Terms of Service

1. Service Description

VivaEdu provides oral assessment tools for educational institutions through Learning Management System (LMS) integration. Students submit written work and defend it through recorded audio viva sessions. Instructors review and grade these sessions.

Service includes

• Viva assignment creation with customisable viva configurations, with optional generative AI to speed question creation.
• Multilingual capabilities and accommodations.
• Audio recording and transcription of student responses.
• Accessibility accommodations and preferences.
• LTI 1.3 integration with major Learning Management Systems.
• Grading tools and rubric management.
• Data export capabilities.

2. Eligibility and Account Creation

Age requirements

• Users must be 13 years or older.
• Students under 16 require institutional verification of appropriate consent.
• Educational institutions are responsible for ensuring compliance with local age verification requirements.

Account types

• Students: Accounts are created automatically via LMS integration only. No web application login access.
• Teachers: Accounts are created via LMS, with web application login access.
• Demo users: Temporary accounts through the web app with 2 hour data retention. No LMS usage available. All demo data is deleted when the demo completes or ends early.

3. Acceptable Use

Students may

• Submit assignments and participate in viva sessions.
• Use selected visual accessibility accommodations, for example hidden timers, larger buttons, or high contrast.
• Use multilingual accommodations to complete vivas in a supported language. Transcripts are translated back into the instructor’s language of choice for review.
• Request additional accommodations through institutional channels, for example extra time, pause and resume, rerecording, typing mode, or due date extensions.
• Record responses using provided tools with their chosen microphone.

Students may not

• Record vivas for others or on another person’s behalf.
• Attempt to bypass recording, monitoring, or security features.
• Use the service for non academic purposes.

Instructors may

• Create and manage assignments and classes. Classes are created via LMS and may also be created manually with class codes.
• Review student submissions and provide grades.
• Set accommodations and access controls.
• Export academic data for legitimate educational purposes.
• Enable multilingual capabilities for language based courses.

Instructors may not

• Share student recordings outside legitimate educational purposes. Audio download is disabled.
• Use the platform for non academic assessment.
• Violate student privacy or data protection requirements.
• Circumvent platform security measures.

4. Accessibility and Accommodations

Permanent accommodations set by instructors

• Extended time allowances for recording and preparation windows on vivas, for example 25%, 50%, 100%, unlimited up to 5 minutes, or custom.
• Pause and resume functionality.
• Rerecording permissions.
• Typing mode for users who cannot provide audio.
• Camera exemptions.
• Multilingual capabilities.
• Due date extensions and late submission grace periods.

Student preferences

• Reduced motion and flash suppression.
• Larger interface buttons.
• Keyboard navigation shortcuts.
• High contrast display modes.
• Hidden timer displays for anxiety management.

Students may request accommodations through institutional channels. All accommodation requests require instructor approval.

5. Technical Requirements and Platform Features

Required permissions

• Microphone access is mandatory unless typing mode is approved.
• Camera access is optional unless specifically required by the instructor.

Anti cheating measures, optional and instructor controlled

• Camera monitoring during sessions. Requires camera access for all students unless specifically exempt by accommodation.
• Gaze tracking with flagging for repeated off screen attention, when consent is granted by students.
• Tab switching detection with warnings and instructor notifications.

Session continuity

The platform maintains session progress through network interruptions, page reloads, and technical difficulties. If a student reloads or disconnects for long enough, they return to the preview setup page and can resume from where they left off. Frequent reloads intended to abuse this feature are flagged to the instructor.

6. Content and Intellectual Property

Student content

• VivaEdu may process and store content to provide assessment services.
• Students grant permission for transcription, analysis, and grading of audio responses.

Platform content

• VivaEdu retains all rights to the platform software, features, and functionality.
• Users may not copy, modify, or redistribute platform components.

Third party content

• Users are responsible for ensuring they have rights to any uploaded materials.
• Users must not submit copyrighted content without proper authorisation.

7. Recording and Privacy

Audio recording

• Viva sessions include audio recording for assessment purposes.
• Recordings are transcribed using OpenAI Whisper technology.
• No video recording is performed by the platform.

Data processing

• Audio recordings are processed for transcription and analysis.
• Terminology highlighting and response quality assessment may be performed automatically.
• Recordings may be reviewed by instructors, teaching assistants, and authorised platform administrators.

Data access

• Students may access their own transcripts and audio recordings upon submitting a viva.
• Instructors may access recordings of their assigned students until 90 days after the viva due date.
• A full data export is available on request in multiple formats, including PDF and DOCX.

Artificial intelligence usage

• AI transcription is performed by OpenAI Whisper for all audio recordings, with translation if needed.
• AI assisted question generation helps teachers create assessments from course materials.
• All AI processing is clearly marked and teacher controlled.
• Student data is not used to train AI models.
• Teachers retain full control over AI generated suggestions and may edit, reject, or approve them at any time.

