As more and more materials are made available online, including pre-recorded lectures, it is easy to become overwhelmed: in addition to adapting teaching materials for this different type of delivery and streamlining information into shorter instalments, the practical aspects of recording videos for teaching can be daunting. But fear not! The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit has created two guides, a Video Recording Checklist and Video Recording Tips.
It is important to remember that no one expects a perfect greenscreen or Minority Report– style, interactive multi-stream extravaganza. If you follow the checklist, you will ensure your videos will be of a consistently solid standard, without much hassle. The tips offer you extra help with improving your video recording skills.
If you have any further questions, want additional guidance, or seek clarifications, remember that the LTEU is only an email away, at lteu@aber.ac.uk and elearning@aber.ac.uk.
Category: Panopto
Weekly Resource Roundup – 24/8/2020
As lecturer in learning and teaching responsible for the PGCTHE, I keep an eye out for new resources to help our staff teach effectively online. This includes externally-provided webinars, toolkits, publications and other resources. Because active learning is high on our university agenda, Iâm particularly keen to share guidance for moving active learning online. Below Iâve listed items that came to my attention in the past week. In the interest of clarity, our policy is to show the titles and descriptions in the language of delivery.
- 25/8/2020 Advance HE “âOn Your Marksâ: Vignette Presentations on Learner-Focused Feedback Practices and Feedback Literacy”Â
- 26/8/2020 “Panopto Advanced Training Webinar – Video Editing”Â
- NSW Government Education “Cognitive load theory: Research that teachers really need to understand”Â
- Clay, J. “Lost in Translation – a series of blog posts about translating existing teaching practices into online models of delivery”Â
- Dennen, V. (15/8/2020) “Discussion board guidelines”Â
- DePaul Teaching Commons, “Assessing Reflection”Â
- Gonzalez, J. (24/9/2017) “Retrieval Practice: The Most Powerful Learning Strategy Youâre Not Using“, The Cult of PedagogyÂ
- Reddy, K., Harland, T., Wass, R. & Wald, D. (23/6/2020) “Student peer review as a process of knowledge creation through dialogue“, Higher Education Research & DevelopmentÂ
- Learning Scientists, “The Six Habits of Highly Successful Students”Â
- Smith, N. (14/1/2020) “A decade of education theory; the rise and rise of cognitive science of learning“, St.Emlyn’s
Please see the Staff Training booking page for training offered by the LTEU and other Aberystwyth University staff. I hope you find this weekly resource roundup useful. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact our team at lteu@aber.ac.uk. You may also wish to follow my Twitter feed, Mary Jacob L&T. Â
Weekly Resource Roundup 15/6/2020
As lecturer in learning and teaching responsible for the PGCTHE, I keep an eye out for new resources to help our staff teach effectively online. This includes externally-provided webinars, toolkits, publications and other resources. Because active learning is high on our university agenda, Iâm particularly keen to share guidance for moving active learning online.
Below Iâve listed items that came to my attention in the past week. In the interest of clarity, our policy is to show the titles and descriptions in the language of delivery.
Calling @AberUni staff. Do you use short Panopto lectures or Panopto quizzes in your online teaching? We’re after examples to use in our new good practice module. Email lteu@aber.ac.uk if you’d like to share your materials with us.
