Case study
How Endicott College Has Improved Teaching and Learning with the YuJa Enterprise Video Platform
Finding YuJa
The Search for a Replacement Enterprise Video Platform
In 2016, the Endicott College technology team were notified that their media management tool was discontinuing its education platform. The search began for a new tool that could provide media management, storage and distribution, as well as integrate with Canvas Learning Management System (LMS).
Though YuJa was newer to the market, Kent Barclay, Associate Dean of Academic Technology said the more he researched it, the more he liked what he saw. “YuJa was affordable and provided the tools we had become accustomed to using,” he said. “One of the biggest selling points was that they would assist with the migration of the videos currently stored in our old platform to the YuJa platform. This was huge because we had thousands of videos to migrate, and it really went seamlessly.”
80+
Programs
4,000+
Students
1939
Founded
7
Schools
“When we adopted YuJa, we were becoming more aware of the need to make items accessible. YuJa has auto captioning, and the products continue to improve with new tools, and new interfaces, which make it more user-friendly.”
About the Client
About Endicott College
Endicott College offers associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, plus graduate-level certificates, and enrolls more than 2,900 traditional undergraduate students and 1,760 graduate students at its main campus in Beverly, Mass., online, and at offsite locations.
Needs Evolve
As Needs Change, YuJa Rises to Meet New Challenges
The core functions of YuJa’s Video Platform – media creation, storage and management – remain widely used at Endicott College, but as the institution evolves and needs change, YuJa has been able to keep pace. “When we adopted YuJa, we were becoming more aware of the need to make items accessible. YuJa has auto captioning, and the products continue to improve with new tools, and new interfaces, which make it more user-friendly,” Barclay noted. “When the pandemic forced us to transition to remote teaching and learning virtually overnight, YuJa became a key element in that transition.”
During that time period, YuJa added a Zoom integration that allowed faculty to auto export the recordings of their live remote classes from the Zoom platform directly to the YuJa Media Library. “That was a big time-saver for faculty” he recalled. “We added that feature as soon as it became available.”
Adding Storage
College Adds YuJa Himalayas for Enterprise Compliance
Another product Endicott College has adopted is YuJa Himalayas for Enterprise Compliance, a storage and compliance solution that helps institutions manage large data workloads. The cloud-based tool reviews data workloads, identifying compliance issues, managing risks and enabling e-discovery scenarios, as well as helps meet the needs for institutional retention policies.
“We were starting to get close to our storage capacity. It would have been a herculean task to go through all of the videos in storage to determine if they were still actively in use,” Barclay explained. “When YuJa Himalayas was introduced, we could more easily search through the videos, filtering by the number of times and how recently they’d been viewed, which allowed us to do some housekeeping by moving older and rarely viewed videos to deep storage in batches, another big time- saver.”
Enhanced Experience
YuJa has Improved the Teaching Experience
Barclay’s background is in media production, and he said he has a soft spot for using video in education. “I’ve always been a proponent of video in education, and video has increasingly become an integral part of today’s teaching,” he said.
Whether instructors are creating their own lectures or embedding outside videos into their courses, they can easily do it either directly in the YuJa Video Platform or through the YuJa integration in Canvas. “We’ve been approached by other vendors, but there has never been a compelling reason to make the switch. There’s really nothing lacking in YuJa in the way of features or useability.”
“We were starting to get close to our storage capacity. It would have been a herculean task to go through all of the videos in storage to determine if they were still actively in use.”
Student Use
Students Embrace Video as a Learning Tool
Students have also benefitted from the YuJa Video Platform adoption, not only because they can easily watch instructor’s videos, but because they can create their own. Students majoring in media production, visual communications, and other courses where students create their own videos for assignments can upload these into YuJa as well. All students, regardless of their major, can share and critique one another’s work, take video quizzes and more.
“Students can pause content, share comments and ask questions, which really improves their ability to understand and retain information,” Barclay said, adding that students can upload PDF documents, PowerPoint presentations, audio files and other media as well.
Barclay shared that when he started a content archival process, he was surprised by just how many student video submissions there were. “YuJa has been helpful as a tool for students to record and present their own work,” Barclay stated. “When we adopted YuJa, we thought of it primarily as a tool for faculty, but there are actually more student videos uploaded and stored, and it’s been used across the board in various disciplines. YuJa has been helpful as a tool for students to record and present their own work.”
“YuJa has been helpful as a tool for students to record and present their own work.”
Final Thoughts
YuJa is an Ed-Tech Partner
While the toolset is good, Barclay said he especially appreciates the support YuJa provides. He also has found that YuJa listens to its customers and, when there’s a need, develops and releases new features based on customer requests.
“YuJa has been a partner with us in our use of media in instructional technology throughout the years,” Barclay concluded. We’ve seen the company grow with new tools and products, and up-to-date feature improvements. The support has always been there and is a big part of why we continue to rely on YuJa.”
Highlights
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Since deploying the YuJa Enterprise Video Platform in 2016, the use of video has become integral to instructors at Endicott College.
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Endicott College also uses YuJa Himalayas to manage its storage capacity through controlled archiving.
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Both teachers and students have embraced the YuJa Video Platform’s recording and editing capabilities, and integration with the Canvas Learning Management System.
“YuJa has been a partner with us in our use of media in instructional technology throughout the years. We’ve seen the company grow with new tools and products, and up-to-date feature improvements. The support has always been there, and is a big part of why we continue to rely on YuJa.”
Kent Barclay, Associate Dean of Academic Technology
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