Teaching with Panopto
Panopto is a secure video recording and hosting solution at Columbia. Instructors can use Panopto to record lectures with their computers, including screen capturing the desktop with voice over. Once these videos are recorded and finalized, they can easily be shared with students.
Cite this resource: Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (2020). Teaching with Panopto. Columbia University. Retrieved [today’s date] from https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/teaching-with-technology/teaching-online/panopto/
Enabling Panopto in Courseworks
Panopto is available in most CourseWorks courses by default. Follow these steps to enable Panopto and make it visible in the CourseWorks navigation.
Navigate to Settings > Navigation
then scroll down to click on:
Panopto Recordings > Enable > Save
If Panopto is not in the Navigation list, you can request CUIT activate this service for your course. Send an email request to panopto@columbia.edu; include the full course number and your UNI. Once CUIT has activated Panopto in your course, follow the steps above to enable the service.
Working with Panopto in CourseWorks
Clicking on the Panopto Recordings link from the CourseWorks navigation will bring you to the Panopto interface. This page allows you to upload a video from your desktop, record a new video, create a playlist, or add subfolders to organize content. By default, only instructors can create and record videos for a course. For individual assignments, students can be given permission to create and upload videos. See this additional information for finding and viewing video material in Panopto.
Students can access all course videos uploaded and recorded by their instructors on the Panopto Recordings page in their CourseWorks site. Alternatively, instructors can also embed and link to these videos within other course pages. See these step-by-step instructions for embedding Panopto videos in course pages.
Record a Video for Your Class Using Panopto
To start recording a video for your class using Panopto you need to first access the Panopto interface by navigating to your CourseWorks site and clicking the “Panopto Recordings” link on your course menu. See step-by-step instructions to get started.
Once in the Panopto interface you will be able to select one primary source which will appear on the left top side of the recording, and up to two secondary sources which will appear on the right side of the recording (as illustrated in the image above).
For step-by-step instructions on how to record within the Panopto interface and to learn about best practices for DIY video production, please refer to the following guides:
- How to record with Panopto for Mac or Windows.
- The Columbia CTL’s Best Practices for DIY Video Production.
Strategies for Keeping Students Engaged
An important aspect of creating videos is considering different ways to keep users engaged. If your videos don’t captivate attention, students may end up not watching them and learning little from them.
Some strategies that can help sustain student interest include, but are not limited to:
- Chunking information to group common concepts for easier understanding
- Simplifying concepts by breaking them into smaller pieces of information
- Highlighting key words or the most important information to help users retain information
- Keeping the videos short for optimum engagement
- Using audio and visual elements to make it accessible
- Inserting comprehension checks at various points to help users assess their own understanding
Quizzing in Panopto
Panopto Quizzes can help you insert comprehension checks at various points in your video to keep your users engaged, assess their own understanding and make the learning experience effective. Using Panopto you can add True/False, Multiple Choice, Multiple Select, and Fill In the Blank types of questions. Depending on the learning objectives of your video you can choose the quiz type that works best for you.
Please refer to this guide Panopto: How to add a quiz to a video in Panopto? to learn more about the steps to creating a quiz in your video using Panopto.
For further information and other related guides, please refer to:
Using Panopto for Assignments
As video becomes a more prevalent way to deliver class content, so is asking students to submit assignments with a video component. Using learning outcomes as a guide, instructors could consider creating assignments with multiple possible submission types allowing students to select the submission type that best fits their ability to demonstrate understanding. This will ensure that their submission is the best possible representation of their understanding of the concept. Using a rubric will help students understand the requirements of the assignment and help instructors grade the assignment fairly regardless of the representative form submitted by the student.
In online learning some traditional assignments are converted into assignments with video components in order to create community and increase student presence. Instructors might consider asking students to use Panopto to record presentations that they might typically have given in person in the classroom setting, or to respond with videos to discussion prompts.
Panopto offers students and instructors the ability to record, edit, store, and share videos, directly from within the Panopto environment. Alternatively, users can choose to create videos with applications other than Panopto. Once their videos are ready, users can upload these videos to Panopto to store or share.
When using Panopto from within CourseWorks however, students’ permissions by default are set to view only. When the Panopto Recordings tool is enabled in a CourseWorks site, a Panopto folder with the name of the course is automatically created. By default, instructors can upload and create videos in this folder, whereas students can only view recordings. To allow students to create and upload videos in CourseWorks, instructors will need to create an Assignment Folder. In addition, if students should be able to share videos with their classmates, instructors will need to select the setting “Allow viewers to see each other’s sessions” as soon as the Assignment Folder is created. For step-by-step instructions on how to create an assignment folder, please refer to the following help document: How to work with Panopto assignment folders in CourseWorks
Once the Panopto Assignment folder is created. Instructors can give students instructions about how to submit the video assignment. For example:
- If the video assignment should be shared with other students: Students could be asked to embed Panopto videos via CourseWorks tools such Discussions or Pages using the Rich Text Editor. For step-by-step instructions see the Panopto document: How to Embed Panopto Videos in a Canvas Course
- If the video assignment should not be shared with other students: Instructors can use the CourseWorks Assignment tool to collect students’ video submissions and use the Speedgrader to review and grade submissions. For step-by-step instructions on how to create and grade a video assignment in CourseWorks, please refer to the following Panopto help document: How to Create a Video Assignment in Canvas
- For step-by-step instructions on how to submit a video assignment in CourseWorks, please refer to the following Panopto help document: How to Submit a Video Assignment in Canvas