YuJa

YuJa logo circa 2020

YuJa [1] (YuJa) is an enterprise media platform that facilitates online hosting, playback, and user management of digital media, as well as lecture capture, live streaming, social learning, video conferencing, and video test proctoring solutions. It encompasses a front-end website, referred to colloquially as WPU's YuJa zone, which displays media that has been made available to WPU faculty and students for pedagogical purposes, and back-end account capabilities through which WPU members may upload and manage user-specific media content after signing in.

William Paterson University began using YuJa at the end of April 2020 to replace Illumira (formerly known as NJVid).

Overview

Signing into Your YuJa Account

All William Paterson University faculty, staff and students are given YuJa accounts. An individual may access his/her YuJa account either through Blackboard or through WPU's YuJa zone. YuJa accounts are not tied to particular Blackboard course shells. As a result, a faculty member can sign into his/her YuJa account from any course shell in Blackboard and still gain access to all content in his/her YuJa account. Similarly, a user can retrieve any content that he/she places into his/her YuJa account irrespective of where he/she signs into his/her YuJa account from, including any Blackboard course shell or www.wpunj.edu/yuja.

If you are a WPU faculty member who is signing into YuJa for the first time, we recommend you do so via Blackboard so that YuJa will recognize you as a faculty member.

Signing in Through Blackboard

1. Sign into Blackboard and navigate to the course in which you intend to use YuJa.

2. Click “Tools” from the left-hand menu.

3. Click on “YuJa.”

4. If you are a faculty member who is accessing YuJa via Blackboard for the first time, you might receive an automated email that confirms your account or course has been created.

Signing in Through WPconnect or WPU's YuJa Zone

1. Go to WPconnect, logon, and search for the YuJa link or click on the YuJa icon under the Apps display.

2. You may also go directly to www.wpunj.edu/yuja and enter your William Paterson username and password.

Creating a Recording

You can use YuJa to record yourself in front of a webcam, video capture your computer screen, and/or simply record your voice.

1. Sign into YuJa and click “Create Recording” from the top menu

2. If this is your first time recording on a University-imaged computer, please install the YuJa Software Capture app via Software Center. If this is your first time recording on an off-network home device, click the "Download" button and double-click the installer. In all other cases, click “Start.” The Software Capture app will open.

3. Enter a title and description for your recording, and click the folder icon at the right to specify its destination

4. Use the left-hand menu options to configure your recording settings. A preview of your configuration appears in the middle of the screen.

Video - set Video Source to “On” to record video using your webcam

Audio - set Mic Source to “On” to record spoken audio using your microphone

Screen - set this to “On” to record your computer screen activities. Note that if both Video and Screen options are set to “On,” YuJa will record both sources, in which case a picture-in-picture recording will be created

Live - set this to “On” to create a live stream

5. Click “Start” to begin recording and “Finish” to finish recording

6. Click “Save” to add the recording to your YuJa account, or click “Delete” to discard it

Uploading External Content

There are two ways to upload content to YuJa: 1) via Blackboard and 2) via WPU's YuJa zone. Both provide the same features and capabilities, and the procedures for both are similar. Please note that by default only you have access to the media you upload, but you are free to share it with other users and/or embed it or email link(s) to it. Also please note that there is a file size limit of 1TB per upload.

Uploading via Blackboard

1. Sign into your YuJa account through Blackboard.

2. Along the left-hand menu, click on “My Media” if you are not already there. My Media is the location where you will upload media such as video, audio, and text files. You can organize your content into file folders by using the “New Folder” menu option at the top to create folders and then renaming them by clicking on the gear icon that appears when you mouse over a folder. Only you and those with whom you share access will be able to access the content in your My Media section.

3. Navigate to the area or folder within My Media where you want to upload your media, and click “Upload” from the top menu.

4. Select your media type (the default selection is “video”) and click the “Browse” button. Select a file to upload and click “Open.”

5. Click on “Add Tags” underneath the Browse button. Add a title for your media using the text box corresponding to the “Title” row and “Value” column. The other data fields are optional. Click Save.

6. Click “Start Upload.” You will see a graphic indicating that your media is uploading and another when it begins processing. When complete, your media will appear in your My Media. Mouse over your media and select an option to make adjustments. Select “More” to alter the metadata, thumbnail, etc. To select your media, hold "Control" on a PC ("Command" on a Mac) and select your media. Selections will display an orange border. You can make more than one selection.

Uploading via WPU's YuJa Zone

1. Go to WPU's YuJa zone and sign in.

2. Follow the same steps as those listed to upload via Blackboard, beginning with step 2.

Settings and Options

You can adjust various settings to the media in your YuJa account. Wherever your media is located (e.g. your My Media folder), simply mouse over a thumbnail of a particular item and make a selection.

Play - plays your media
Share - allows you to share this particular media with other YuJa accounts (colleagues, students, et al.). Click in the "Share With" box, search for and select the name of the individual with whom you want to share (you may successively select more than one person), select the level of access, and then click the "Share" button and "Save." "Full Access" gives the full set of access permissions to the person with whom you are sharing, including the ability to delete your video. "Edit Access" allows the individual to edit the video and embed it into Blackboard, but not delete it. "Read Only" allows the recipient only to watch the video in his/her account. Content that you share will appear in the recipient's "Shared with Me" folder. Users cannot remove content in their Shared with Me folders to which they only have "read only" access. All WPU YuJa users can share content with all other YuJa users, but recipients of shared content can only further share the shared content with other users if they have "full access" or "edit access." If they have been granted "read only" access, they will be unable to pass the shared content onward to other users.
Publish - allows you to make this particular media item visible to others. To publish media to your students, select "All Channels," search and find your course and select it. Then click "Select" to save. Now when your students log into their YuJa accounts, they will be able to access your published media when they click on your course channel.
Delete - deletes your media
Edit - launches the media editor, with which you can make simple trims and edits to your media, and adjust its captions
More - launches a window with the full suite of settings adjustment options (see next section)

More Settings and Options

These are brief descriptions of some of the most important additional settings available to you when mousing over a video and clicking "More."

