Since the summer of 2017, VIUTube has been powered by a Kaltura service licensed through BCNET and hosted at UBC. This local shared service is at the end of its life and will no longer be available starting September 2022. The end of this service means that we must move our VIUTube service to a new home.
The Center for Innovation and Excellence in Learning (CIEL) is currently working with the IT department to determine the best provider for VIUTube. Once we are able to share more details about this we will. For now, just know that we are carefully evaluating our options to ensure we select the best option for the VIU community.
No matter where VIUTube moves to, there are a couple of things that every VIUTube user can do to prepare for the move and make transitioning to a new service go smoothly.
Clean Out Media You No Longer Need
VIU employees and students have uploaded over 35,000 media files to VIUTube since January 2020, bringing our total collection to more than 50,000 media files. Many of these files have only been viewed a handful of times and may no longer be needed.
When we move VIUTube to a new home we will need to migrate all of our content and will be charged according to how much content we are migrating. If you have media in your My Media which you no longer need, you can help VIU by deleting this content any time between now and March 1, 2022.
Delete Videos from My Media
- Go to https://viuvideos.viu.ca/my-media (log in with your Computer Account if prompted)
- Check the box to the left of the video(s), image(s), or other file(s) you want to delete
- Click ACTIONS in the upper right of the page and select Delete
- You will see a confirmation pop-up asking if you want to permanently delete your item. Click Delete to confirm.
Please note that deleted media files cannot be recovered. If you do not need a video to be on VIUTube, but don’t want to lose the content entirely, we suggest downloading the source file and saving it offline. You can find the steps to download your media on our website.
Create a List of Links/Embeds to Update
When we move VIUTube all of the current video links and embed codes will no longer work. CIEL staff will be available to help update links and embed codes over the summer once our media has been migrated to the new service. However, in order to update your video links and embed codes, we need to know exactly where those items are located in your VIULearn Course or on your VIUBlogs site.
Over the next few months, we recommend creating a list of pages in your VIULearn courses or VIUBlogs sites where you have videos which you intend to reuse beyond the summer of 2022. If you would like CIEL to help you update your videos, we will require a list of exact locations for your files so we can swap your links for you.
Even if you do not need CIEL to help you with updating your media, this can be a great time to review the video content you are currently using and decide which files are worth carrying forward and a reference sheet will help you update and check these files in the fall.
If you are responsible for a page on the VIU website or have content on other sites which is hosted through VIUTube, you will need to update that content yourself. CIEL will be able to help you find your new links, embed codes, or podcast RSS feeds, but we cannot update your site or feed for you.
Have Questions?
CIEL staff are happy to answer questions you may have about this change and how you can prepare for it. You can contact us by email at learnsupport@viu.ca or call 250-740-6179.
You may also want to subscribe to our blog. This is where we will post first when we have more details to share about the new VIUTube service. Subscribers will receive an email when a new post is published. You can unsubscribe at any time.