Reminders About Available (and Possibly Misunderstood) Instructional Technologies and Capabilities

Contributed by Jenni Willis-Opalenik – Director, Technology Learning Services

Recently, the IDT team assisted the University Technology Advisory Committee (UTAC) in disseminating the university’s LMS Survey. In reviewing survey data, we saw some open-ended comments that suggest a need for more information about a few existing tools and capabilities of which some instructors are unaware.

• Live video classroom capabilities…to have class online and in person at the same time. Two options are available to faculty from within Blackboard while teaching: (1) Zoom integration with Zoom to set up and conduct Zoom sessions that enable virtual students to “attend” your in-person class, and (2) Echo360’s lecture capture with live streaming.
• A video assignment (recorded presentations) submission portal that reduces video size automatically. Students can use Echo360 Universal Capture: Personal to create video presentations and save them in their Echo360 Library. They can then submit their video as a hyperlink in a Blackboard assignment drop box, discussion, or another area in a course. Our team has created a short “crash course” video, Student Presentations Using Echo360, for students on all of these Echo360 topics.
• I would like to see the data on student time spent within the course each day or week. Blackboard provides two options for faculty interested in student activity and performance data within a Blackboard course. For more information, you may want to review Blackboard’s support pages on Course Reports and the Retention Center.
• Download the Blackboard exam into Microsoft Word. I’m not sure whether this request references downloading a blank copy of an exam to Word for in-person use, or whether the instructor wants to be able to download students’ completed online exams to Word for offline grading. If the request is in reference to the first option, the IDT team’s staff can assist you. Simply email the Support Center to request assistance and your inquiry will be routed to our team. An instructional designer or learning technology administrator will be assigned to use Respondus Exam 4.0 to extract your online exam from Blackboard into a Word exam and answer key. Regarding the second option, we do not have a solution for that request available at this time.
• A product like Studio for video storage, and the capabilities to create video interactive quizzes. The university acquired Echo360 several years ago, and the IDT team continues to promote awareness of and provide training on that application for the following features: (1) video lecture/presentation recording, (2) storage for audio/video contents created in Echo360 or Zoom, or imported from another source, (3) modification of videos stored in Echo360 to include embedded questions for students to answer as they watch the video, and (4) accessing student viewing and response data. Please refer to the following IDT resources for more information on these features:Promoting Active Engagement with Within-Video Polls/Questions
• Video: Setting Zoom to Work with Echo360 [2:55]
• Video: Basic Upload to Echo360 [3:59]
• Video: Echo 360 Basics [13:31]
• Additional Echo360-related videos are available on the IDT team’s blog post, "Crash Course" Video Library.
• I would like to be able to add comments on written work that students can access without my having to download and save a file that I have to post back…Even better would be the ability to offer spoken comments that are recorded by the system. Blackboard provides some degree support for both of these requests. For more information, you may want to review Blackboard’s support pages on Assignment Inline Grading and Record Audio and Video Feedback.
• Creating tests in Blackboard is so painful that the thought of having to recreate the tests used in my lab classes is making me nauseous. Most were developed when the university had a license for Respondus 4.0, which greatly facilitated setting up automated tests, but since losing that option, the one or two quizzes I've had to create or modify have been tremendous time holes. UHCL still has Respondus Exam 4.0. However, when we needed to implement single sign-on (SSO) security protocols, making a connection between Respondus Exam 4.0 and Blackboard became problematic and frustrating. However, the IDT team regularly assists faculty with getting exam questions from a Word document into the Blackboard course(s) via Respondus. Simply email the Support Center and request that assistance. Your inquiry will be sent to the IDT team, and one of our Instructional Designers will be assigned to help you. For those faculty of a more “do it yourself” approach, we do have a DIY workaround that enables you to upload questions from a Word document into a Respondus exam, exporting/downloading the test from Respondus as a Blackboard-ready exam file, and importing that file into the Tests, Surveys, and Pools area in your Blackboard course. For more information about the workaround, please review the IDT team’s “crash course” video, Respondus Exam – Manual Workaround [5:49].

In addition to the specific resources referenced above, the IDT team encourages you to contact the Support Center to request more information about these features, or about anything related to instructional design and instructional technologies. You may do so by email at SupportCenter@uhcl.edu or by telephone at (281) 283-2828.

