Category: ReCap Original

This is a quick guide for Staff on some quick and easy things you can do to signpost content for Students within longer ReCap recordings, for example recordings of your live teaching sessions.

This YuJa guide describes some helpful tools built into the ReCap player to help Students navigate and search within a recording (YuJa is the software which powers ReCap).

You can do the following to help Students use those tools more quickly and effectively:

WHAT YOU CAN DO	EFFORT	HOW IT HELPS
Post any slides you use during ReCap recordings on Blackboard. Add title slides with large text at the start of each section of content.	low	Students can use as a reference for a visual search in the ReCap player using the SHOW THUMBNAILS option from Settings Cog.
Stay near the podium or use a wireless mic during live session recording. Pause and clearly enunciate new topics / sections of content.	low	Students can search auto-generated captions in the ReCap player using the SHOW SIDEBAR options from the Settings Cog.  Clearer audio = better captions.
Where embedding recordings in Blackboard site folders, Publish them also the Blackboard site’s ReCap Channel.	low	Students can only access the interactive transcript feature, which is a jumping off point to any part of the video, when playing a ReCap recording published to a Blackboard site’s ReCap Channel (the first screen after clicking on the ReCap link).
Bookmark key points within live session recordings using the Comment tool in the ReCap player (see image below). Contact your Digital Academic Developer for advice and support.	med	Students can see comments on the timeline (circled below) and click on the purple dot to jump straight to them (see image below).
‘Chunk’ any pre-recorded input you make into smaller, focussed bits.	med	Students can go straight to the recording with the content they need.

TELL YOUR STUDENTS WHICH OF THE ABOVE YOU HAVE DONE

Comment tool in the ReCap player:

Timeline showing comments:

ReCap submissions use a standard Blackboard Assignment submission point.  Students can embed into their Blackboard Assignment submission media that they have first uploaded into ReCap.

Some 21/22 Blackboard Original modules are still ‘teaching out’ or being used by students under the ‘trail and progress’ route, whereas many will now be interacting with the new 22/23 Blackboard Ultra sites, please select below which guidance you require:

ReCap for Assessment in Blackboard Original (Index Page)
ReCap for Assessment in Blackboard Ultra (Index Page)

ReCap Housekeeping

Alternative quality versions of your content are automatically made by ReCap to enable smoother playback across a range of connection speeds.  If your content hasn’t been viewed for 3 years these alternative quality versions will be deleted as part of the ReCap housekeeping process in order to manage storage costs.  The original version of the video will remain playable, albeit with potential buffering on slower connections.  Content owners can also recreate the alternative quality versions, called ‘transcodes’ by YuJa (the software which powers ReCap), at any time in the following way.

Locate the content in your My Media area in ReCap.  Hover the cursor over the content and select More…

Expand the More Options section within the More… menu and select Transcodes:

Tick any currently unavailable alternative quality versions that you want to recreate:

Click the Save Transcodes button to request recreation of the alternative quality versions.

Close the More… menu, return later and re-open to check progress.  Recreated alternative quality versions will say Finished:

If after some time they are still showing as Not Available, check that you clicked Save Transcodes when requesting their recreation, before closing the More… menu.  For support, or to request creation of alternative versions of higher qualities, CCCU Staff can contact their Digital Academic Developer and for KMMS Staff the Digital Education team.

ReCap Housekeeping

You can yourself restore centrally removed content from your My Archive area for up to 6 months, after which it will be permanently deleted.  Note: restoring content, although automated, can take up to several hours.

Simply locate the removed contact you want to restore in your My Archive area, hover the cursor over it and click Restore:

You will receive a confirmation e-mail that your restore request has been received, and another when it has been restored (which can take up to several hours).

Content is restored to a Himalayas Restored folder in your My Media area (Himalayas is the ReCap archive facility):

You can move restored content from the Himalayas Restored folder using its More… menu.  Hover the cursor over the content and select More…

Select Move Media from the Actions menu:

IMPORTANT: You will need to re-publish it as required to any Blackboard sites’ ReCap channels.  Restored content is immediately playable again for you in your My Media area, also where embedded within the content of a Blackboard site using the ReCap Media Chooser (formerly called the YuJa Media Chooser) before being removed to the archive.

ReCap Housekeeping

Remaining content still flagged for removal after the opt-out period (see When does ReCap housekeeping happen?) will be removed to a temporary archive ‘recycle bin’ from where it can be restored for up to 6 months, after which it will be permanently deleted. 

You can see a list of your content removed in your personal My Archive area in ReCap, towards the bottom of the left-hand navigation bar:

Removed content is no longer playable, neither by yourself nor anyone you had provided access to it.  It will be automatically removed from any Blackboard sites’ ReCap Channels you had published it to.  Where embedded within the content of a Blackboard site using the ReCap Media Chooser (formerly called the YuJa Media Chooser) a message will be shown to say it has been archived:

Note: the term ‘recycle bin’ here is used in a metaphorical sense only in relation to temporary storage of centrally removed content in an archive area as part of annual ReCap housekeeping.  It should not be confused with an actual ReCap recycle bin where content you yourself delete goes and which is accessed via your YuJa account profile (YuJa is the software which powers ReCap).

ReCap Housekeeping

Content is flagged for removal based on the standard retention period for live session recordings.  You can unflag content from being removed, and (optionally) flag it to be ignored from being flagged for removal in future years’ housekeeping, during an opt-out period (see When does ReCap housekeeping happen?), so long as accordance with the DLC policies (see How long can Staff content be kept for?).