8. LMS Integration

LTI 1.3 features

• Single sign on through Learning Management Systems.
• Automatic grade synchronisation to LMS gradebooks.
• Direct assignment access within the LMS.
• Secure authentication and data exchange.

Supported platforms

The service integrates with LTI 1.3 compliant systems including Canvas, Blackboard, and Moodle.

9. Demo Service

Private demo features

• Complete platform functionality in an isolated environment.
• Ability to switch between student and teacher perspectives.
• Pre populated sample content and assignments.
• 2 hour session duration with automatic data deletion.

Demo limitations

• Temporary data storage only. All data is wiped after the demo ends. Nothing is stored long term.
• No integration with production LMS systems.
• Demonstration purposes only. Two demo accounts cannot interact with each other.

10. Data Retention and Deletion

Retention periods

• Active assignments: data retained through completion and grading.
• Completed assignments: audio recordings are deleted 90 days after the viva due date. Transcripts are deleted after 180 days.
• Demo data: automatically deleted after 2 hours.
• Inactive classes: archived and deleted after 180 days of inactivity.
• User accounts: data retained per institutional agreement or until deletion request.

Data deletion

• Users may request complete data deletion through institutional channels or by emailing privacy@vivaedu.co.uk. Requests are processed within 30 days.
• Academic institutions may archive data per their policies before platform deletion.

See the Privacy Policy for more on data deletion and retention.

11. Service Availability

Platform status

• Service is provided on an as available basis.
• Scheduled maintenance is announced in advance where possible.
• No guarantee of uninterrupted service during critical assessment periods.

Geographic availability

• Service is available globally with English language support and multilingual capabilities in eight additional languages: Arabic, Hindi, Mandarin, German, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Portuguese.
• Contact us to request support for another language and we will implement it where feasible.
• Users are responsible for compliance with local laws and regulations.

Current pricing

• 2025 to 2026 academic year: service provided free of charge.
• Future pricing is subject to change with advance notice to institutional partners.

12. Limitation of Liability

Service disclaimer

• Service is provided as is without warranties of any kind.
• No liability for academic consequences that result from technical issues.
• No guarantee of data accuracy or system reliability.

Maximum liability

VivaEdu’s total liability is limited to the fees paid for services, which is currently zero.

Excluded damages

We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, including lost data or academic disruption.

13. Termination

User termination

• Educational institutions may terminate service with reasonable notice.
• Individual user accounts are terminated per institutional policies.
• Demo accounts automatically expire after the 2 hour limit.

Service termination

• VivaEdu may terminate service with 30 days’ notice to institutional partners.
• Data export opportunities are provided before service termination.
• Critical data is preserved per institutional agreements.

14. Changes to These Terms

• Changes to these terms are communicated via email and in product notifications.
• Continued use of the service constitutes acceptance of modified terms.
• Material changes require explicit institutional agreement.

15. Governing Law and Contact

These terms are governed by the laws of the United Kingdom.

Contact information

Dispute resolution

Disputes are resolved under UK jurisdiction, with a preference for institutional mediation where applicable.

Appendix A — Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Service availability

• Target uptime: 99.9% monthly (excluding maintenance).
• Exam period uptime: 99.9% during institution designated exam periods.
• Planned maintenance: maximum 1 hour monthly, with notice.

Support response times

• Critical issues (platform down): 1 hour response, 4 hour resolution target.
• High priority (feature broken): 4 hour response, 24 hour resolution target.
• Standard issues: 1 business day response, 3 business day resolution.

Performance standards

• Page load time: under 3 seconds (95th percentile).
• Audio upload: support up to 100 MB files.

Data and recovery

• Backup frequency: every 6 hours.
• Data recovery (RPO): 6 hour maximum data loss.
• Service recovery (RTO): 4 hour target.

Exclusions

• Force majeure events.
• Institution network issues.
• Scheduled maintenance.
• Third party service failures (LMS, internet).

Reporting

• Monthly uptime reports.
• Incident reports within 5 business days.
• Annual service review.

Appendix B — Incident Response & Disaster Recovery

Incident classification

• Critical: platform down during exams, data breach, data loss.
• Major: performance degradation, partial outage, authentication issues.
• Minor: single user issues, non critical bugs.

Response times

• Critical: 15 minutes acknowledgement, 2 hours resolution target.
• Major: 1 hour acknowledgement, 4 hours resolution.
• Minor: 24 hours acknowledgement, 48 hours resolution.

Contact chain

• Primary: CTO (jex@vivaedu.co.uk).
• Escalation: add backup contact.
• Major incidents: notify affected institutions within 2 hours.

Data breach

Notify affected users per GDPR requirements.