Echo360 New and Noteworthy Features

Echo360 continues to improve on its products and services and OIT's IDT team is pleased to announce the latest feature addition - in-browser video capture (recording). As many of you are aware, faculty and staff have been able to use Echo360's Universal Capture - Personal and Universal Capture - Classroom since OIT launched the application two years ago. However, those individuals who are unable to download and install Universal Capture - Personal to their work devices, tablets, and other hardware have been unable to use Echo360 lecture capture (recording)...until now. This new browser-based recording feature is currently in BETA testing; however, UHCL was invited to join the BETA testing, and browser-based capture is now available on our installation of Echo360. For more information, including a few limitations and caveats, please feel free to review the following support blog posts from Echo360:

• In-Browser Capture vs. Universal Capture
• Recording with In-Browser Capture

Echo360 for Students

Although not a new feature, we want to revisit the topic of student use of Echo360. Some instructors have begun having students upload their video presentations to Echo360 and then submit their work in Blackboard as a hyperlink to that storage location. However, students can also download and use Echo360's Universal Capture - Personal to create video presentations.

The IDT team is currently working on a new handout for students that covers information about downloading and installing Universal Capture, creating and saving video presentations in Echo360, and submitting presentations in Blackboard using a hyperlink to the student's Echo360 Library. That new resource should be created and posted online within the next two weeks. In the meantime, please let us know if you have ANY Echo360-related inquiries. Simply call or email OIT's Support Center to have a help ticket created and assigned to the most appropriate member of the IDT team.

New Echo360 Feature - Add and Remove Tracks from Media

Contributed by Jenni Willis-Opalenik, Ph.D., Director - OIT Technology Learning Services

As described in the latest update/release notes from Echo360, Add and Remove tracks allows you to start with a piece of media with one track and add other tracks to it (up to a total of 3 tracks). Or, conversely, you can start with a piece of media that has multiple tracks and remove or replace tracks down to 1 remaining track. You can continue to trim segments from both the original and the added media until you have a compilation that works for you.

This feature allows you to stitch together recordings that may have been captured separately for whatever reason but are better viewed together. It also allows you to remove or replace input sources that are not wanted, perhaps due to not recording correctly. 

For more information, see Adding, Removing, and Replacing Video or Audio Tracks in Echo360's online support resources.

Collaborate Recording Migration Update

Contributed by Jenn Ray, Learning Technology Administrator I

We’re happy to announce that the migration of Blackboard Collaborate recordings into Echo360 is complete! Echo360 was able to move over 14,000 recordings and assign them to a Collaborate-specific section for each user. If you already have access to Echo360 and you had recordings in Collaborate, you’ve probably already seen them show up in your library. If you are not already utilizing Echo360 but you know you had Collaborate recordings, please reach out to the Support Center so that we can get you set up. Once you’re into Echo360, you’ll be able to review your recordings and save or delete them from Echo360 as desired.

Blackboard Collaborate has been and will remain unavailable, and recordings will be deleted from Blackboard in May 2022, so Echo360 will be the only place where these recordings are available to you.

If you have any questions, or if you need access to Echo360 to review your Collaborate recordings, please reach out to the Support Center at SupportCenter@uhcl.edu or 281.283.2828.

Promoting Active Engagement with Within-Video Polls/Questions

Contributed by Jenni Willis-Opalenik, Ph.D., Director - OIT Technology Learning Services

Do you create and post video lectures or similar media content? Would you like to know whether students are watching them and, if so, whether they are retaining the information? If your videos are stored in and deployed from Echo360, there is an easy way to address these concerns using Echo360's polling feature and media analytics.

Polling (Embedded Questions)

Any audio or video content stored in Echo360 can be edited to include embedded questions. Echo360 refers to this function as Polling, so keep that in mind when searching their knowledge base for more information. Instructors can embed five types of questions:

• Multiple Choice
• Ordered List
• Short Answer
• Numeric Activity
• Image Quiz

Once you embed a question, students will watch the video as usual. However, when the video player reaches the point in the video where you placed a question, the video will stop and display that inquiry. After the student inputs an answer, they can click the play icon to continue the video. NOTE: One weakness of the Polling tool is that an individual can only answer a question once.

