A New Video Service Is on Its Way – Integrated Video Project Update

The Integrated Video Project is entering an exciting new phase as we work towards the release of a brand new service to support the creation and distribution of video content for education and all other areas of the university. Today, we’re excited to announce the selection of a new video platform to replace YuJa, and to put out a call for volunteers to sign up for our early adopter programme in advance on the university wide release, scheduled for June 2024. Read on for details.  

Goals & Timeline

With the completion of the procurement process (see below), we’re ready to move on to the implementation and design phases of the project. We are still on track to meet our milestones of launching the early adopters programme in time for Semester 2 (23/24) and fully launching the new service on 3 June 2024.

It’s been a while since we first communicated about this project, so here’s a refresher of the project goals and an updated timeline.

Having completed the requirements gathering and procurement phases of the project, here’s what’s next:

Panopto to Replace YuJa in 2024

Following a thorough and competitive selection process, we are pleased to announce Panopto as our chosen video management platform, scheduled to take over from YuJa on 3rd June 2024. The decision comes after thorough consideration of feedback from our user community and our cumulative experience in delivering video services in the last three years. We believe Panopto will be a valuable asset in the production and delivery of high quality video content in our education and and other activities.

Panopto stood out for its user-friendly workflows, minimal service delivery footprint, and suite of education-centric features. Further details are available on their website.

A note on changing platforms

Moving away from from YuJa will not be an easy task as there are terabytes of video content that will need to be tidied up and then moved to the new platform. There will also be actively published content that will need to remain in place once YuJa is switched off. This will be a complex task, requiring careful planning, communication and execution.

The first part of our strategy will be to remove as much of the old, un-used video content as possible between now and June 2024. This will be done based on certain criteria such as age of the video, how long since it was last watched, is it a lecture capture from a previous academic year. Be assured that content owners will have fair notice of any videos due to be deleted and be given a mechanism to opt-out specific videos that they want to keep. We will also ensure that where possible, videos will be archived before being deleted completely.

Secondly, we will create a plan to manage any content that needs to remain active and available after the transition, including content in My Dundee. We will be working on this plan in the coming months and will communicate with users well in advance of the 3 June deadline.

Early Adopters Programme

With Panopto set to replace YuJa as our video management platform, we’re launching the early adopters programme, offering volunteers early access to Panopto, 5 months before the formal launch. This initiative is designed gain early experience with the new platform, address any teething problems, and embed experienced users in schools and departments ahead of the formal June 2024 release.

As an early adopter, you will:

• Gain access to Panopto during Semester 2 (23/24), five months prior to its full release on 3rd June.
• Have access to all the key features for recording, uploading, managing, and publishing video content. This includes integration with My Dundee and Lecture Capture functionality.
• Have the opportunity to employ Panopto within My Dundee for selected modules (note that we will only activate Panopto on modules that have been specified).
• Continue to have access YuJa to use along side Panopto throughout the programme if required.

You can get a good idea about how Panopto works from their getting started guides.

In return, we kindly ask that participants in this programme share their experiences, report any issues encountered, and use their acquired knowledge to assist their colleagues when they begin using the service.

Please note that in order to provide adequate support, we may need to limit the number of early adopters. Therefore, we encourage interested parties to register at their earliest convenience.

This is an early access programme, so there may be limitations to the service e.g. configuration changes, limitations to functionality, increased risk of issues. However, we fully intend for registered users to use the platform as part of their teaching and day-to-day work.

What’s Next

As we progress through the coming weeks, our focus will intensify on the implementation and refinement of the service, alongside welcoming volunteers for the Early Adopters Programme. This marks a more dynamic phase of the project, so please anticipate an increase in communications from our team. A critical aspect to look out for is forthcoming communications regarding the organisation and eventual transition of content from YuJa. We are dedicating considerable effort to this process to ensure minimal disruption to our users.

Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact me via Teams or email. Further updates will be disseminated through our standard communication channels.

Hope you’re having you a pleasant day.