- 18/6/2020 âTILE Network – Back To School: What Did We Do? What Did We Learn?â https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/webinar-back-to-school-what-did-we-do-what-did-we-learn-registration-109125816254
- 23/6/2020 âHow to localise ABC Learning Design?â https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/webinar-4-abc-ld-localisation-tickets-108845020386 Twitter https://twitter.com/ABC_LD
- 24/6/2020 âALT – Preparing for our ânew normalâ: how can effective student feedback help universities to survive and thrive in the next academic year? Student feedback webinar. Topics to be covered include; Is student evaluation still as important, and what does this look like in the ânew normalâ?; How are universities developing their student feedback mechanisms to reflect what the next academic year is really going to be like?; What are the new, and emerging opportunities, for capturing student feedback?; Is it possible to engage the dis-engaged and traditionally harder-to-reach groups?; How are academic and professional teams being supported to deliver this agenda?â https://go.alt.ac.uk/3e1Xvbe
- 24/6/2020 âUcisa – Virtual Stratified Medicine Lab â intro to basic lab skills. (Designing a virtual lab tour to promote the learning and teaching of Stratified Medicine)â https://www.ucisa.ac.uk/Events/2020/June/Spotlight-on-Digital-capabilities-webinar-2
- âTeaching Innovation & Learning Enhancement (TILE network)â blog https://tile.psy.gla.ac.uk/blog/ Twitter https://twitter.com/TILEnetwork
- Association for Learning Technology (ALT), âCall for chapters: Designing Courses with Digital Technologies: Evidence and Examples by and for Higher Education Instructorsâ Higher education is currently undergoing a digital transformation. As most higher education institutions are integrating digital technologies, instructors need guidance. In this book, to be published by Routledge, instructors from around the world, representing different subject disciplines, will write short chapters with concrete examples of how they use digital technologies to support teaching and learning informed by evidence. The book will be written by and for instructors. https://go.alt.ac.uk/30MLdQf
- Educause Review, âEditorâs Picksâ: âCan HyFlex Options Support Students in the Midst of Uncertainty?â, âTeaching during COVID-19: Why We’re Fortunateâ, âOrienting Students to Online Learning: A Must for Student Successâ https://er.educause.edu/editors-picks
- Gierdowski, Dana and Joseph Galanek, âECAR Study of the Technology Needs of Students with Disabilities, 2020 â building accessible infrastructure for all students with Universal Design for Learning (UDL)â, Educause Review, 1/6/2020 https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/6/ecar-study-of-the-technology-needs-of-students-with-disabilities-2020
- Okpala, Jude, âCOVID-19, Online Learning, and Beijing Jiaotong University, Weihai: Outbreak Narrative or Paradigm Shift?â, Educause Review, 28/5/2020 https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/5/covid-19-online-learning-and-beijing-jiaotong-university-weihai-outbreak-narrative-or-paradigm-shift
- OâToole, Robert, âPeer learning and breakout groups in live online lecturesâ, 20/5/2020 http://www.inspireslearning.com/journal/peer-learning-and-breakout-groups-in-live-online-lectures/
- Rossi, Virna, âInclusive Learning Design â a rich pictureâ, https://inclusivelearningdesign.com/inclusive-tree/
Please see the Staff Training booking page for training offered by the LTEU and other Aberystwyth University staff.
I hope you find this weekly resource roundup useful. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact our team at lteu@aber.ac.uk. You may also wish to follow my Twitter feed, Mary Jacob L&T.
More training sessions available
The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit have got some more Moving to Online Teaching and Using Microsoft Teams for Learning and Teaching Activities scheduled. You can book your place online and we will send you a Teams Calendar invite to attend the training session.
In the Moving to Online Teaching session, we introduce some general guidance on how to design and prepare for online teaching. We look at the various interactive tools available in Blackboard and offer tips on how best to implement them into your teaching. We also provide some guidance on the e-assessment tools available to you, guidance on how to tailor your Panopto recordings for online delivery, and how to design and prepare for online video conferencing sessions. We finish with some guidance on using Third Party Software to support Learning and Teaching.
In using Microsoft Teams for Learning and Teaching Activities, we expand our advice on running online teaching sessions for students and go through the functionality available to you in Teams meetings. We provide guidance and information on how best to run interactive sessions with your students, looking at the document collaboration functionality available in Teams.
Underpinning these sessions are the principles of Active Learning and Accessibility that will help to create effective online learning environments for your students.
We will be developing our CPD programme over the summer to respond to the needs of staff. If you wish to discuss any aspect of learning and teaching, please email lteu@aber.ac.uk. For any technical guidance, email elearning@aber.ac.uk.
