Panopto videos will be retained for 20 months after the last viewing. At that point, the video will be archived. Video owners can retrieve archived videos with a single click, if needed. To do this, follow the instructions from Panopto Support.
Category: Faculty
What are audio descriptions and should I be adding them?
Audio descriptions provide visually impaired viewers with visual context of what is being presented in a video. These descriptions will be read out loud during the video’s playback. Writing good audio descriptions is an art, so learning more about audio description is a valuable starting point. See Turning Sights into Sounds: The Art of Audio Descriptions and Description of Visual Information. There are also vendors who provide audio descriptions, but they are quite expensive and often do not have enough knowledge of the subject matter to create meaningful descriptions. See How to Add Audio Descriptions in Panopto.
How do I caption my videos?
All videos uploaded to Panopto, transferred from Ensemble or created using the Panopto recorder are automatically captioned in Panopto using computer generated captions. The accuracy of computer generated captions can vary considerably depending on several factors including the quality of the microphone, background noise, the accent of the speaker, etc. Captions should be reviewed for accuracy and edited as needed. See How to Edit or Delete Captions.
Highly accurate captioning is also available from third party vendors. Contact ITSHelp@colgate.edu for more information about how to request paid captions from a caption service.
When importing an existing Moodle course to a new semester, will the links to videos still work?
Importing Panopto activities and links into a new Moodle course will continue to give students access to those videos, as long as you provision the new Moodle course in Panopto. This is done by adding the Panopto block and selecting “Provision” from the block. See How to Add the Panopto Block to Moodle Courses.
Please note: If you are using the interactive features of Panopto, such as Quiz or Discussion, the process will be different. You will need to login to Panopto and make a copy of the video which will clear out previous quiz results and discussion posts. Then, in the new Moodle course, link to the video copy rather than the original video. Each Moodle course that you provision with Panopto will have a course folder in Panopto. Suggested best practice is to organize videos that have interactive features in the Panopto Moodle course folders to avoid confusion between video originals and copies. Please contact ITSHelp@Colgate.edu for assistance as needed.
How do I set up a Panopto playlist and share it with students?
I’ve heard there are a lot of nice features for course videos in Panopto. Where can I find out about all these features?
This overview video and description, How to Use Panopto with Moodle for Instructors, is a good place to start.
How can I link to a Panopto video from Moodle?
Two steps:
- Provision Panopto in your Moodle course by adding the Panopto block. See How to Add the Panopto Block to Moodle Courses. After adding the Panopto block, students in the Moodle course will be able to access any video that is linked from the Moodle course without having to set share permissions for each video included in the Moodle course.
- Add a Panopto activity in Moodle. See How to Insert Panopto Video Links and Quizzes in Moodle and How to Embed Videos into a Moodle Course.
How do I move recordings from Zoom Cloud to Panopto?
For individual videos, you can download from Zoom and upload to Panopto. ITS can also set this up to be done automatically for all videos moving forward. To enable make a request from ITS.
What is the difference between the Panopto Capture and Panopto for Mac/Windows? Is it better to use the browser recorder or download the recording app?
The following chart describes some benefits/drawbacks of using each type of recorder:
| Panopto Capture (browser) | Panopto for Mac Windows (application) |
| Quick to setup and use. Works from a multitude of devicesOffers Smart Camera to track your movementOffers virtual backgrounds | Allows for offline recordingWindows application offers more settings/customizationAllows use of shortcut keys to streamline recordings |
How will I know if students are watching the videos I assign?
Panopto provides extensive usage reporting. See How to Access Folder and Video Statistics for Panopto. There are additional ways to track student engagement with your videos. Panopto has built-in ways for students to engage through discussion or by responding to quiz questions embedded in the video. See How to Use Discussions and How to Add a Quiz to a Video.