General - adjust the Title, Description, add metatags, etc.

Thumbnails - you may change the thumbnail that is displayed to viewers by clicking any of the thumbnail options presented here and then "Save Thumbnails," or you may upload your own by clicking "Upload Custom Thumbnail" --> select your video --> "Add to Thumbnails" --> "Save Thumbnails"

Links - the "Direct Link" is the link you should use if wish to send someone a link to this media item (e.g. if you want to email a link to your video); "Embed this Video" is the embed code to use when embedding the item into a webpage or Blackboard

Downloads - under "Allow viewers to download," select "Enable" if you wish users (e.g. students) to be able to download your media item; otherwise, click "Disable," which is the default selection

Accessibility - here you may upload captions or a transcript if you have either, or request to have captions and a transcript created if you do not. You may upload captions in .srt, .xml, or .webvtt formats, and you may upload a transcript in plain text (.txt) or .pdf formats. In this section, you will also see a list of any Accessibility items that have already been created for your video, which you may download or delete from YuJa. See Captioning Your Videos for more information on creating and editing captions.

Password Protecting Your Videos

Mouse over a video and click "More." In the pop-up window, click "Links" and then "Security Settings" to assign access restrictions to your content. All uploads are made "public" by default, meaning anybody with a link to it will be able to view it. To password protect it instead, under Additional Restrictions, select "Password or Authentication Restriction" and then "Platform Authentication" to force viewers to have to sign in with their WPU username and password to access the content; or select "Simple Password" to enter your own custom password that viewers must enter to view the content. There are additional access restrictions available to you in this section as well.

Captioning Your Videos

YuJa will automatically add captions to videos that you upload with approximately 70% speech-to-text accuracy. You will receive an email notifying you when captions have been added to your video.

Manually Adjusting Captions

You can manually correct and adjust automated captions.

1. Sign into your YuJa account and in My Media, mouse over your video and click "Edit." You will be taken to the Media Editor.

2. Click on the "CC" icon at the right of the screen.

3. Click on the text of a caption you would like to alter and enter your correction. To create and add a new caption from scratch, use the blue "Add Caption" button. To outright delete a particular caption, click its associated trash icon.

4. When complete, click Save from the top menu.

Embedding into Blackboard

Faculty may link to YuJa videos in their Blackboard course shells or embed them. Embedding lets students watch videos directly within Blackboard without having to click on a link and exit out to the YuJa website.

Instructions

1. Mouse over a video and click "More."

2. In the ensuing pop-up window, click "Links" from the left-hand menu and copy everything in the "Embed this Video" text box.

3. Go to your course shell in Blackboard and navigate to the content area where you would like to embed this video.

4. Mouse over "Build Content" and click "Item" under the Create heading.

5. Add a name for your video and click the "Insert/Edit Embedded Media" icon within the text editor.

6. A new window will open. Click into the Source tab from the top menu and paste the embed code that you copied in step 2.

7. Click into the General tab and click "Insert" at the bottom right. The window will close.

8. Click "Submit" at the bottom right.

Instructions to Embed Without a URL

Follow these instructions to embed a YuJa video into Blackboard when you do not know its URL.

1. Go to your course shell in Blackboard and navigate to the content area where you would like to embed a media asset, such as a video.

2. Mouse over “Build Content” from the top menu and select “YuJa Media Chooser.”

3. Scroll down until you see the text box reading, “Search title or description term.” Here, either search by title to find the video you want to embed, or scroll further down and select the video from the list.

4. Click “Insert Videos” at the bottom right-hand corner.

5. You will now see your video embedded at the bottom of your content area. Consider switching to student preview mode and playing the video to confirm that it will play back properly for your students.

Student Uploads

Every active WPU student has a YuJa account by default. Students may upload content to their YuJa accounts and share it with their instructors by conducting the following steps.

1. Sign into YuJa

2. Along the left-hand menu, click on “My Media”

3. Click “Upload” from the top menu.

4. Select your media type (the default selection is “video”) and click the “Browse” button. Select the file you wish to upload and click “Open.”

5. Click on “Add Tags” underneath the Browse button. Add a title using the text box corresponding to the “Title” row and “Value” column. The other data fields are optional. Click Save.

6. Click “Start Upload.” You will see a graphic indicating that your video is uploading and another when it begins processing. When complete, your video will appear in your My Media area.

7. Mouse over the thumbnail of your video and click “Share”

8. In the “Share With” box, search for your professor's name and select it

9. In the dropdown box to the right, change “Full Access” to “Edit Access”

10. Click “Share” and then “Save”

11. Notify your instructor that you have shared your video. Your instructor will be able to log into his/her YuJa account and see your video in his/her "Shared with Me" folder.

Student Embedding into Blackboard

Students have the ability to link to the content they have uploaded to YuJa within a Discussion Board post in Blackboard or even embed their content directly into a Discussion Board post. Please note, though, that Discussion Board posts are visible to all students enrolled in the course. The following are instructions for students.

1. Mouse over a video that you have uploaded to your YuJa account and click "More."

2. In the ensuing pop-up window, click "Links" from the left-hand menu and copy everything in the "Embed this Video" text box.

3. Go to Blackboard and begin a Discussion Board post.

4. Enter the Subject in the associated text box and click the "Insert/Edit Embedded Media" icon within the text editor.

5. A new window will open. Click into the Source tab from the top menu and paste the embed code that you copied in step 2.