United States Zone – Semi-Monthly RC20190222 Released

We have successfully pushed an update to all physical zones residing in the United States. Please note that this release will be pushed to Canadian and European Union zones next week. This release includes over 80+ new features and improvements.

1. Media Chooser for D2L Brightspace Extension Now Supports Video Quiz Insertion and Multi-Column Gradebook Integration
   Similar to the Canvas and Blackboard implementations introduced in the last few releases, we have rolled out D2L Brightspace support for Video Quiz insertion within the Media Chooser. This includes deeper native LMS-specific integration for Video Quizzes that expand upon the more limited LTI-based Gradebook integration (which we still support). The result is that users can create video quizzes, insert them virtually anywhere in the LMS and better track the results with multi-column gradebook integration. We’ve implemented it for all LMS’s, however we are releasing it in stages. Now that Canvas, Blackboard, and D2L Brightspace are released, Moodle is next.
   

   

2. Improved Viewability of Embedded Quizzes
   Our new LMS-specific quiz integration released this past quarter with multi-column gradebook integration has created new use-cases around embedding quizzes. To improve the viewability in “tight spaces”, we’ve created a special overlay mode in instances where the side-by-side layout isn’t possible. Note: To take advantage of this new style, the quiz will need to be re-embedded within the LMS.

   

3. Improved Performance of Visual Analytics’ Bandwidth Summary and Top Videos
   Improved the query performance for loading the Top Video and Bandwidth Summary analytics data.

4. New Fast “Initial Thumbnailing” Algorithm Implemented
   We’ve improved the algorithm used to generate thumbnails to generate it very quickly after the video file has uploaded to the Platform. This is part of a new smarter heuristic project we are working on during the month of March to improve job queueing behavior and sub-task execution.

   

5. Multi-Caption Account Support for Organizations
   To provide support for organizations using multiple caption accounts – across various departments and hierarchies – organizations can setup integrations with multiple, simultaneous caption vendors and/or accounts.

   

6. New In-Progress Recording Indicators within Media Library
   As a precursor to end user-facing audit logging project for non-admin users (also a project this quarter), we are introducing a Processing icon indicator that appears for in-progress (and un-uploaded) captures. Once our end user-facing audit trails are finished, a user will be able to accurately and fully trace the current status of any uploaded or recorded media item. These capabilities will be released in phases through the month of March and April.

   

7. Video Editor Now Has Ability to Set the Primary Stream
   For multi-stream recordings, Content Owners can now select which source is the primary source (the one that initially appears as the larger source).

   

8. Audio-Only Files Now Generate Audio Waveforms
   The Video Editor has extended support for the audio waveforms to include audio-only media.