Panopto - A Simple, Flexible, Reliable content capture and presentation system
August 10, 2021
Panopto - A Simple, Flexible, Reliable content capture and presentation system
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Panopto
Panopto was used mainly as a method of providing anytime-anywhere access to important educational content. Faculty and students can use it to record events, presentations, demonstrations, and impromptu meetings.
It was initially used by some early adopters at the university, but gained popularity as the "flipped classroom" paradigm grew. It allowed students to have access to information at their own pace, and when they were ready to digest it. Since people process information at different rates, having a recording that can be paused, replayed, and slowed down (or sped up) provided flexibility in terms of students controlling their individual progress.
It was initially used by some early adopters at the university, but gained popularity as the "flipped classroom" paradigm grew. It allowed students to have access to information at their own pace, and when they were ready to digest it. Since people process information at different rates, having a recording that can be paused, replayed, and slowed down (or sped up) provided flexibility in terms of students controlling their individual progress.
- 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.
- The initial cost of ownership for our facility was a point of contention until a sufficient number of faculty and students expressed their desire to have access. I'm not sure how the pricing is determined these days, so that might have been resolved.
- Tutorials for allowing multiple users to have access to content with various administrative levels would be helpful. Owners, viewers and others who aren't familiar with the options available to them might benefit from more tutorials.
- It's a stretch, but having an automated system that suggests "trimming" the length of recordings that begin prior to the important content might be useful. In some cases, I would start a recording but not get done with preliminary discussions in a class for a few minutes prior to focusing on the day's material. Including that in recordings doesn't look as professional as it could, and could be considered a waste of a viewer's time.
- Simplicity. It doesn't take much training at all to learn to use it. In fact, I created some 30-second to 1-minute videos to cover the main points needed to create recordings (and I did them using Panopto!).
- Scalability. With so many new students entering our university each year, Panopto had to be able to handle the increased load.
- Reliability. Our IT department didn't need to work quite so hard since Panopto seems to have addressed the "pinch points" that can typically occur while using such a system.
- I'm not at the level where I could provide information on ROI, but as a professor, I can unequivocally state that students were more prepared after we started using Panopto than prior to using it. I attribute that largely to information access unencumbered by time (of day), pace (recordings can be adjusted for speed), or space constraints. That made my task much easier as I could have them view materials that were previously recorded instead of inefficiently using time during class to answer questions that were asked and answered previously.
- Almost all of my students were initially either ambivalent or a bit worried about submitting presentations on video but once they did, they noticed that their presentation skills improved, as they were able to practice, review, and re-record if needed. In my opinion that prepared them better for their careers.
- A culture of cooperation grew as we increased the use of Panopto for recordings, as I would contact individuals from various departments across campus to work on interdisciplinary projects. The ability to have snippets (short recordings) from experts in their respective areas, addressing aspects of materials covered in our program enhanced the perception (and I would argue, the reality) of quality of our program.
The only other products like Panopto that I have used are Studio (which is part of the Canvas LMS) and Tegrity.
Studio seems to be much more limited in its functionality, but perhaps it is intended to serve a different audience/market. I prefer Panopto's ability to link to multiple resources (e.g., .pdf documents, other websites, related Panopto recordings, etc.).
Tegrity was the other "lecture capture" system that I tested approximately 12 years ago and my decision to go with Panopto then was based on student feedback. They liked Panopto's ease of use and simplicity.
Studio seems to be much more limited in its functionality, but perhaps it is intended to serve a different audience/market. I prefer Panopto's ability to link to multiple resources (e.g., .pdf documents, other websites, related Panopto recordings, etc.).
Tegrity was the other "lecture capture" system that I tested approximately 12 years ago and my decision to go with Panopto then was based on student feedback. They liked Panopto's ease of use and simplicity.
Do you think Panopto delivers good value for the price?
Not sure
Are you happy with Panopto's feature set?
Yes
Did Panopto live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Panopto go as expected?
I wasn't involved with the implementation phase
Would you buy Panopto again?
Yes