Teaching Online? How to make Blackboard Activities more interactive with Adaptive Release
Following the move to online teaching, this blogpost is intended to give you some ideas about how to make your Blackboard Course Site more interactive for students. In the first of this series of blogposts, weâll be looking explicitly at a feature called Adaptive Release.
The move to online teaching, if anything, shows us that Blackboard is a powerful learning tool that can be used for a wide variety of learning activities and not solely as a place in which materials are accessed, lectures are watched, and assignments are submitted. Key to the design of online and digital learning is thinking about what activities you want your students to be doing in addition to what resources they need access to.
One of the most powerful, yet underused tools, in Blackboard is Adaptive Release. Adaptive Release gives you the opportunity to release content based on a series of rules. The most common of these is to limit content based on dates and times or by a user or group of students, but you can also use Adaptive Release to release content after students have completed a certain activity or reviewed certain materials.
For example, if youâve got two lectures that students have got to view but you donât want them to move straight onto the second lecture without having assessed their understanding of the first lecture. Additionally, understanding the content of the second lecture might be dependent on the content covered in the first lecture.
If youâd like to limit moving onto the second lecture:
- Create a Panopto link to Lecture 1 in Blackboard as usual
- Create and deploy an online test in Blackboard that assesses the knowledge and understanding of the content in Lecture 1 focusing particularly on the understanding that students need to know to build on the content in Lecture 2
- Create a Panopto link to Lecture 2 in Blackboard and use Adaptive Release on the link so that itâs only released when students have undertaken the test
Adaptive Release such as the above scenario links to a Grade in the Grade Centre. There are a number of rules that you can apply. For example, you could set the rule so that students have to get a specific mark in the test before they are able to see the content to demonstrate their understanding.
In this scenario, you can ensure that students have gained sufficient knowledge and understanding from the content whilst also creating an environment that responds directly to their activity.
Teaching Tips: Teaching and Learning Continuity
General Points
- Provide clear and easy to understand instructions. This cuts down on the number of emails and queries you will receive.
- Use the technology that you and your students know and can use. Remember that you can include links to our FAQs in your Blackboard course to help your students.
- If you are using your own computer, check that you can do everything you will need to do. If you have any questions you can contact is@aber.ac.uk. These FAQs will help you:
- Working from home: https://faqs.aber.ac.uk/index.php?id=1547
- Teaching and Learning Continuity: https://faqs.aber.ac.uk/index.php?id=2922
Further resources
View the excellent set of resources in the ACUE online teaching toolkit:
- Welcoming students to the online environment
- Managing your online presence
- Organizing your online course
- Planning and facilitating quality discussions
- Recording effective microlectures
- Engaging students in readings and microlectures
See guidance from UK Copyright Literacy on Copyright, Fair Dealing and Online Teaching at a Time of Crisis.
Manage your content
- Active learning at a distance: Think about the learning tasks that you want students to carry out, not just the content covered. Make sure that the tasks are made clear to the students. If the learning task is clear, it will promote active learning even at a distance. For example, a somewhat vague learning task would be to read three articles. A more active task would be to read the three articles and evaluate their arguments relative to each other, or analyse data across several sources to identify patterns, etc.
- Accessibility: Apply principles of good accessibility practice to your PowerPoints, Word documents, and other materials.
- Apply ALT tags to images in any materials.
- Ensure that speaker notes are included in your PowerPoint files and upload the PPT file into Blackboard. Do not just upload a PDF. This gives students another channel to get all of the information you want them to have.
- Use plain English as much as possible. If your students donât understand something well, they wonât be able to ask you during lecture.
- Make sure that your Blackboard course is easy for students to navigate. They should be able to find the relevant material for each week easily and quickly.
- Reading materials: Ensure that all reading material is accessible through Blackboard. Use Aspire reading lists. If some material is only available in print form (e.g. books in the library), find alternative e-books or online sources they can use instead.
