April 2024
New
- In-app post-session survey now available after a participant leaves the session. To see the survey, participants should exit via the red door icon.
- Experience Hub onboarding guides participants through features of the Reception area.
Improvements
- Improved flow for participants asking to become a questioner or speaker in the Auditorium.
- When inviting people to join a Space from the in-session button, participants may now paste comma separated values, columns, or lists in addition to inviting individual participants.
- For sessions with 6 or fewer participants, user circle size will be scaled up to provide a seamless face-to-face conversational experience.
February 2024
New
- AI summary and action items available from the Recording Dashboard – when recording a session with the transcript button toggled to ‘on,’ InSpace generates a shareable AI summary and action items based on the session content.
- 500 user support in the Auditorium – in both standalone and Experience Hub Auditoriums, capacity is now 500 users. Alongside this, the capacity of the Experience Hub has also increased to 500.
- Attendee onboarding flow now live in the Auditorium – new participants, including co-hosts, will see an onboarding flow with information about locating themselves, how to ask questions, and how to participate in the session.
Improvements
- Background blur functionality now available in the Auditorium
January 2024
Improvements
- Clicking the ‘watch recording’ button in a shared recording notification email redirects to the InSpace Recordings Dashboard
- Accessibility improvements, including keyboard control fixes
December 2023
Improvements
- Bug fixes related to participant location in Space, chat functionalities, and calendar add-on.
November 2023
New
- InSpace Active Campus First Iteration available in Brightspace D2L
- The Active Campus installs on your LMS or portal and provides one-click access to custom Experience Hub spaces you design.
Improvements
- While using the web application, participants can adjust the default skin tone used for emojis, thumbs up, and raised hands with InSpace.
- iOS users can make the changes on the web application and see the changes in the InSpace iOS app.
Minor
- For participants experiencing audio issues, reloading the page will resolve most situations.
- Bug fixes related to ‘Pin to Gallery’ feature.
October 2023
New
- InSpace Active Campus First Iteration available in Canvas
- The Active Campus installs on your LMS or portal and provides one-click access to custom Experience Hub spaces you design.
- Google Calendar Integration Directly from InSpace:
- Hosts can now integrate their Space with Google Calendar directly during a session. This feature simplifies the process of setting a Space (including subspaces and co-hosted spaces) as the default calendar event location, ensuring seamless scheduling for users.
Improvements
- Chat Interaction and Visibility Enhancements:
- Users can now pop out the chat into a new window or tab, giving them more screen space and focus during sessions. On Macs with full screen, a new window will open instead of a new tab.
- When the chat is detached, and the user clicks the chat icon, the chat window will foreground, providing easy access to messages without interrupting other tasks.
- Edited messages will now show a note indicating they’ve been modified, promoting transparency within the Space.
- Changes in the chat sections ensure that participants see messages from others enrolled in the same section, while TAs and instructors have visibility across all sections.
- Persistent Chat Settings:
- Chat settings, such as enabling/disabling chat or direct messages, are now saved for future sessions to maintain consistency and save time.
- Users will be notified of chat settings each time they join a Space, ensuring they are aware of the current configuration.
Minor
- Experience Hub Chat Consistency:
- The chat within the Experience Hub now functions identically to the standalone version, improving reliability and user expectations.
- Session chats will no longer be saved once closed, preserving privacy and space.
- Experience Hub Integration Simplification:
- The setup of the Experience Hub for advising purposes from the CRM now creates a consistent Experience Hub across all courses where it’s installed. The integration admin, whose email is provided during setup, becomes the owner of the Hub, streamlining administration and support for unlimited users.
September 2023
New
- Invite Participants to Join Your Space
- Registered and signed-in participants in a Space can now invite others directly from the attendee list.
- Inviters can include a custom message (up to 500 characters) when sending an invitation.
- If the invited participant doesn’t have an account, one will be automatically created for them.
- Invited participants who already have accounts will be redirected to the Join Page and automatically signed in.