Polling Information/Resources

• Video - Crash Course: Embedded Questions in Videos [6:03]
• Web Page - Polls and Polling Questions - Overview
• Web Page - Adding Polls to Create Interactive Media
• Web Page - Adding, Editing, and Removing Embedded Polls in Interactive Media

Media Analytics

Echo360's second related tool is called Media Analytics. Instructors can use the Media Analytics tool to see whether and to what extent students view videos and see student responses to embedded questions (polls). You can easily access the Media Analytics tool from the Course Tools area of the Course Management menu in all UHCL Blackboard shells.

Media Analytics Information/Resources

• Video - Crash Course: Echo360 Media Analytics [4:06]
• Web Page - Viewing Echo360 Media Analytics for your LMS Course Media

For some insights into why embedded questions may provide a better video-supported learning experience for your students, we recommend that you look at two of the suggested articles posted in the next section of this week's newsletter. Of course, you can always request an appointment with a member of the Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) team to learn more about these tools/features! Contact OIT's Support Center at 281-283-2828 or supportcenter@uhcl.edu, and the support staff will create a help ticket and route it to the IDT team.

Creating Topics in Your Echo360 Course Section

Contributed by Jane Nguyen, Instructional Designer I (CSE)

In a recent article, Jenni discussed Echo360’s “collections” function which allows you to organize videos in your library, a repository that may become gargantuan and without rhyme or reason unless structured with appropriate labeling.

This week I want to expound on another organization tip, though not of your entire Echo360 library; instead, of videos, presentations & materials for a single course. As you may be aware, anytime you activate Echo360 in one of your Blackboard shells, a separate space is created in your Echo360 dashboard just for that course and is labeled with that course’s section #, term, etc. This way, when your students navigate to or are given links to view videos, they see only those that are relevant to the course they are taking, not the instructor’s entire video repertoire.

The problem is that you may have a lot of videos even within a single course, and organization is needed there too. You may wish to have collapsible topics rather than a long, seemingly never-ending litany of content. This makes a lot of sense, as the sheer volume of videos, even if labeled clearly, could become overwhelming to you and your students alike if some of it is not collapsed.

A solution is to create topics and place within each topic whatever videos, PowerPoint slides, or other materials go with that topic. On the screen, the students would see the materials under the topic, but they are also contained within the topic. Users (either you or your students) can toggle on the topic to, as needed, collapse the related video list out of view and un-collapse it back in view. Doing this imitates a LinkedIn Learning style navigation, which many people find visually appealing and easy to use.

Here’s what you should do for the desired effect. Once you are logged into the main screen of your Echo360 account, you should see these items on the top menu: Library, Courses, Collections, and Create (the latter is in blue). Click on Courses. Then, choose the course you want to organize.

Once you are in the course you want to organize the content for, notice the two blue buttons on the top right: New Class Group and New Class.

• New Class Group is what you will click to create a topic, which Echo360 describes as: “a container to group classes/lessons in Echo360. These groups are designed to allow instructors or teaching assistants to organize lectures with similar subject matter, or to group several pieces of media (contained in classes) together that pertain to a single topic.”
• 
  
• New Class can be kind of confusing in that it actually means a single lesson, lecture video, presentation, or material. It is not a whole course.

So, to create a topic, click on New Class Group and call the topic whatever you want to (it could be something like “Lesson 1: Emerging Technologies” [or whatever is appropriate to your course). Contained in that topic (and appearing under it) would be videos, presentations, and materials related to Emerging Technologies. As mentioned previously, New Class refers to the actual videos, presentations, and materials that you add.

What is described above is your starting point. I would recommend watching this short how-to video for a few additional steps that are better demonstrated visually than described in written words: Creating Collapsible Topics in a Course Section of Echo360. In the end, you will have organized your content for a single course in a way that lets your students review material quickly and efficiently in the “LinkedIn Learning” format that many people find intuitive and convenient.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to a member of the IDT team. We are happy to assist.

Student Video Submissions from Echo360 to Blackboard

Contributed by Sam Houston - Learning Technology Administrator 

If you will be having students submit videos as graded assignments, we recommend having them first upload their videos to their Echo360 libraries, then submit a link to their video assignment in Blackboard, instead of directly uploading those videos into your courses. Having students upload links instead of video files keeps your course file size small, so that your course continues to get backed up.