To do so you need to open the content’s More… menu.  How you do this depends on whether you are looking at the results of a search for content flagged for removal or directly at individual content in your My Media area.

Accessing the More.. menu from search results

Click on the title of the content in the search results.  It will be highlighted in a blue surround as shown below:

With the content selected click on the MORE ACTIONS menu towards the top of the page and select MORE…

Accessing the More.. menu directly from individual content in your My Media area

Hover the cursor over the content and select More…

Unflagging and flagging

ReCap housekeeping flags are set in the Tags section on the General page within the content’s More… menu (you may need to scroll down a little):

Note: tags are the technical option we are using in YuJa, the software that powers ReCap, to flag content for removal.

To unflag content flagged for removal simply delete the FLAGGEDFORREMOVAL tag by clicking the X next to it:

You must click the Save General button to save the change, or the tag will not be deleted when you close the More… menu.

To exclude the content from being flagged for removal in subsequent years, add a KEEP tag:

You must click the Save General button to save the change, or the new tag will not be added when you close the More… menu.

Note: only the exact phrase KEEP will work, nothing shorter or longer (tags automatically have a # prefix added).  KEEP tags will only work as far as the hard limit of 10 years, after which they will be ignored (see What can I do to keep my content when it reaches the ‘hard limit’ of 10 years).

Click the Close button to exit the More… menu.  You can confirm your content has unflagged/flagged at any time by re-opening the More… menu.

NOTE: you may need to wait several minutes after deleting the FLAGGEDFORREMOVAL tag before it will be excluded from a search for your contact flagged for removal.

ReCap Housekeeping

Access ReCap via any Blackboard Module-level site and go to your ‘My Media’ area.

Click to highlight the My Media section in the left-hand navigation bar.

Click in the Search box above the left-hand navigation bar and tick the Restrict Visual Search to Current Folder option from the drop-down menu:

Highlighting My Media and ticking this option ensures you search only your own content and not others’ content you have access to view (e.g. shared with you or published to Blackboard sites you have access to).

Type (or copy and paste) tags:FLAGGEDFORREMOVAL into the search box then click the magnifying glass icon:

IMPORTANT: it must be this exact search term.  Use the tags: prefix (not flags:).  Tags are the way we are flagging content for remail in YuJa, the software that powers ReCap.  Without tags: it will search automatically generated captions across all of your content and may match content that has not been flagged for removal.  The whole phrase FLAGGEDFORREMOVAL must be used as partial phrases do not work with tags.

Any content flagged for removal will be listed to the right of the navigation bar:

If your search found content you didn’t expect, first check if there is a Load More link at the bottom of the search results page:

then check you searched for tags:FLAGGEDFORREMOVAL exactly, and ticked the Restrict Visual Search to Current Folder option from the drop-down menu first. 

Note: to search again you must first clear your previous search by clicking X next to it:

In the example above a subsequent, correct search is ‘stacked’ after a previous, incorrect search (which didn’t include the ‘tags:’ part), meaning no content flagged for removal is found.  Click the X to clear the previous search. If unsure that the list of content flagged for removal the search returns is correct, CCCU Staff can contact their Digital Academic Developer and for KMMS Staff the Digital Education team.

This short video tutorial covers how to check your own ReCap content flagged for removal, unflag and (optionally) add your own flag to ignore in future years’ housekeeping, and locate and restore removed content.  You can jump straight to the relevant part within the video by using the comment markers on the timeline (circled below):

The ReCap housekeeping process covers the annual removal of relevant Staff content in ReCap and deletion of ReCap accounts for Staff and Students who have left, with a provision for retaining any ReCap media Students have submitted for assessment.  It has been designed in accordance with the respective digital learning capture (DLC) policies and assessment retention requirements for Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) and Kent & Medway Medical School (KMMS).

Staff content specifically requires an annual removal process to:

1. meet the requirement of the DLC policies to remove recordings of live teaching sessions after a specified retention period (CCCU: end of academic year after academic year created in; KMMS: when cohort the recording was made for have completed), and
2. ensure other content no longer needed is removed to manage storage costs.

Removal of Staff content is managed through an ‘opt-out’ model which involves all content older than the specified retention periods for live teaching session recordings being flagged for removal, with the option for Staff to unflag content which they need to keep (so long as in accordance with the DLC policies).  Any content older than a ‘hard limit’ of 10 years will be removed regardless, unless there are exceptional circumstances, and alternative quality versions automatically made by ReCap will be deleted for content not viewed for 3 years.

No Student content will be removed until their ReCap accounts are deleted after they have completed their studies, at which point any media they have submitted for assessment will be centrally archived.

The ReCap housekeeping process covers the annual removal of relevant Staff content in ReCap and deletion of ReCap accounts for Staff and Students who have left, with a provision for retaining any ReCap media Students have submitted for assessment (more…).

See Technical Instructions for

• searching for content flagged for removal
• unflagging content from being removed and (optionally) flagging content to be ignored in future years’ housekeeping
• locating and restoring removed content
• recreating alternative quality versions of content

See the FAQ for more information about the

• process and stakeholder input to its development
• future development of DLC policy
• transfer of content from staff who have left
• managing content which has reached the hard limit

CCCU Staff: contact your Digital Academic Developer for further advice and support.
KMMS Staff: please note process and timescales may vary.  Contact the Digital Education team for advice.