Improvements
- Display Subspace Names on Join Page
- When navigating to a subspace within the experience hub, the subspace name will be shown on the join page.
- This improvement also applies to the Campus LTI integration for your LMS.
- Enhanced User Experience for Sharing Content
- When sharing YouTube or Google Drive links, the input field is automatically focused, eliminating the need for an extra click.
- While sharing PPT/PDF files, the upload button will be active, allowing session participants to upload files with the “enter/return” key.
- For sharing live videos, the “Choose any device” option will be pre-selected.
- Setting Co-hosted Space as Calendar Default from the Dashboard
- InSpace customers can now directly set “co-hosted” spaces as their Google Calendar default from the Dashboard.
Minor
- Space and experience improvements: We’ve improved the experience for Firefox browser users, recording, and uploading custom backgrounds.
August 2023
New
- Flexible Space Types: Convert spaces to Open type from the InSpace Create Space dashboard. When this option is activated, participants can now join open spaces without signing in, offering accessibility while preventing zoom bombing. The option can be toggled on and off while a session is in session. Learn more here.
- Engaging Sub-Space Descriptions: Customize each space with a 150-character description. Click the “i” icon to view the space description and easily close it with a click. Learn more here.
Improvements
- Total Control Over Background Images: Now you can delete uploaded background images, even if they’re in use. If an image is in use across multiple spaces, it will be reset to the default background image, ensuring a seamless experience.
- Effortless Audio Transcription: When you enable video recording, audio transcription is automatically turned on. Capture context and information effortlessly for future reference.
Minor
- Streamlined Coordinate Improvements: We’ve optimized user movement logic to eliminate bugs and enhance coordination within your spaces. Enjoy a smoother experience as you navigate.
July 2023
New
- Experience Hub pop-up for seamless customization of your space. Hosts can make space setup changes directly from the pop-up without entering ‘customize’ mode. Here’s what you can do:
- Pen a default welcome message (up to 150 characters)
- Add new spaces plus an Auditorium to your Hub
- Delete existing spaces
- Switch up the background images in your sub-spaces with custom images from your gallery.
- Rename your sub-spaces
Improvements
- Improved location tool and messaging in the Reception area. In Reception, your icon will bounce upon joining to locate you, plus you’ll be able to clearly see everyone else in Reception.
- Pop-up welcome message customizable by the host now appears at the side of the space and can be acknowledged and dismissed by participants.
- Amplified navigation arrows to aid in discovering additional sub-spaces in the Experience Hub.
Minor
- Messaging improvements for attendees to clarify in-app actions
- Improved verification flow and forgotten password flow
June 2023
New
- InSpace Campus LTI for Canvas LMS
- A new LMS integration that puts our Experience Hub directly into your Canvas course environment.
- Integrate drop-in student services, tutoring, advising, and more in your students’ environment so they can access services quickly and in context.
May 2023
No release
April 2023
New
- In the Experience Hub, anyone can invite participants from other sub-spaces to their location – even from reception – making staffing and collaboration woes a thing of the past.
- Editable welcome note: Hosts can now set a welcome message in Reception to warmly welcome students and set expectations for their virtual sessions in the Experience Hub. Messages may contain up to 150 characters.
- Remove a participant from a session: Hosts can remove participants from sessions and ensure they cannot rejoin, making session management smoother. This option is managed with a pop-up checkbox displayed when removing a participant. If the host opts to permanently remove them from the session, the participant will be blocked from that session for the duration of the meeting. The participant may rejoin when the host starts a new session using the same InSpace URL.
Improvements
- Recording flow improvements: While recording, hosts can now see a progress bar on the join page and dashboard, making it easier to keep track of their recordings and stay organized.
- In the Experience Hub, hosts can now click to join other sub-spaces, save the recording, then seamlessly join the other space.
- For shared recordings, we’ve improved our messaging for cases when a user can’t access a recording or link, making it easier for students to find the necessary resources.
