Panopto FAQ

The answer depends on what you want to do with Panopto. If you just want to view Panopto recordings, all you need is a link to the video (often embedded in a web page or Moodle course) and a compatible web browser or mobile device.

As a viewer of Panopto recordings, your main interaction with Panopto will be accessing links to recordings, for example in a Moodle course. Certain types of links may ask you to log in. If that happens, just log in with Google and your St. Olaf account. If you still can’t access the video, the person who created the video will need to change the sharing settings.

If you are creating Panopto content, you can view, share, edit and organize your recordings in the Panopto Video Library. All St. Olaf users automatically have a Panopto account, just log in using Google. You can also initiate recordings from the library. The video library is accessed by visiting go.stolaf.edu/panopto.

To make a Panopto recording, you will need to download the Panopto Recorder or use Capture, the browser-based recorder. Both can be accessed from the Create menu in the video library.

You need to have a St. Olaf account to log into Panopto.

The normal way to log into St. Olaf’s Panopto is to log in with Google and your St. Olaf credentials. Occasional problems with logging in can be the result of being logged in to Google with more than one Google account, a personal account for example. Panopto can grab the wrong account, one that is not authorized to access Panopto, and you’ll get an error message.

The solution is to log out of your Google accounts, then log back in to your St. Olaf account. Go to one of your Gmail accounts. In the upper right you will see the account for the page you’re on. Clicking on the account will display the Google accounts you’re logged into in the browser. Use the Sign out of all accounts link to sign out, then sign in again with just your St. Olaf account and try visiting Panopto again. If you visited a Panopto link from within a Moodle course, go to Panopto by logging into Moodle and following the link again.

If that doesn’t clear up the problem, try quitting and re-starting the browser or using a different browser.

If you are using a Mobile device, see the Panopto Mobile App section below for instructions for logging into Panopto within the app.

Occasionally, particularly when trying to access a Panopto recording from within a Moodle course, you may receive a message saying you do not have permission to view the recording. This message is because there is a problem with the sharing settings for the recording or its folder on Panopto.

This is something only the creator of the recording or a system administrator can correct. Please do not use the Request Access link. Although this may fix the problem for you, it is likely that all the students in the course are affected by this issue. Please report the problem to the St. Olaf Helpdesk.

There are several potential reasons for this, but basically it all comes down to the fact that Panopto presents recordings differently depending on how the recording is being played back. On a large screen such as a laptop or desktop computer Panopto can present itself in a way that puts all its features in plain sight. On a phone or tablet, Panopto senses it is playing on a smaller screen and hides various features away until needed. This also happens when a recording is embedded in a web page such as a Moodle course.

Here’s an example of Panopto embedded in a web page. The video will play in the small window, but it’s impossible to clearly see what is being written on the document camera. Clicking the slanting arrow in the lower right will expand the recording into a new window, making it possible to see the writing on the doc cam clearly.

The Panopto viewer has many features designed to enhance learning.

For example, you can set bookmarks and take notes within the viewer, search for terms mentioned in the soundtrack or on slides, enlarge the screen where you need the most detail, and speed up or slow down the sound track for efficient listening.

Here is a link to a complete tour of all the features of the Panopto viewer. Note that the Panopto viewer will have somewhat different features and appearance when viewed on a mobile device.

There are actually two different ways to make Panopto recordings: Panopto Capture, a capable browser-based recorder, and Panopto Recorder, which which has additional features that are only required in special cases. Panopto Recorder requires installation, so for most people Capture will be the simpler option. The starting point for finding either is the Create menu in your Panopto video library, which you will find by logging in at go.stolaf.edu/panopto using your St. Olaf credentials.

We recommend that you give Capture a try first to see if it serves your needs. Here’s a video showing how to use Panopto Capture. If you later want to use Recorder, you can install it from the Create menu.

Whether you use Capture or Recorder, it is often helpful to begin a recording in the Create menu from the folder where you want the recording to live. That will make it easier to save it into the correct folder.

If your recordings have no sound, it is likely that no working audio device is selected in Recorder or Capture. Double check your Panopto settings to find an audio source that registers sound in the level indicator.

If the sound quality is bad, try a different microphone, and try to reduce distracting environmental noises as much as possible. Computers often have more than one audio source. For example, your computer probably has its own microphone, but you might also be using a USB headset or the microphone in your webcam. Figure out which provides the best sound by making test recordings, and then make sure it is selected as the sound source in Panopto Capture or Recorder.

NOTE: This topic only applies to Panopto Recorder in Windows, when you’re using Powerpoint. Capture and the Mac Recorder do not capture the Powerpoint slides separately.

The cursor (and Powerpoint annotation tools) only shows up when you record the screen. When you just record Powerpoint, Panopto grabs the screens directly from the application, and therefore only shows the slides, and will not show any mouse activity.