- Adaptive Release: You can use Adaptive Release so your materials appear at set times. Try and avoid too many complicated adaptive release rules as they can make it difficult work out why a student canât see documents.
- Box of Broadcasts is an excellent resource for TV and radio material. You can arrange recordings of upcoming material or use previously broadcast programmes.
Blackboard Tests and Surveys
Tests are an excellent way for students to check their understanding of a topic and help you know more about their progress.
- Be sure to include feedback on right and wrong answers, so that your students can learn from the formative quiz.
- You donât have to give the correct answer but can give links to readings, or further resources to help learn the material.
- Write questions that help your students engage with the material, rather than just remembering facts. You can write questions that require them to analyse material, work with scenarios, and do calculations etc.
Discussion Boards
Discussion boards are an excellent way to run a remote seminar. They allow students to engage at times that work for them. They are also familiar to many.
- Activities: Provide activities for the students to engage with on the discussion boards â set starter questions that require them to actively engage, for example analysing data, comparing articles, summarising their reading, creating questions from the materials they have read.
- Guidance on engagement: Provide guidance for students on how you want them to engage with the discussion boards.
- For example, you could ask them to write their own posts, and comment on others.
- Tell them how often you want the students to engage and how often you will engage.
- If you are running a thread for each seminar, you may want to keep the discussion going for a week and then start a new one at a set time.
- Guidance on writing:
- Do you want them to write formally or informally?
- Should they reference their reading?
- Short posts are better than essays â the aim of discussion boards is for students to interact rather than just post their essays
Blogs, Wikis and Journals
Blogs and Journals are a good way of students to document an ongoing process or practice â for example a reading journal. Students can use text, images, video etc. Blogs are visible to all class members, and Journals are private between the student and the instructor.
Wikis are good for group work. They can be used by all the class, or you can split into groups, and each group can have a wiki. Students can use text, images and video, and you can see each studentâs contribution.
- Give students clear instructions about how to use the blogs, wikis or journals. Tell them what you expect: how often you want them to contribute and how often you will engage with them.
- Example contributions can be useful to help students understand what you expect.
- You can make comments on posts to provide feedback.
- All three types of activity can be graded if you want to use them as an assessment method.
Panopto Recordings
Panopto recordings are a good way of presenting information to your students along with PowerPoint slides. You can re-use recordings you have already made, but if you are making new recordings specifically for continuity purposes, bear the following in mind:
- Make your videos shorter than a standard lecture. Students will find it easier to concentrate on shorter videos.
- Link the recording to a learning activity for your students. Encourage active listening with questions, or other activities.
- Make the PowerPoint and speakers notes (if you use them) available on Blackboard.
- If you are still working on campus, use teaching rooms or AU equipment to create Panopto recordings. If you are experiencing problems with installing Panopto on your own equipment, consider re-using recordings you have made in previous years until these have been resolved.
Panopto Quizzes
Quizzes are a good way of breaking up your recording, similar to the way you would use questions in a lecture
- Write clear questions that will help your students engage with the recording actively.