Minor
- Automatic platform email messaging has been clarified to improve the user experience.
- A tooltip has been added to the copy icon in the Experience Hub sidebar to clarify the icon’s purpose.
March 2023
New
- Customizable Experience Hub design – Space owners and co-hosts can add and delete subspaces from the standard Experience Hub configuration. Additionally, all licensed InSpace users can now add one Auditorium Space to the Experience Hub for keynote addresses, training sessions, and more!
- Space owners and co-hosts can add a total of 12 sub-spaces and an Auditorium Space to this configuration. The maximum capacity of the Experience Hub gathering space is 300 participants.
- Separate URLs for each Experience Hub subspace – Make event planning and social connectedness smoother with InSpace. Unique URLs for each subspace within the Experience Hub allow participants and hosts to link directly to the right destination. Simply copy the link from the subspace card in reception or the Home sidebar inside any Experience Hub subspace.
Improvement
- Recording quality and UI improvements – Hosts can download the recording right after finishing the recording.
- If a host’s Internet network quality is unstable while recording, we’ve implemented improvements to preserve their recording data and quality.
- Proximity Audio turned off by default when entering a session – Proximity audio will be turned off by default so users will hear and see each other at the start of a session. If a host changes the proximity audio setting, the setting will be saved and applied for the next session.
- If proximity is off, participants do not receive a notification.
- Hosts can turn the chat toxicity filter functionality on and off while in the session – By default, chat toxicity will be turned on so that users won’t be able to send toxic message
- Chat toxicity functionality will be saved per space for other sessions.
- Hosts are notified when another host turns the chat toxicity filter on or off.
February 2023
New
- Introducing customizable Campus Experience Hubs
- Change the background of your Campus Experience Hub reception area – space owners and co-hosts can now create custom looks for their Hub.
- Edit the names of the Sub Spaces – space owners and co-hosts may edit sub-space names to create a connected campus experience for students.
Improvement
- Background blur is improved and may be enabled on the Join Page or inside the space.
January 2023
- Introducing the InSpace Campus Experience Hub (released to current customers in January 2023)
- Intuitive space-to-space navigation – participants move seamlessly between spaces using the new Home sidebar for real-time navigation–no need to return to Reception first.
- Enhanced context and social connectedness across spaces – from the Home sidebar, participants see space images, user profile circles, and a list of participants in each space.
- Improved reception area visibility – all participants see a list of everyone in Reception and the location of everyone already in a space.
Improvement
- Lite Mode version 2.0 – upgraded experience for participants joining with lower-performing devices that supports up to 3 active speakers’ video feeds in addition to the Lite Mode participant and the host(s) of the session.
- Increased meeting space capacity – enhanced user capacity in all meeting spaces within the Hub and improved video streaming quality.
December 2022
Improvement
- Bug fixes to improve the user experience in the space.
November 2022
Improvement
- Improvements to user experience in the InSpace Conference Hub and Auditorium. When a user joins an Auditorium from the Conference Hub, the Auditorium will no longer open in a separate tab, and will instead open in the same page for improved ease of use.
October 2022
Improvement
- Bug fixes to improve the user experience in the space.
September 2022
New
- Automatic Closed Captioning, StreamText, and Manual Live Captioning are now available in all InSpace settings, including the Auditorium. All users can enable automatic closed captions by clicking the CC icon in the user toolbar. Hosts may also assign any attendee to type closed captions using the StreamText integration or using the manual live captioning feature. These capabilities are available in the traditional Single Space, Conference Space, and Auditorium.
Improvement
- Improvements to real-time automatic closed captioning feature, including improved speaker recognition and speech-to-text accuracy.
Minor
- Bug fixes to improve the user experience in the space.
August 2022
New
- PowerPoint and PDF sharing and control from inside the InSpace session window is now live for all participants in the session. You’ve asked for this feature and it’s here! Share any file ending in .ppt or .pdf and it will display in the shared content window of your InSpace session. Presenting with this feature is a synchronous experience for you and the participants (in other words, when you scroll or change slides, they see the change in real time). Manage what you’re sharing with participants from within your session, instead of having to toggle between separate windows. We’re getting the tech out of the way so you can spend more time engaging your students and building community in your sessions.
