Blackboard LTI 1.3 integration, new survey polls for non-graded questions, the ability for instructors to share an entire poll, as well as add images to their questions, and various performance optimizations and bug fixes.

1. Blackboard Learn LTI 1.3 Integration
   This update will allow our users to integrate YuJa Engage into their Blackboard instance. Polls may be created and published directly to desired courses and viewed by admins, instructors, and students. Future updates will focus on providing Grade Book sync across all instances. For more information, please visit our support guide on Integrating YuJa Engage for Blackboard Learn.
   
2. New Survey Polls for Non-Graded Questions
   Instructors may now create and publish a survey to administer non-graded polls. These polls do not have correct answers and can provide insight into ideas and opinions students wish to express.
   
3. Instructors Can Now Share Entire Polls
   We have added a new feature that will provide instructors and students with a more dynamic learning experience. In addition to being able to share individual questions throughout a lecture, instructors will now be able to share an entire poll with their students. Instructors may choose to use this feature as part of a mid-class structured assessment for their students to gauge student comprehension and boost engagement.
4. Upload Images for Questions
   Poll creators may now add images to their questions. Future releases will allow creators to add images to possible answers.
   
5. Optimized Performance and Bug Fixes
   We have optimized the performance of YuJa Engage and made several bug fixes to improve the user experience. Highlighting some of these optimizations and fixes are:

• • Fixed an issue where poll results were not accurately displayed.
  • Resolved an issue where longer poll questions would not save.
  • The countdown timer is now synced for creators and viewers.
  • Resolved crash issues when pausing the poll.
  • Updated the UI text for viewers.
  • Fixed redirect links.

We have successfully pushed an update to all YuJa Panorama for Digital Accessibility instances residing in the United States, Canada, and the European Union. This release provides our users with a new direct-access Panorama Platform (in addition to the LTI-only integration), Alternative Formats for math equations, privacy and security enhancements, and a more responsive and accessible UI.

1. New Standalone Panorama Platform for Admins and Instructors
   To provide more flexibility to admins and instructors, we have created a Standalone Platform that can be used to manage their institution, access the LTI App, and review the functionality of the APIs for their Alternative Formats.
   
   In future releases, institutions will be able to customize their personal domain, access features like our upcoming Library and Reserve Desk capabilities, and more. The Standalone Platform will soon have support for SSO integration and a Sandbox environment where users can view Alternative Formats and Accessibility Reports. For more information, please visit our support guide on Signing Up for the Panorama Management Portal.
2. New Alternative Math Formats Support for Printed and Handwritten Math Equations
   To expand upon our alternative formats, we now support converting documents containing math equations into MP3 files and clear text (i.e. numbers and symbols to words) to improve readability. Whether your document contains printed math equations or chemical diagrams, we support up to a dozen image types to ensure that Panorama is as accessible as possible. Below are examples of some of our supported math formats, including printed math and handwritten math.
3. Math Equation Support for Screen Readers
   We have implemented a new feature that will allow users to have math equations read aloud to them when using screen readers across all instances. This includes equations embedded in documents and included in images.
4. Improved Accessibility for Alternative Formats Button
   Our Accessibility Icon will now change shape based on the document’s accessibility score. There will be five different shapes to ensure that instructors with color impairments can easily distinguish the scores.
   
5. Users Can Now Convert all Text Files to LaTeX
   In continuing to provide alternative formats, Panorama can now convert text-based files to LaTeX. This includes the ability to recognize and convert math equations within documents, whether they be directly embedded into the document or included as an image.
   
6. Instructors and Admins Can Now Hide Alternative Formats
   With the implementation of our new toggle switch, instructors and admins can choose to enable or disable student access to the Alternative Formats menu for individual files.
   
7. Admins Can Now Test Alternative Formats API Access
   If alternative formats are not being generated, admins may test the API access for their institution through the new Panorama Management Platform. For more information, please visit our guide on Testing the Alternative Formats API Access.
8. Enhanced Privacy and Security for the Panorama Chrome Extension
   To provide our users with the latest standards for privacy and security, as well as performance enhancements, Panorama’s Chrome extension will now adopt Manifest V3.
9. Optimized Institution Report Exporting
   We have optimized the performance of institution reporting across all Panorama instances. Exporting reports will now take significantly less time.
10. More Responsive and Accessible User Interface
    By partnering with third-party auditors, we have identified key areas of improvement for Panorama’s UI. In this release, we’ve improved the responsiveness and accessibility of our UI across all instances. In future releases, we will continue to identify and expand upon the accessibility of our Platform.

We have successfully pushed an update to all instances residing in the United States. For a summary of the release, please refer to the corresponding tag for the most recent Canadian and EU zones release.