As reported in our March 29, 2021 newsletter, your students can upload their own video projects into Echo360 and then submit a hyperlink to their video in an assignment dropbox, discussion, or other Blackboard tools for review and grading.

Even if you don't use Echo360 to create and store videos, you may still enable students to access Echo360 in your course for these types of activities. Simply add an Echo360 link to your Course Menu and let them know that it's there for them to use for video submissions. Adding this link to your course menu also enables your students to create their own Echo360 accounts.

A "how-to" document for students has been created to assist with adding saved mp4 files to an Echo360 library, so feel free to share this with your students. 

Since students can also have licensed Zoom accounts, they can create recordings for assignments using Zoom that can be automatically uploaded into their Echo360 libraries. Students who are unsure about the type of Zoom account they have will need to email the Support Center to request a Zoom licensed account. Once a student has a licensed Zoom account, they should be able to record their videos to the cloud by following these steps: 

1. Log in to https://uhcl.zoom.us/ with your UHCL credentials.
2. Click "Meetings" in the menu on the left.
3. Click Schedule a meeting.
4. When choosing the settings for the Zoom meeting(s), make sure to select the option to record to the cloud. By doing so, any Zoom meetings you record to the cloud will automatically be uploaded into the Echo360 library.
5. Once the Zoom recordings have been uploaded to the Echo360 library, follow the instructions in the "how-to" document starting with step 7. (Click on the thumbnail for the video that was uploaded) to submit the recording in Blackboard. 

For more information about recording and saving a presentation in Zoom, visit the new Zoom Learning Center to enroll in and complete the short course, Record Your Meeting or Webinar. When prompted to enter your email and password, use your UHCL computer account credentials.

For information about the Echo360-related steps, refer to our support document, Submitting Video Assignments in Blackboard Via Echo360.

If your students find that they are unable to record to the cloud or if they have any questions, please have them contact the Support Center (supportcenter@uhcl.edu).

Echo360 Student Viewing Trends

Contributed by Jenni Willis-Opalenik, Ph.D., Director - OIT Technology Learning Services

One of the biggest "lessons learned" from teaching during the pandemic has been faculty interest in using video recordings to deliver some of their instructional content. Although the easiest way to create and deploy video contents is to capture regular class-length lectures, delivered very similarly to how one might lecture in a face-to-face class. However, while students will often sit through a 90 minute (or longer) in-person lecture, viewing data suggests they are far less likely to watch long recorded lectures. As the accompanying chart indicates, the average length of videos being recorded in or uploaded to Echo360 has steadily climbed in the past year. However, student viewing habits have remained largely unchanged. On average, students watch any specific video on UHCL's Echo360 system for fewer than 15 minutes.

What might we learn from this information? There are many possible interpretations. Students may watch the same video multiple times and simply start each viewing session in a different location. Students might also only be watching a brief portion of course videos. Students could also be viewing videos at a faster playback speed (I tend to watch most videos at 1.5x playback speed). However, it might be worthwhile in a midterm survey or brief class discussion to gather information from your specific students regarding how they use your class videos and how videos might be improved. Should you choose to reflect on video use in your own courses, the IDT team offers the following reminders about Echo360 and its less familiar tools and features:

• The video editor enables you to take a long video and separate it into smaller "bite sized" pieces.
• The Polling tool allows you to strategic place questions throughout your videos, designed to offset mindless viewing by making students reflect on short sections and respond to questions about information just presented.
• Instructors also have the ability to use Echo360 Analytics to review the video watching habits within their own classes. 

For more information about any of these options, please contact OIT's Support Center and a help ticket will be assigned to a member of our IDT team who will follow up with you.

New Feature: Introducing Echo360 Collections

Contributed by Jenni Willis-Opalenik, Ph.D., Director - OIT Technology Learning Services

One of my pet peeves about Echo360 has been its lack of a mechanism to organize my Echo360 Library. With my library quickly approaching 900 files, some type of folder structure would provide a welcome relief. I am pleased to announce that Echo360 has recently launched such a solution - Echo360 Collections.