- The InSpace LTI Integration for Moodle LMS is now available. InSpace pairs perfectly with Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace, and now Moodle, for a seamless teaching and learning experience.
- Option to launch an InSpace session without a host present in the session. For higher ed institutions offering virtual connection opportunities to their students, the option for guests in a session to launch a space opens up a new world of community-building experiences. When creating a space, a host now has the option to tick a checkbox allowing any user to launch a session at any time. This is in contrast to the default setting, which allows only a host to launch their own session. Hosts may revoke this permission at any time by unchecking the box on their dashboard.
Improvement
- Third party cookies are essential to the high quality InSpace experience. Now, InSpace automatically detects if a user has third party cookies disabled and displays a message if they are blocked that includes a link to our Knowledge Base article about how to enable third party cookies.
Minor
- Space cards on the dashboard have been redesigned to improve the user experience, including adding a Click to Join button to more clearly indicate how to join a session, as well as improvements to the Copy Link and Edit Space buttons.
- To improve loading and performance in the host dashboard, the list of attendee names will not be displayed in the dashboard until the session has concluded.
July 2022
New
- Automatic Closed Captioning can now be enabled by all participants from the CC icon in the user toolbar. Live captioning can still be turned on by the session hosts when assigning someone to type captions or using the StreamText integration.
- Expanded Chat controls for hosts during sessions and while using LMS integrations.
- Hosts can now disable participant-to-participant chat, while keeping communication open between hosts and participants. Other options include completely disabling the chat and allowing direct chats between all users.
- Another new feature is the ability for hosts to delete single chats from any user. While our Toxicity Filter blocks many disruptive messages from ever making it into the chat, we know there are other situations when an instructor might need to clean up the chat for the sake of clarity or classroom management.
- Finally, hosts may now clear the chat of all messages. All users may download the chat. Hosts now also have the option to delete the entire chat. This will remove the entire chat history for everyone in the session, including from the LMS portal (if applicable). Students and TAs are not able to clear the chat.
Improvement
- In the InSpace Calendar Integration, meetings are now conducted in a default Calendar Space that appears on the user’s dashboard. Users can also set a different space as their default Calendar Space, both from the Dashboard and from the Google Calendar.
- Redesigned Join Page to improve user experience while joining the space, running system tests, and setting up audiovisual devices. Prior designs sometimes led to the user not being able to see the Join Space button when adjusting audiovisual settings.
Minor
- Improvements to the sign up and login flow to streamline the process and reduce clicks for the user.
- Improvements to the administrator dashboard including sorting functionality for courses, suggested search, and faculty member sort by name and email.
- Clarifications to the Welcome Page to improve messaging about free trials and provide more options for users as they sign up.
- Clarified sign up and account enrollment process for users who are using the InSpace integration with an LMS.
June 2022
New
- Whole session recording in Single Spaces and Conference Spaces allows multiple hosts to record in any InSpace set up without interruption. Hosts can also pause and resume recording during their session. Recordings are still saved in the InSpace cloud and can be shared with other users.
- Locked rooms allow the host to lock breakout rooms so that participants must knock to enter and be admitted by the host. All co-hosts may admit participants and move through locked rooms without knocking. In the Student Space (on the LMS integration only), students may lock one breakout room at a time.
- System Tests are now available on the Join Screen and while in a session, via the Help icon. The System Test helps the user troubleshoot their browser, network, and audiovisual settings and connects them with support.
- Hide Self Video View allows users to hide their own profile video feed from themselves while still remaining visible to others in their session. Participants using this feature will see their profile picture instead.
Improvement
- Wording changes in the Canvas integration to better support asynchronous students’ understanding of the different Space types and their purpose. The embedded calendar feature has also been clarified to better communicate that all types of calendars, not just Google, may be used with the Canvas Virtual Office.
