Making Videos with Panopto

Let Students Know You're With Them!

Whether you're teaching online, hybrid, or face-to-face via Zoom, there may be times when you need to make a video.  Okay, yes, especially if you're teaching online or hybrid, you will need to make videos.  Why, you ask?  Because students need to see that we are with them, even in online classes or the online parts of hybrid classes.  If our students never see us, they will have a more difficult time engaging with the class, and if they aren't engaging with the class, the more likely they will be to drop the class. (It doesn't even have to be a long video Links to an external site..)

But don't fear the video making process!  It can be easy and low stress.  We can't all create videos while jogging like Professor Wesch does, but he has great ideas for making engaging videos:

Use Panopto

When you create videos, Panopto is a great choice.  You can create videos to introduce yourself to students, cover material students find challenging, or just to check in!  The Panopto Orientation course in Canvas has what you need to get started.

When you're ready:

• Add Panopto to Canvas.
• Record a video Links to an external site..  It will automatically show up in the Panopto Recordings screen in Canvas.
• When you're done, add automatic captions Links to an external site.!  The autocaption tool in Panopto does a pretty good job. You can easily edit the captions for anything Panopto gets wrong. It may struggle, for example, with technical terms.  After you've completed your recording, give Panopto a few minutes to finish processing your recording. 
• You can also do basic editing like deleting  a section of your recording. The editor, though, is not especially intuitive.  Follow the step-by-step instructions Links to an external site., and you'll be fine!
• A nifty video about making Panopto videos is at the bottom of this page.

Panopto has a mobile app, so students can watch (or create) recordings on tablets and phones.

• Download the Panopto App (iOS Links to an external site., Android Links to an external site.)
• Note: when a student starts the app, they need to enter Highline’s server address: highline.hosted.panopto.com. Links to an external site.

Pro Tip: Save these recordings, and use them in future years for the class.

This video shows you how to create Panopto videos.