Echo360 Collections replaces the previous Groups feature in Echo360. However, it also extends the functionality of the tool so that users can create Collections "folders" into which they can organize the contents of their Library. NOTE: Adding a video from your Library does not remove it from the Library itself; however, the Collections folders make it easier to locate specific videos. For a quick look at the new feature, please watch our team's video, Crash Course - Echo360 Collections [3:29]​.

You may also want to review some of the support pages from Echo360 about Collections, especially the following:

• Collections - Overview
• Adding Media to a Collection

For more information about Collections, please use the links in this article to review Echo360's help resources. You can also always contact the Support Center and request assistance from a member of OIT's IDT team.

Adding Closed Captions to Echo360 Videos

Contributed by Jenni Willis-Opalenik, Ph.D., Director - OIT Technology Learning Services

In our previous newsletter, I described how Echo360 videos get accompanying transcripts and how faculty and others can access those transcripts while watching videos. In this week's article, I'll tackle a related topic...how users can caption their audio and video files in Echo360. Faculty and staff no longer have to work with the Accessibility Support Center to get audio or video files sent to a pay-per-minute captioning service, and then wait for the captioned file to return for deployment in Blackboard. With Echo360, generating closed captions for any video (MP4) or audio (MP3) file is a simple process that any user can perform:

1. Upload your new audio or video file into your Echo360 Library.
2. Wait for the auto-generated transcript to appear. NOTE: This can take up to 24 hours, depending on the size of the file and demand on the system.
3. Return to your Echo360 Library and click on the video tile or link to open it.
4. Click the Edit Transcript link located below the video screen.
5. [Optional] Review and edit the transcript text for any inaccuracies.
6. Click the Apply to CC button, located above the transcript text pane. The CC icon below the video will then light up, indicating that closed captions are present and available to viewers.

For a video demonstration of this procedure, please watch our latest Crash Course video, Crash Course - Echo360 Captioning [4:23].

For more information about captions or transcripts, please use the links in this article to review Echo360's help resources. You can also always contact the Support Center and request assistance from OIT's IDT team.

About Transcripts in Echo360 Videos

In 2021, the IDT team enabled transcripts and captioning for videos created in and uploaded to Echo360. However, many users are unaware of these services. This week, we'll reintroduce Echo360 transcripts. As described on Echo360’s support post, Viewing Media Transcripts, “Viewing the text of the speech along with the video/audio can help reinforce understanding and retention of the material. In addition, the transcript can be searched to find specific locations in the media to review, and can be downloaded to augment your study materials.” Echo360 also enables faculty to readily review and edit automatically generated transcripts.

When a transcript is available, a transcript icon will appear below the video for the viewer. IMPORTANT! Faculty will NOT see the icon in their Instructor view within Echo360. However, you will see a link to edit the transcript. When the transcript icon is clicked, a transcript window will appear along side the video and the text for the audio track will be highlighted in the transcript as the video plays.

For more information about transcripts, please use the links in this article to review Echo360's help resources. You can also always contact the Support Center and request assistance from OIT's IDT team

Vendor Updates and Reminders - February 2022

Reminders from ProctorU - Midterms are Right Around the Corner

As we approach the Midterms season, here are some important best practices to consider while using online proctoring.

• Provide your students with our best practices by sharing the Five Steps for Success guides.
• Please ensure that all exams are entered at least 2-3 weeks in advance of the exam start date.
• Encourage students to schedule their appointments at least a week in advance or at the minimum 72 hours in advance of their desired appointment time.
• We can accommodate up to 300 test-takers per hour and need at minimum a 1-hour window for every exam entered.
• Communicate expectations, relay permitted resources for exams, and codes of conduct with students so they are prepared for their ProctorU session.
• MythBusters addresses common misconceptions students have about online proctoring.

In need of a refresher on how to use the ProctorU system? Sign up for ProctorU 101 below.

• ProctorU 101 for Live+ and Review+ Exams
• ProctorU 101 for Record+ Exams

Best of luck on Midterms!