- When using the share screen feature, users will notice new names and descriptions of each of the screen sharing options. In particular, the new “Collaborate” option highlights the feature in which users can share a Google Drive (GSuite) document and work together on it in real time during a session. This is different from a traditional screen share, which simply shows a document to the users in a session.
Minor
- Free Trials are available once again via the website! Interested users do not need to interact with a sales representative or provide a credit card to start a free trial. Trials run for 14 days.
April 2022
- Hosts can turn off an user’s video from the attendee list.
- Improvements to user experience when sharing their screen and loading their profile video to eliminate gaps in video.
- Option to display attendee names while in the auditorium.
- Users pinned in the gallery view will also display their microphone and raised hand status.
- Improvements to system messages for users experiencing network connection issues. If a user’s network loses connection, they will return to the join page and see a message stating that they left the space due to a network connection issue.
- Updates to notifications, explanations, and user interface on join page to simplify the host experience.
March 2022
- Floating Gallery View allows a user who is sharing their screen to check and open Floating Gallery View. In Floating Gallery View, the video/profile picture of the user who shares and the three most recent active speakers’ videos will display in a floating tab along with the name of the user(s).
- The host can also pin a user to the gallery view, whether their video is on or off.
- Breakout room improvement
- Breakout room seats will automatically adjust in size to accommodate the number of people in the room. Circles will be as big as possible.
- When hosts open breakout rooms, all users will begin in the hallway, rather than appearing in a breakout room that might open over them by chance. This will help with seamless audio transitions and help people move to the correct room.
- When a user is invited into a breakout room and content is being shared, they will automatically take a seat to avoid interrupting the sharing.
- Bigger seats in the Presentation Room and Discussion Rooms – We have made the seats larger in the presentation room, which now holds 32 seats. If you have over 32 participants, the presentation room will revert back to the regular 37 seats.
- Offer Assistance improvement
- When Offering Assistance, the avatar will now appear as a small version of the assister’s avatar. The avatar will only be visible to the hosts and the person who is being assisted.
- Connection issues message displayed
- If a user leaves the space due to a network connection problem, a message will display over their circle notifying other participants that they had a network connection problem.
- When using Invite Over to chat, the notification will persist until the invited user closes or accepts it.
- If a user’s sharing is blocked, a pop-up will appear to direct them to system preferences to correct their settings.
- Share and Rename Recordings – From your Dashboard (or LMS, if applicable) you can now share and rename recordings. You can also see recordings shared with you.
- Hosts can share recordings to:
- an individual email address
- the whole class (for LMS users)
- the public, by sharing the recording link (links are public unless disabled)
- On the Dashboard, users can share their recordings via:
- Email (typing an individual’s email triggers an email notification. That user can then go to their Dashboard to view the recording).
- Shareable link (links are public and can be copy-and-pasted to share with anyone)
- All users have three recordings tabs
- My Recordings are those recordings created by the user
- Shared with Me are those recordings another user has shared via email
- All Recordings includes My Recordings and Shared with Me
- Hosts can share recordings to:
- Saved Room Configuration and Saved Content – Save your classroom configuration (background image, breakout rooms, breakout room names) so it’s ready to go for your next class. In addition, Google Docs, YouTube Videos, Miro Boards and Cloud PPT that were displayed when you close a session will continue displaying when you return to the space.
- iOS users can now annotate using their iPads and iPhones.
- Various user experience and bug fixes.
February 2022
- Clarified language on homepage after creating an account. All InSpace accounts can join sessions. Users wanting to host sessions and access the InSpace Dashboard are cued to contact the InSpace sales team.
- Canvas only – For courses with more than one instructor, students can click Next Office to view each instructor’s office and attend office hours.
- iOS release updates:
- Hosts can mute other participants in the app
- Users can invite over other participants by tapping on the user’s circle.
