Panopto is a video content management system (CMS) that Canisius College has paid for. It is a lot easier to use than YouTube, Google Drive and similar services for a few reasons.
Why should you not use YouTube or Google Drive to host your videos?
To start off with, YouTube now puts ads on everything. Even if you don’t necessarily see it on the video(s) when you watch it, your students may be seeing ads for shopping websites and various other products (often catered to them based on their interests), both of which can be disruptive to the flow of the lecture and the note-taking process. Ads could appear right in the middle of your lecture while you are explaining a complex topic. You can private videos and then share a link, but then you are still up against YouTube Studio, not to mention YouTube’s seemingly ever-changing Copyright policies and potential DMCA takedowns.
Additionally, Google Drive is no longer giving Canisius College unlimited space. This may mean that you have to reduce your digital footprint in Google Drive so you are below a certain limit. The easiest way to do that is to move videos out of your Google Drive. Some videos can be over 1GB. So, if you typically did 1 video per week over the course of a semester, that’s 16GB right there. Google Drive also does not do closed captions natively and there is no way to edit a video that has been uploaded. Plus, sometimes sharing the video can be difficult in general. As a quick example, say you link a video in Google Drive for students to view. Maybe you took the extra steps to input individual students’ email addresses to share with. And then you get a panicky email from a student saying that they cannot view the video. Perhaps you forgot to add their email or maybe (and probably more likely) they logged in with a personal Gmail account and forgot to switch to their Canisius account.
So, why should you use Panopto?
Panopto is built right into D2L. You can record, upload, and edit videos without signing into or navigating another platform or service. This streamlines the video creation and upload process, saving you more time in general. It is also quick and easy to add a Panopto Video to your D2L class. Simply click on the Add Activities button and choose Add Panopto Video. You can view a quick tutorial here. The Panopto tools (web recorder and editor) are simple and easy to use as well. However, if you would prefer to use your own video editing software instead and then upload to Panopto, you can do that as well.
Panopto is secure. You do not have to worry about setting security permissions, adding emails, or trying to determine who is viewing your video. Panopto videos are automatically shared securely only with the student in the class that you uploaded the video. These videos are also set up to make it difficult for students to share them with others. You can also view who has watched your video from the stats page for that video. Here is a quick tutorial on how to access the stats page.
You can also set Panopto up so students can record assignments and presentations. As noted above, this can be a huge help if a student forgets to share the video with you. Any video that a student uploads to the dropbox folder will be shared with you automatically, removing that headache. And grading each student’s video is not much different from grading a paper. This can all be done right from a D2L Dropbox with a few very simple adjustments. View these videos for a brief overview of how to do this.
If you would like some one-on-one training on Panopto, please contact either Tyler Kron-Piatek or Mark Gallimore. If you want to learn more about Panopto yourself, you can view the Panopto Wiki here or view some of the quick tutorials below, which can be viewed in the Getting Started Section of the Panopto Wiki:
- Brief Overview of Panopto Video Editor (Closed Captions)
- Trim Panopto Videos with the Panopto Editor (Closed Captions)
Submitted by: Tyler Kron-Piatek, Academic Technologist, COLI