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Upcoming Webinar from Echo360

Session: Maximize Your Hybrid and Remote Teaching: Video Engagement for You and Your Students
Wednesday, February 23 at 11:00 AM EST | 4:00 PM GMT
Presented By:

• Dr. Linsey Donner, Assistant Professor, College of Allied Health Professions, University of Nebraska Medical Center
• Marnie Imhoff, Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center

In this webinar, our presenters will discuss the use of Echo360 among other technologies to best fit your class format. Examples will be provided for different course modalities to include online asynchronous, hybrid, and in-person class formats. They will also demonstrate how their use of Echo360 allowed for adoption of active learning strategies, which has shown to increase student engagement, course satisfaction, and performance.

To register for this event, please use the following hyperlink: https://blog.echo360.com/hybrid-online-teaching-webinars-22

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Getting Started with Echo360

This relatively new website created by Echo360 offers an excellent starting point for your Echo360 journey. The site is "here to provide Instructors a walk-through of the more commonly used features of Echo360. The pages contain click-through infographics, videos, links to our online documentation, and Quick Reference Card links, available for viewing and download as PDFs."

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Echo360 New Features and Enhancements

• January 25-26, 2022 Updates - To learn more about these items, as well as recently applied fixes, visit Echo360's support article, Deployment Notes: 25-26 January 2022.
• Users can now apply a Custom Thumbnail/Preview image for Video and Audio Media
• Improved accessibility for media transcripts
• iOS devices can now play embedded media without enabling cookies
• February 9-10, 2022 Updates - To learn more about these items, as well as recently applied fixes, visit Echo360's support article, Deployment Notes: 9-10 February 2022.
• Introducing Collections
• Consolidated Analytics
• New Question and Answer report in the Reporting API
• New Public API for Custom Thumbnail
• Accessibility Enhancements

2020 Zoom-to-Echo360 Video Migrations In Progress

UPDATE! Thank you to the many UHCL faculty and staff who have already responded to our team's email regarding ongoing Zoom recording deletions! Our team emailed 186 faculty and staff members who own the nearly 4300 Zoom video recordings from the 2020 calendar year to determine whether they wanted us to delete those old recordings, or whether they preferred our assistance in migrating the videos from Zoom into Echo360. If you received an email from our team about 2020 Zoom recordings, please do take a few moments to review and respond to that inquiry.

Beginning in 2021, we integrated our Zoom and Echo360 environments. As a result, if you have activated your Echo360 account and you elect to have your Zoom recordings "save to the cloud," they will be saved both temporarily in Zoom and in your Echo360 Library for long-term storage and deployment. Our team will then periodically identify Zoom cloud recordings that also exist in Echo360 and remove those from Zoom storage. Faculty and staff are advised to consider Zoom cloud storage as a temporary holding space for video recordings, with Echo360 as the tool for long-term storage, retrieval, and sharing.

For more information about the transfer process for 2020 Zoom cloud recordings, or to learn more about the Echo360 video storage environment, please contact the Support Center to have your inquiry sent to a member of our Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) team.

New Echo360 Feature: Set Video Thumbnail

Echo360 recently made some changes to its video editing tools. Last week, one of our wonderful faculty members pointed out to us that included in those new features was the ability to Set Video Thumbnail. Previously, when using Echo360’s video editing tools, users weren’t able to choose a thumbnail for their video. This means that you can choose the moment in your video that you would like presented when the video is not playing. In addition to choosing a moment from the video, you can also upload a custom image for the thumbnail that isn’t part of the video.

We have included links to Echo360’s help pages about both the video editing tools overall and the specific page for setting a video thumbnail, but the basic steps to access the “Set Video Thumbnail” option are as follows. For a complete support document, including screen captures for each step, please review our team's online tutorial file, Echo360 Feature: Set Video Thumbnail.

1. Click the card in your library for the video you wish to edit.
2. On the resulting page, click “Edit Media”
3. Click “Okay” on the pop-up warning that your changes will affect all places this media was published (this message may not appear on videos that have not been shared yet).
4. Click and drag the blue play head to the location in the video where you would like to pull the thumbnail from.
5. Click the menu icon in the center of the play head (three horizontal lines), then click Set Thumbnail
6. On the Set Thumbnail screen, you can choose the current location to set as your thumbnail, or if you prefer you can choose to upload a custom image. Once you’ve chosen the option you prefer (and uploaded your custom image if that’s what you chose), click Set Thumbnail.
7. Once you’ve set the thumbnail as you’d like, click “Save” at the right side of the screen below where the video is displayed. At this point, your video will now have the thumbnail that you have chosen!