Teaching and Learning Continuity
This FAQ outlines the e-learning tools available to staff to provide teaching and learning continuity
Information Services guidance for working from home can be found in the FAQ here
Human Resources (HR) guidance for working from home can be found on the HR website here
We recommend staff and students use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox web browsers
Blackboard as a Learning Environment
What can I do? |
How do I do it? |
| Familiarise yourself with Blackboard | See our Getting Started in Blackboard Guide
If you do not see all your modules see our FAQ on how Staff are enrolled on modules See our Blackboard FAQs |
| Manage your learning content effectively | See our FAQ on uploading files and content to Blackboard
See our FAQ on managing your links and folders See our Checklist on making your documents accessible See our Teaching Tips |
| Use Announcements within Blackboard to communicate with the students on your module | See our FAQ on adding an announcement in Blackboard |
| Let your students know how to contact you by adding contact information to your profile | See our FAQ on adding Staff information to a Blackboard module |
| Use Blackboard tests and surveys for formative assessment | See our FAQ on Creating a test or survey in Blackboard
See our guidance on tests and surveys See our Teaching Tips |
| Enable students to engage with yourself and each other via a discussion board | See our FAQ on adding a discussion board to your Blackboard module
See our guidance on discussion boards See our Teaching Tips |
| Utilise blogs, wikis and journals for student reflection and collaboration | See our guidance on blogs
See our guidance on wikis See our guidance on journals See our Teaching Tips |
E-submission
What can I do? |
How do I do it? |
| Familiarise yourself with using Turnitin for E-submission | See our Quick Start Guide to Turnitin
See our Turnitin FAQs |
| Create Turnitin submission points for your students to submit their assignments to | See our FAQ on creating a Turnitin submission point |
| Mark Turnitin submissions and provide feedback online | See our FAQ on marking assignments in Turnitin |
Lecture Recording
What can I do? |
How do I do it? |
| Install Panopto on your own computer so you can make recordings from wherever you are working | See our FAQ on installing Panopto on your computer |
| Check your microphone is working | See our FAQ on checking your microphone is picking up sound |
| Make a Panopto recording | See our FAQ on making a Panopto recording
See our FAQ on re-using recordings you have previously made See our Teaching Tips |
| Add quizzes to your Panopto recording | See our FAQ on adding a quiz to your Panopto recording
See our Teaching Tips |
Virtual Meetings
What can I do? |
How do I do it? |
| Familiarise yourself with using Skype for Business for Virtual Meetings. | See our Skype for Business Guide
See our guide for Learning and Teaching Activities using Skype for Business. |
| Install Skype for Business on your machine | See our FAQ on installing Skype for Business (Windows)
See our FAQ on installing Skype for Business (Android) See our FAQ on installing Skype for Business (Mac) |
| Arrange a meeting or virtual teaching session | See our FAQ on how do I set up a meeting or video conference using Skype for Business |
For further help and guidance please see the E-learning webpages and our Guides and Documents webpage
Welcome to new students (and welcome back to our returners) â some top tips on using our E-learning Systems
Weâd like to say hello to all new students and welcome back to those who are joining us again for another year. With the start of term approaching, we thought weâd provide you with some advice and top tips on using our E-learning systems. In this blogpost, weâll be introducing our main services to you. E-learning support and advice is provided by the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit located in Information Services.
Here are some top tips to help you get started.
- Use Chrome or Firefox to access our systems
- Make sure you have your Aberystwyth username and password handy.
- Over the next few weeks take time to familiarise yourself with these systems so that you are ready to use them
If youâve got any queries regarding IT or library services, email is@aber.ac.uk or call 01970 62 2400.
Virtual Learning Environment
Firstly, Blackboard is the Universityâs Virtual Learning Environment. You can access Blackboard by going to blackboard.aber.ac.uk. Youâll need your Aberystwyth Username and Password in order to login. Your language preference for using Blackboard is taken from your preferred language of choice in your student record (Welsh or English). Every module that youâre studying has its own Blackboard site. Here youâll find materials that will support your learning and teaching. In addition to this, youâll be able to access your lecture recordings and submit your assignments electronically. You can navigate to the different areas of a module by clicking on the left-hand menu.
In addition to accessing your teaching materials, you might be asked by your lecturer to undertake some other activities in Blackboard such as tests or quizzes, wikis, blogs, or reflective journals. Youâll also have Departmental sites which will include important information regarding your assignments and further support that you might have.
