Recording & sharing video for blended learning

Video is playing an important role in facilitating blended learning this year and the University has implemented a new platform – Panopto – to support this. Video in this context includes screen recordings as well as videos of people.

During 2020-21 there will be a greater use of video for:

• Pre-recorded short presentations, lectures and demonstrations that students can watch in their independent study time. Scheduled online teaching sessions can then be used for more interactive and discursive activities.
• Informal, short videos to complement text-based information and communication. For example, welcome messages, weekly summaries and assessment explanations. This can help add personality to Moodle sites and help build a sense of community.

Videos for teaching and learning don’t necessarily need to be studio quality. Usually ‘good enough’ approaches are appropriate for these types of resources, as long as the audio is clear.

Panopto – UAL’s new video platform

Panopto is our new digital learning platform for recording and publishing educational videos. Audio, video and screen recordings can be made with Panopto or media files can be uploaded to the platform.

The Panopto software can be installed on any computer (Mac or PC), so it can be used on personal computers at home as well as UAL devices. There are also apps for phones and tablets.

Panopto & Moodle

Panopto has replaced Moodle as the location to upload/publish video. Sstudents will continue to access the recording via Moodle but they will hosted on Panopto.

Recordings are initially published to the secure Panopto website where captions can be added and the videos edit.

Ppanopto is integrated with Moodle, so recordings can easily be shared with students on Moodle sites.

Access Panopto directly or via Moodle.

To record, upload or publish videos, you must first enable Panopto for your Moodle site(s). See: How To Enable Panopto in Moodle [PDF – 159KB]

Other video platforms

The previous UAL platform for educational videos, such as classroom recordings, was Replay. It is now being phased out.

New videos should be published to Panopto and existing recordings on Replay will be moved to Panopto.

Stream, part of Microsoft Office 365, is the other UAL platform for internal video sharing. It has been used and can continue to be used to publish educational videos. However, there are advantages to using Panopto instead, in particular its integration with Moodle which helps manage access to the recordings.

Live teaching sessions

UAL has other platforms for delivering and recording video-based live teaching sessions:

1. Collaborate Ultra is the University’s online classroom tool. Collaborate sessions can be recorded, and the recordings are automatically added to Moodle to share with students.
2. Microsoft Teams is ideal for one-to-one tutorials. Teams meetings can also be recorded if needed.

Panopto has a broadcast function, known as webcasting, but it isn’t recommended for teaching sessions as it provides no opportunities for interaction such as text chat.

Non-UAL digital platforms can be used to create video recordings but mustn’t be used for live teaching sessions. See Using Non-UAL Digital Platforms for Teaching and Learning.

Further guidance

• See Creating Educational Videos on UAL Teaching Online for guides on planning and creating videos and using Panopto.
• Contact the LCC Digital Learning team (LCCDigigitalLearning@lcc.arts.ac.uk) if you have any questions.