Likelihood to Recommend Google [Workspace for Education (formerly G Suite for Education)] is pretty darn good [at] meeting the needs for educators and students. It is not designed to run your business office, transportation group, or lunch services. It doesn't need to be good at those. Focus on teachers and students. They do that really, really well. The Google folks continue to add features that help serve teacher and students. For example, they have really done a good job of adding Google Meet features such as polling and breakout rooms. Those features required a paid subscription to Workspace, but it makes sense since those features compete with Zoom, which requires a subscription for those services.
Read full review Panopto is great if you have a lot of video content that you need to put in a central repository. It makes it easy to manage who sees it and how it is categorized. The captioning features are also really good too. For folks to view the video, they don't need a Panopto account. You can send them a direct link. If you want to upload videos, however, they will need a Panopto account. If you only have a few videos or care less about usage statistics,
SharePoint may be a better file repository option
Read full review Pros Collaboration Toolset Reliability Read full review Simple to use - It really is a click-and-go system. Log in, click on record, and you're set. Flexible - It allows multiple information-rich inputs to be recorded simultaneously (for example, the screen, webcams, microphones, etc.). For some demonstrations, having multiple perspectives/views can be beneficial. The ability to add multiple webcams enhanced the value of some of my recordings. Reliable - This is critical when an unforeseen opportunity arises and you want to capture it visually and with audio. I had multiple experiences where a unique person was available briefly and due to Panopto's reliability, I was able to capture content that would otherwise have been seen by only those physically present at the time. Read full review Cons Google does a good job of providing great admin resources, but they could do better by incorporating what others have developed into the basic platform. For example, there is a command line open-source program called GAM that allows admins to dig much deeper into the back end. More of those resources should be part of the basic offerings. It is hard to be critical of something that is free and has been free for so long. I wish there was a better way to connect with Google to be able to talk to someone. So much communication is via chat and that is not always the best way to get answers. I would recommend that for paying customers in the education market, we get a dedicated phone line to call for support. Read full review Panopto doesn't fully support Ultra courses in Blackboard - we can do quizzing, which is very helpful, but we can't do video submissions like an Original course. There is no built-in certificate option for completing a video and its quiz questions, which requires us to use additional systems for tracking and awarding. Analytics are mediocre. The reporting tools are challenging to use and to get clear information on a consistent basis. Quizzing is limited to multiple choice or T/F -- there is no reflection point or open-ended question format. Read full review Usability Needs some work, but I'm sure improvements will come over time
Read full review Support Rating Panopto has been quick to answer any questions, but their rollouts and updates have caused issues where we felt a little blindsided by unexpected changes. Their development cycle is slow and often their promises for future updates have been extremely slow or never come.
Read full review Alternatives Considered Google has a simpler approach to its apps. With all applications being online, things like auto-save being a default have been helpful for many staff in our organisation. Compare this to Microsoft where much of the admin has to be managed by the ICT Team, Google allows for a portion of control to the user to manage permissions of areas. This type of user empowerment helps people see how important ICT is to a business.
Read full review Cost wise, unless you have a huge audience, Panopto is better. Both Zoom Meeting and
Kaltura and for more expensive and a smaller program/company may not have the demand to justify them.
Kaltura - is a far superior tool, the UI is much more modern and easier for a novice user to understand, and it makes sharing videos amongst faculty much easier. The LMS integration if far smoother and the recording is much easier and faster (from within the LMS). The analytics are also present in a much cleaner and digestible way. Lastly, the quizzing feature is far more robust.
Zoom - Smoother at streaming and live interactions. Stronger chat feature and supports larger audiences, it can handle over 100 HD webcams at once if needed. It does basic desktop capture and supporting audio-only formats that can easily be converted to Podcast or Soundcloud.
Google Loom - This one is not listed above as it's rather new but its a FREE tool for fast video/desktop/PPT recordings and it's extremely fast and easy to share. That said it's pretty basic as far as any additional features are concerned. Post-production editing is limited to basic timeline trimming.
Read full review Return on Investment The ROI is 100% since we are using a free version Read full review Panopto integrates with our LMS, D2L quite well. It makes the process very simple for our instructors and students to record and watch videos. It does not require any plugins or software to watch videos, as they load up in a web browser. The videos work on mobile and embed easily in courses or on websites. We also enjoy the easy sharing of videos and simplified management in the web portal. Read full review ScreenShots