For more information on the video editing tools in Echo360 or for their guide on using the Set Video Thumbnail tool, please check out the following links:

• Using the Echo360 Video Media Editor
• Applying a Custom Thumbnail/Preview Image for Video or Audio Media

As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Support Center (281.283.2828, SupportCenter@uhcl.edu) with any questions you may have for us!

Notice: Echo360 Notifications Currently Turned Off

Over the last week we’ve heard from several faculty members that their recordings aren’t being transferred from Zoom to Echo360. Rest assured that this integration is still intact and working as intended. The reason you are not receiving the typical email from Echo360 letting you know when your recording is available is that we currently have those emails turned off in our Echo360 system. This is a necessary step for a migration project we are working on with Echo. If we left them on, certain users would be inundated with emails as the migration project progresses. The only way to avoid this is to have notifications turned off for everyone while this project is still active. Once we have completed this migration, we should be able to turn these notifications back on. In the meantime, for recordings that are being added to Echo360 as a result of the Zoom integration, you will simply need to check your Echo360 library at minimum one (1) hour after you receive your email from Zoom about your recording. Keep in mind that the longer/larger a recording is, the longer it will take to upload from Zoom over to Echo360 so do not worry if your recording isn’t available after an hour.

If you find that you’ve waited a substantial amount of time (say, overnight) and your recording is still not appearing in your Echo360 library, please let us know and we’ll investigate.

To check your Echo360 Library, simply log in to Echo360 via the link below (using your UHCL email address/log in credentials) and then click “Library” in the top left corner of the screen.

https://login.echo360.org/login

As always, if you have any questions about this or any other Zoom/Echo360 related issues, please contact the Support Center (281.283.2828, SupportCenter@uhcl.edu) and a member of our team will be in touch to assist.

Upcoming 2020 Zoom-to-Echo360 Video Migrations

As more faculty embrace the use of Zoom to record and deploy lecture recordings, video tutorials, and virtual class meetings, UHCL's available Zoom cloud storage is nearing capacity. To avoid incurring substantial costs associated with more storage, the IDT team is beginning an effort to reduce Zoom cloud storage by helping 186 faculty and staff members cull and/or migrate the nearly 4300 Zoom video recordings from the 2020 calendar year into Echo360 for long-term storage. We expect to send initial email inquiries to faculty/staff with 2020 videos stored in the Zoom cloud early next week, and we would greatly appreciate everyone's cooperation in this effort so that we can make temporary storage space available for SP22 recordings.

Beginning in 2021, we integrated our Zoom and Echo360 environments. As a result, if you have activated your Echo360 account and you elect to have your Zoom recordings "save to the cloud," they will be saved both temporarily in Zoom and in your Echo360 Library for long-term storage and deployment. Our team will then periodically identify Zoom cloud recordings that also exist in Echo360 and remove those from Zoom storage. Faculty and staff are advised to consider Zoom cloud storage as a temporary holding space for video recordings, with Echo360 as the tool for long-term storage, retrieval, and sharing.

For more information about the transfer process for 2020 Zoom cloud recordings, or to learn more about the Echo360 video storage environment, please contact the Support Center to have your inquiry sent to a member of our Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) team.

Disabling Student Downloads of Echo360 Videos

Adapted from Wayne State University’s web page, How do I disable class content downloads in Echo360?

 

By default, students and instructors can download content published to a class. Follow the steps below if you do not want students or other instructors to download your classroom content.

 

1.     Login to Blackboard.

2.     Navigate to the course where you want to disable the ability for students to download content.

3.     Click the Echo360 content link to access course recordings.

4.     Click Settings in the upper right corner.

5.     Click Features in the left margin.

6.     Toggle the Content downloads switch off to disable it (it is enabled by default).

7.     Click OK to confirm.

8.     The Download option will now be grayed out for all class content, for both students and instructors for this section.

If you have any questions about this procedure, or anything else related to Echo360, please contact OIT's Support Center at 281-283-2828 or SupportCenter@uhcl.edu.