A New Way To Record Lessons For Your Students: What Is Panopto

What type of educational technology does Panopto belong to?

Panopto belongs to the group of educational technologies called “video”. This is because of what the company offers to the society, and basically it is, offering its users the facility to record their classes in high quality and allowing their lesson aids to be seen clearly.

Most of the online learning is seen by video lectures, as it provides teachers with ease of explaining a topic in detail. Also videos allow to create a certain connection between the teacher and the student by having interaction either remotely or simply the student can see the teacher’s face.

This way of interacting will not only increase the engagement of students, but also the whole learning process will be carried out in a single line or format and thus avoid confusion during the learning process.

How Panopto works

On the Panopto website, you can register for free to start recording classes, sessions or lectures. In addition, you can also create and share videos on demand in a secure way.

The platform offers the user 5 hours of video storage, which can be videos of class recordings, lectures and business meetings.

Once you have entered your email address and the information requested for the correct login, the user will be able to see 8 different tutorials on their screen to start using this tool.

As you can see in the image, each video tutorial is for the use that the user wants to give to the application.

To start recording, you go to the “create” tab and different options will be displayed, you can start a recording, or load a file that is on your computer, you can even create folders in which you can store your videos. During the recording the user can share the screen with his viewers.

Students can watch their virtual classes from their cell phones, even if teachers also want to store their content on their cell phones. Do you want to have the videos also on your mobile device? You can download the Panopto application at Android and iOS. 

How does Panopto make money?

While you can make your recordings for free just by registering, there are simple limitations, such as a limit of hours of video storage and 100 hours of streaming per month. This plan is called “Panopto Basic” or “Panopto Express” and is available to everyone.

Panopto offers plans called “Panopto Pro” which is available in US, CA, UK, EU, and “Panopto Enterprise” which is available worldwide. These plans have a monthly subscription cost.

The most popular customers for the company are educational institutions and companies that want to incorporate educational technologies into their daily work methods.

Panopto even has technology and integration partners that offer certified hardware and software. Some of the partners Panopto has are: Zoom, Skype, Matrox, Seneca, Panasonic, Sony, Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle.

Why use Panopto (and not another tool)?

Panopto has become a simple and easy to use tool that has become popular thanks to virtual education and that satisfies the needs of its users.

Virtual learning has its level of complexity, since there is a distance between the teacher and the learner, i.e. there is no complete and safe certification that the student is learning and applying his knowledge in the right way. On the one hand, Panopto is a tool that allows anyone to share knowledge through videos.

The teacher or the company can make live sessions through Panopto and can also make sessions that will be recorded and then share them with their classroom. Moreover, it is a tool that is not complex to use. And if you have any doubts regarding the use of the tool, tutorials on how to use it are available on the same page of the site.

In 2020 Panopto ranked No. 6 as the top-ranked mid-sized technology company in the Puget Sound Business Journal’s Best Places to Work list. It also serves more than 5 million end users in businesses and universities around the world, consistently receiving more than 99% customer satisfaction.

Panopto is used by 22 of the top 25 universities ranked by Times Higher Education World University 2021. It has also been recognized by Gartner as a leader in content management for four consecutive years.

How do I get started on Panopto as an educator?

If you are a teacher and want to start recording your lessons and saving them, the first thing to do is to go to the Panopto website and click on “get started” then you can select the plan that best suits your preferences.

Then you can register with your Gmail or your work email, you register according to the plan you selected previously.

And that’s it! You can start creating your classes or the content you want to share with your students. Or in the case of companies, the content for employees.

How do I activate Panopto in Spanish?

Panopto is currently not available in Spanish, however you can activate the automatic translation offered by Google.

Panopto is available in English, French, German, Korean and Japanese. If you are a speaker of any of these languages you can change the language on the top right of the tab, you will see the word “english” and a tab that displays the languages mentioned above.

Is Panopto reliable?

The information that Panopto collects is controlled by the user, for example, when a new user registers, the name, email address, country of residence and the company where he/she works are required; this data can be modified by the user at any time and Panopto stores this information.

The collection of personal data is done directly by the user when logging in, visiting the web site, or requesting any service by phone lines or e-mail.