E-submission
All text-based word-processed work will be submitted electronically whilst youâre here at Aberystwyth University via Blackboard. Youâll also receive your marks and feedback electronically as well. There are two different types of electronic submission available: Turnitin and Blackboard Assignment. Weâve got specific advice available on our FAQs for submitting via Turnitin and also via Blackboard Assignment. See below for some top tips on submitting your work electronically:
- Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to submit your assignment before the deadline
- Most of the work that you submit will be marked anonymously so donât put your name on your assignment
- Save and name your assignment as something meaningful to you
- Double-check that you are submitting to the correct module
- Check your emails after youâve submitted to make sure youâve got an email receipt
- Give yourself time to read your feedback carefully after youâve got your marks
Lecture Capture
Aberystwyth University makes use of lecture capture software called Panopto. This means that you are able to access recordings from your lectures via Blackboard. Thereâs a great infographic by Nordmann et al (2018) on how best to make the use of lecture capture to support your learning. Their advice is summarised below:
Firstly, make sure you attend your lectures. Whilst lecture recordings are available for you, this is no replacement for being live at the teaching session. Here youâll have opportunities to ask questions and also learn from your peers. Think of the lecture capture as supplementing the live teaching sessions. In your lectures, make sure that you make notes and attempt to summarise the discussions in your own words.
When watching the lectures back, be specific and go to the bits that you donât understand or donât remember. Donât watch the lecture as a whole â you should ideally do this within a few days of the lecture taking place to see how much you do remember. Make sure you have your lecture notes handy so that you can add to them.
If you are unable to attend the lecture for valid reasons, make sure you watch the recording within a week so that you can keep up to date with the content â donât binge watch at the end of the semester. If you are making use of the recording, make sure you watch it at its normal speed and donât fast forward. Give the recording your full attention and donât do other tasks such as the Go back to the bits that you donât understanding and re-watch these sections. You can find the full article online.
References
Nordmann, E., Kuepper-Tetzel, C. E., Robson, L., Phillipson, S., Lipan, G., & Mcgeorge, P. (2018). Lecture capture: Practical recommendations for students and lecturers. [online]. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/sd7u4. Last accessed: 03.10.2019.
Using Lecture Capture Effectively: Tips for staff and students
In this blogpost we will be looking at how we can use lecture capture more effectively to enhance learning and knowledge retention. We will build on our previous blogpost Making use of the captioning and quiz function in Panopto.
The tips and discussion below are based on a paper being published this year by psychologists from Glasgow, Dundee, Sheffield and Aberdeen Universities, in collaboration with staff from IT Services at the University of Manchester. The paper, entitled âLecture capture: Practical recommendations for students and lecturersâ, is written within the context of self-regulated learning and offers guidance to students and staff on how to make the most out of lecture recordings. Aberystwyth University introduced its Lecture Capture Policy in 2016 following the introduction of Panopto in 2013. As lecture capture has increased across the UK Higher Education sector,[1] focus is now shifting on how it works with learning.
The article is available online and is split into 4 sections:
- Introduction
- Self-regulated learning as a theoretical framework for lecture capture implementation
- Recommendations for students
- Recommendations for staff
In addition to this, the authors of the study have created an infographic with their main findings aimed at students:
Normann et al, 2018.
The full infographic is available online.
The E-learning Group discussed this paper as part of their regular team training hour. Below are some of the points that we would like to highlight to staff and students:
- Students should view recordings only as supplement to their learning and not as a replacement of attendance. Studies have found that attendance at the live session had a stronger relationship with the final grade with lecture capture being used to support learning.[2]
- Introduce students to the Cornell note-taking system and encourage them to take notes during lectures. Note-taking enhances knowledge retention, but it is a cognitively demanding task therefore using strategies such as Cornell note-taking system can help students to make most of it. Thereâs a video introducing Cornell notes here.
- Incorporate reviewing video recordings into âhomeworkâ activities, encouraging them to go through their notes and re-watching only targeted sections of the recordings. Students should re-watch the lecture within a couple of days of attending the session, but not directly afterwards. Making a break between revising increases knowledge retention. Watching the recording in full makes it more likely for the concentration to be lost, therefore students should focus on the sections which they do not remember or understand and use the recording to improve the notes they took in the first place. They should review their notes whilst watching the recording.
