August 2021 Updates for UCalgary Learning Technologies

Here are some of the changes and updates for learning technology that may be helpful for instructors to know about.

eLearn

We introduced a new guide for 5 things you can do in Top Hat.

Brightspace/D2L

As mentioned, earlier in August, the Brightspace editor has changed. You’ll notice particularly that the “Insert Stuff” button has moved to the middle of the toolbar. The assignment creation and evaluation experiences have also changed. There are also some small updates to the date-picker when choosing dates for activities within D2L. There have also been some minor updates to the the rubric tool, allowing it to function better with screen readers and improving criteria selection.

YuJa

YuJa has updated the integrated video editor to offer simple and advanced modes. They have also made several updates to the video platform to make it easier to select and share videos. Of particular interest may be the new Custom Auto-Caption Dictionaries.

There have also been several updates to the recording software, particularly for the MacOS version. These include options for selecting between several input sources and several new features to make the recorder easier to use.

Zoom

Zoom has introduced focus mode, which allows the host to prevent participants for seeing each other’s video during a meeting.