- When leaving the space, users will see a message explaining why, such as: Host ended the session, You left the space, Network issue.
- Users can log out while in a session.
January 2022
- Canvas only – Student Space
- Students have 24/7 access to the Student Space.
- From Canvas, users can see that other users are in the Student Space.
- Some features are restricted, but otherwise, the Student Space operates in the same way as a traditional default space.
- Students cannot upload or change the background pictures
- Students cannot mute others
- Students can open breakout rooms, but cannot rename them.
- Hosts can activate the Display Attendee Names feature to show attendee names below their circles for all users.
- The option to share computer audio while sharing full screen, window, or tab is available for Windows. MacBook and Linux can share computer audio when sharing a tab.
- Users who are added as a co-host will receive a notification email including a link to the space.
- When users are in the main room and someone begins sharing their screen, a presentation room automatically opens.
- Improved user experience for shared screens while in breakout rooms.
- Recording improvements, including automatic time zone adjustments to recording names and labeled tabs to aid in recording a tab.
December 2021
- Ability to download a chat
- Ability to add a co-host
- Notification when the user is in another tab and a recording or screen sharing stops.
- InSpace is supported in the Brave browser.
November 2021
- Auditorium space is now available for select accounts
- Alert when a user tries to join multiple sessions
October 2021
- There is a thumbnail when sharing space/dashboard/landing page URL
- Chat hotkeys updated
- Ability to view unread messages
- Ability to see all users in a conference space
- Assorted bug fixes
- Canvas only – Ability to hide and show TAs
September 2021
- Implementation of dominant speaker and video activity to improve user experience
- Removal of the 30 video limitation, with increasing quality
- Ability to add a co-host from within the space in addition to from the host dashboard
- Improved reporting to improve user experience when reporting a bug
- Release of Blackboard LMS integration
August 2021
- Release of Canvas LMS integration
- Improvements for user experience (e.g. updating foot to allow for easier access to user dashboard)
- Audible alert when a participants joins a space and you are on a different tab in your browser
July 2021
- Updated hotkeys to eliminate the logic errors with browser commands
- Show attendees within each space in the conference lobby
- Implemented an optional 3 day trial extension
- Increased storage capacity from 7 to 30 days
- Added blurred background option for videos
- Added mirrored option for videos
June 2021
- Implemented a notification when a participant leaves a space
- Implemented toggle view for host dashboard
- Implemented larger video size in the main space
- Implemented the assistance feature via the participant list
- Implemented audible notification when a participant cancels assistance, “<NAME> is no longer assisting you.”
- Changed to automatic seating in the presentation and discussion rooms to clear the presentation/screen share space immediately
May 2021
- StreamText integration is now available for those with accounts
- Hosts are now able to assign a live transcriber to provide closed captioning in a space
- Implemented the attendee list
- Participants can now upload an avatar picture to use when their video is off
- Implemented an age gate at log-in to comply with child protection regulations
April 2021
- Adjusted video default placement upon entry
- Implemented “bumper car” effect to prevent videos from overlapping
- Background gallery images are now associated with the host, not the space
- Implemented mic/cam testing at login page
- Released Google Calendar Add-on in Google Marketplace
- Resolved static noise
- Implemented recording feature
- Implemented confirmation gate when removing a participant from the space
- Implemented a locator button to quickly find yourself in a space
March 2021
- Implemented checkbox option to assign breakout room numbers
- Added a time out to the raise hand feature
- InSpace users migration to HubSpot
- Exception page added with report dialog, which would be shown in case of the crash
- Implemented multiple video pin option for accessibility
- Implemented an audio/visual cue and notification to join presentation and discussion rooms
- Resolved audio disturbances on iOS devices
- Implemented a performance optimization for iOS to account for video circle size
February 2021
- Refined popups and tooltips style made consistent and box-shadow added to ensure they are visible on light backgrounds
- Added keyboard shortcuts in tooltips
- Added fields to CRM – last login, registered, joined
- Implemented message for space limit (50 people)