Panopto also collects information automatically for the purpose of analyzing trends, administering and improving the service. If the user downloads the application from a mobile device, the data collection is more specific; for example, it is known from which mobile device the application was downloaded, the version and the operating system of the mobile device.

Panopto even receives user information from third parties, either because this data is a public platform or the user simply authorizes the handling of their data.

In terms of personal data protection, Panopto uses industry-standard encryption to facilitate data exchange and transmission.

You can read the privacy policy here.

Videos that have been created by you are stored on the platform and in a personal folder that you can view on the Panopto home page when you are logged in.

Is Panopto accessible?

Panopto offers its users accessibility features to navigate the platform in a simple and easy to read web interface. This web interface supports screen readers, keyboard access and all available functions. Also, all recorded sessions have the option of being subtitled.

According to a report done in February 2020, Panopto complies with WCAG accessibility standards, presenting in the report an “AA” conformance level.

Read here Panopto’s Accessibility Compliance Report.

Is Panopto effective?

Since 2007, the year in which Panopto started its services, it has been a functional tool for those people who want to share their knowledge through digital tools, in this case videos.

But, to give a deeper answer, it is necessary to ask, what is the objective of the user using Panopto?

• If you want to transform the way universities and companies train, teach and share knowledge.
• If your goal is to create a closer and more stable connection with your learner.
• If your goal is to guarantee your students adequate learning through graphic supports.
• If your objective is to allow your students to watch the class sessions as many times as they want to reinforce their knowledge and learning.

Pros and cons of Panopto

The following points are made by Panopto users themselves:

Pros

• It is easy and intuitive to get oriented, as mentioned throughout the article, Panopto has tutorials on the same website so that users do not get confused when making use of the platform.
• It is well equipped: it contains basic editing tools that are easily used with options that are more sophisticated, so that the material can be organized without any complications.
• Panopto can capture multiple streams simultaneously. It is also effective and intelligent when working with imported PowerPoint decks.
• With Panopto, quizzes can be created to be added to the content as the viewer watches the video. These quizzes can be automatically graded in Canvas and are published in the electronic gradebook.

Cons

• According to some users, captioning is a problem, as they want to caption a video, and automatic captioning is not good.
• Another user proposes that real-time feedback should be detailed during conference-based recording.
• The quiz function is nice, it is proposed that there should be more options about the types of questions that can be added to a quiz.
• It is difficult to download several videos at once.

Alternatives to Panopto: What are its main competitors?

These alternatives are similar in terms of software categories, functionality and according to user ratings.

While Panopto is a popular tool because of its ease of use, there are other similar platforms that Panopto calls direct competition:

Zoom

Zoom is a synchronous video tool that allows its users to have real-time conversations. In addition to sharing audio and video from the webcam during the conversation, users in each session have the option to share live content on their screens.

Zoom is perfect for those who want to have virtual discussions, sessions where people collaborate with each other.

Kaltura

Kaltura is a video platform that offers its users a wide range of products that allow them to create, edit and share videos securely. Kaltura records meetings and conferences from any space, be it a classroom or an office. These recordings can be automatically published to LMSs and these videos can also be accompanied by captions and quizzes.

Kaltura has a version called Kaltura SaaS edition which is in the cloud and with different licensing options. If the user’s preference is to keep their content secure, Kaltura offers a full edition that allows hybrid use of flexible on-premises and SaaS.

CloudApp

CloudApp is a service that offers you to capture information in formats such as png, mp4 and gif from the user’s screen or webcam. At the same time, this digital tool also allows content to be shared quickly through a link that the platform generates automatically.

If you want to share visual content with your students or employees you do not have to worry about anything, CloudApp takes care of everything including hosting, you just have to create to share with your audience.

Getting experience: how to make better use of Panopto?

The main thing to make the best use of any platform is to know how it works and how to handle it correctly.

If you are an educator and you want to keep your students attentive during learning sessions, the best thing you can do is to use colorful, eye-catching visual support related to current topics. You will notice how they will be more engaged.

One of the biggest challenges that the pandemic has brought is the decrease of student interest in education, since they were used to the teaching model. That is why it is important to take into account factors that make your students feel interested in the classes.