- If student misses a lecture it is advised that they watch the recording in full as soon as possible and then revisit the recording within a couple of days watching only targeted sections as described above. They should watch the recording in its normal speed and take notes during watching as they would do during a live session.
- Make use of the active learning activities â these might include peer discussions, practise questions at the end of the session, in-class voting. Evidence shows that more of the interactive activities as more likely students will want to attend the lecture rather than watch the recording. Consider using quizzes in Panopto to test their knowledge or check whether they have understood the material: https://faqs.aber.ac.uk/index.php?id=2771
Weâll be embedding the tips from this reading into our forthcoming training sessions. Weâve got the following coming up
- E-learning Enhanced: Using E-learning Tools for Revision Activities (27th March at 3pm in E3, E-learning Training Room)
You can book onto this session here.
Weâre always on the look-out for guest bloggers so if you use Panopto in a particular way, why not drop us an email.
References
Credé, M., Roch, S.G., & Kieszczynka, U. M. (2010). Class attendance in college: A meta-analytic review of the relationship of class attendance with grades and student characteristics. Review of Educational Research, 80 (2), 272-295. https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0034654310362998
Newland, B. (2017). Lecture Capture in UK HE: A HeLF Survey Report. Heads of eLearning Forum, retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx0Bp7cZGLTPRUpPZ2NaaEpkb28/view
Nordmann, E., Kuepper-Tetzel, C. E., Robson, L., Phillipson, S., Lipan, G., & Mcgeorge, P. (2018). Lecture capture: Practical recommendations for students and lecturers. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/sd7u4
[1] Newland, 2017 reports that 86% of HEIs have lecture capture technology.
[2] See Credé, Roch and Kieszcynka (2010).
Making use of the captioning and quiz function in Panopto
Panopto is the Universityâs Lecture Capture software. In summer 2018, Panopto moved to a cloud hosted environment which means that in addition to fewer instances of downtime, we also benefit from regular updates and enhancements to the software. Whilst using Panopto for lecture capture remains its primary function, we have also seen an increase in innovative uses from across the University, including using it to record assessments, using it in the creation of assignments and also in creating performances.
A scheduled Panopto update in December to version 6.0 saw the introduction of quizzes, captioning and better statistics so that you can see more information on how viewers are using your Panopto content. This blogpost is looking specifically at making use of the captioning functionality and also the use of quizzes (if youâd like more information on the increased functionality of statistics, see this blogpost and our FAQ).
Using the captioning function in Panopto
Although itâs not 100% accurate, you are able to import automatic captions for your recordings. To do this, go to the video in abercast.aber.ac.uk that you wish to get captions for and follow the guidance in this FAQ. In addition to providing transcripts for those who want to view the lecture, those who conduct interviews as part of their research or dissertation might also find the automatic captioning useful as a basis for transcription. If youâd like to record an interview, download Panopto, create a recording and import the caption.
Using the quiz function in Panopto
In addition to being able to caption recordings, Panopto now also has the ability to add quizzes so that viewers can interact with lecture recordings in a more meaningful way. There are currently three types of questions and the ability to stop a viewer progressing through the recording until theyâve answered the questions. Youâve also got the ability to download the results so that you can view progress. We see a massive increase in Panopto usage during exam time. From the end of term in December 2018 until the end of the examination period in January 2019, 768,594 minutes of recordings were viewed. This equates to 12810 hours or 534 days. Adding quizzes to Panopto recordings will mean that viewers will be able to test their knowledge as theyâre watching. If youâre interested in using quizzes then weâve got this FAQ and also this guide.
If you’ve got any questions about using captioning or quizzes in Panopto then get in touch (elearning@aber.ac.uk / 01970 62 2472). We’re also running an E-learning Enhanced Training session on Using E-learning Tools for Revision Activities on Wednesday 27th March at 3pm. You can book onto that course here.