In the physical classroom

If you want to use a slide, video or graphic support using Panopto, the most important thing is that your students are focused on what is being projected on the screen. And at the end of what you want to share you can ask a series of questions where your students can participate and show that they have learned something.

In live virtual class

To make the best use of the platform during live virtuality, it is necessary that your students are aware of making good use of the educational tools and more so when there is no one watching or supervising you in person.

It is of utmost importance that learners develop autonomy when it comes to learning something in their teaching time.

The teacher can make use of questionnaires and add them to the content they want to share for their class, with the objective of noting their understanding of what they observed during the class.

In homework or self-paced mode

It is good to teach your students to manage the platform, because if it is your preference as a teacher, the content that was clearly seen you want them to see in class is saved in a folder in your Panopto profile.

While I mentioned before the development of autonomy, here we see this already present, since the student is the one who makes the decision to view the content or not, either to make a reinforcement of the topics seen or to learn something they did not know.

How much does Panopto cost? Where do I start?

Panopto Pro Plan, for teachers and individual personnel

Panopto Enterprise Plan for academic institutions

Can I integrate Panopto with an LMS such as Moodle or D2L?

Panopto gives you a solution, as an industry leading video (CMS) that seamlessly integrates with developed LMS and industry leading LTIs.

Panopto has created an integration for Moodle users to access a lecture capture solution that offers functionality and flexibility.

With this new integration Panopto and Moodle users can post Panopto recordings to Moodle automatically, giving students access to engaging and realistic lecture materials.

We recommend Moodle server with PHP memory limit set to at least 256 MB+

Here you can find the package of supported versions for your server.

Likewise, the LMS that can be integrated with Panopto are:

Including also D2L as integration, Panopto is a complete platform, easy to manage and easy to integrate to your servers.

You can even insert videos and playlists. The Panopto platform brings your video knowledge base to your LMS, Panopto’s integrated video player is designed for learning.

People also ask 

Here you can find the most frequently asked questions by users.

• How to use Panopto in PowerPoint?
  This answer depends on the integration that the user has, the first thing to do is to log in to the website of the integration where the option to access Panopto recordings is available. Then click on the link under the “create” button and choose to record a new session, here you can start screen sharing to view what you want to share from PowerPoint.
• What can I see in Panopto?
  Panopto provides the user with data on the number of learners, folders, sessions, number of views and data servers. All so that this data collection can be useful when the teacher wants to know the progress of his class.
• With Panopto, can I see if the students observed the sessions?
  Some teachers use Panopto to monitor their students. What they do is that they publish their sessions, lectures or classes through integrations that have the option to track whether or not students watched the lectures, they can even see if students are maintaining their online learning process during these homeschool times.
• Where can I find the offline recordings option?
  In order for you to access the content offline, find the recording you want to view, click on the “Actions” button. You will see a pop-up window appear that says “Show files” click there and then a folder with the content of your recordings should appear.
• How long does it take to upload a video to Panopto?
  The length of time a video is available on Panopto depends a lot on the length of the video and the user’s internet speed. According to Panopto if a video takes longer than 24 hours to upload you should contact the website helpdesk.

IN BRIEF, what is Panopto?

Panopto is a software company that offers its users a video transmission software, conference recording and its corresponding secure storage.

Panopto is a tool that has become popular in the education and business industry because it is easy to use and can also be easily integrated according to the servers of the institution where it will be used. It is also a practical tool for teachers since the same platform provides reports of student performance, participation and data collection of their presence in the course.

Despite the fact that virtual education at the beginning of the pandemic was a challenge for everyone, it has managed to remain as it offers its customers a consistent service that meets their overall needs. Panopto is a good strategy for teachers to support their learning support material, to develop autonomy in the student population and to engage the students themselves in learning.

The tool can be used from any mobile device by downloading the application on Android and iOS. Or if the user prefers to work on their computer they can visit the website.

Panopto has successfully benefited approximately more than millions of educational institutions and enterprises in managing the sharing of content such as live video and pre-recorded and saved sessions. With satisfied customer feedback and a strong position in the industry, Panopto is one of the leading companies in video streaming software.