If you want to point to things on your Powerpoint slides, or write on them as you are presenting, you must record both. Each has its advantages! The advantage of recording the screen is that your pointer shows up as you speak. The advantage of recording Powerpoint is that Panopto grabs the slide titles and makes a helpful clickable index of the lecture, and the slides show up with maximum quality in the recording. The viewer can select which to view at playback time.

When playing back your Panopto recordings which include Powerpoint, students can choose to view either, but will only see the pointer when they choose to view the screen recording. Note that this capability is specific to Powerpoint, and is not available with Google Slides.

When teaching on campus, the answer is simple…just use Panopto and the document camera in any of the classrooms. Not so simple when you’re teaching from home! But there are ways, and the best answer depends a lot on what technology you have available.

A smartphone can be used as an improvised doc cam, although how to use it for recording is not obvious and requires a bit of tinkering. The method will be highly dependent on what type of phone you have. If nothing else, you could take a series of photos and add them to your slides. Adobe offers a free app that facilitates creating clear document images using your phone, just one of many.

If you have a spare webcam lying around, that can also work well, with appropriate software.

If you have a tablet with touch input, you could make a recording of your writing (with finger or stylus) and make it available in Moodle. With an iPad and a Mac you can use the iPad as one of the video inputs for recording software such as Panopto, writing directly into any of the many apps that accept handwriting. Using an iPad in this way is also possible in Windows, although it requires a bit of tinkering.

Another possibility is a graphics tablet such as the Wacom One.

We recommend that you contact the iTech team via the St. Olaf help desk so we can help you craft the best solution based on what you have available.

And if you happen to have a Surface or other touchscreen laptop, you’re set!

Panopto recordings can be shared using a link which you will find in the settings for the recordings. The link can be shared via email, added to a Moodle course or added to a web page. Panopto recordings can also be embedded in Moodle or any other web page. Scroll down to see an example of an embedded Panopto recording.

One way to share your Panopto recordings is to log in to your Panopto video library at go.stolaf.edu/panopto.

There are two steps to sharing a Panopto recording. First, you need to get the link by clicking the Sharing icon for the video.

Second, you need to make sure the intended people can view the recording by making an appropriate choice under Who has access.

Note that in addition to sharing individual videos, you can also share entire folders from your video library. Any video you place in a shared folder will automatically be shared with the same people or groups, saving you the work of sharing videos one at a time.

We do not recommend “Anyone at your organization” or “Anyone with the link.”

More about sharing Panopto recordings

This video provides further details about how to share Panopto folders and recordings. Note that you can click the arrow in the lower right of the video to get a larger view.

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You will sometimes run into situations where a student can’t view a recording you’ve shared with them, either as a link or within Moodle. This is usually because you’ve neglected to select an appropriate sharing setting. In your Panopto video library, find the recording you want to share and hover over its icon or title. Several options will appear beneath the recording. Select the sharing icon to set or change sharing settings.

The sharing settings you choose will depend on the situation.

If it’s just a few people, you can make sharing settings that allow specific individuals access.
If multiple people need access, we recommend the setting “Anyone at your organization with the link.” This means that only logged-in St. Olaf users will be able to view the link.
Using Panopto in a Moodle course, once a linkage has been established, offers much more control over who can view a recording, which Panopto manages automatically. You don’t have to use this functionality to use Panopto recordings in a Moodle course, but in many cases it is the best recommendation. Have a look at Using Panopto in Moodle for more information.

Panopto includes a basic video editor with a number of useful features. Hover over the title or preview of a Panopto recording to find its Edit button.

One of the most common editing tasks is trimming a recording so it has a tidy beginning and end. You can also easily remove material from any point in the recording. All changes in the Panopto editor are “non-destructive”, meaning that you can easily undo any changes at a later date.

Other capabilities of the Panopto editor include setting the preview image for a recording, adding web pages YouTube videos or additional video, creating a table of contents, and editing captions.

Here’s a video overview of the Panopto editor. Detailed documentation on using the Panopto editor is available here.

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YouTube videos are often an important part of a lecture or presentation. Panopto makes it easy to add any YouTube video, or portion of a video, to your recording using the Panopto Editor. You’ll find instructions here.

Note that YouTube videos will only play when the panopto viewer is playing in its own window, not when embedded in a page. Viewers can easily pop the viewer into its own window from an embedded view using the arrow in the lower righthand corner.

If you want to use Panopto recordings within Moodle, installing Panopto in your Moodle course offers certain advantages.

When you select a course folder in Panopto Capture or Recorder, your recording is automatically posted to the connected Moodle course. Optionally, you can also control when a recording will become available.
Students are presented with a list of the available recordings in the Panopto block or Panopto folder view.
By default, your recordings are only available to students registered in the course. As students drop or add the course, Panopto dynamically manages access rights.
Panopto also creates an Assignment folder, where students can use Panopto to create their own Panopto recordings such as presentations.

The essential piece of “plumbing” for linking your Moodle course with the related Panopto recordings is either the Panopto Block or the Panopto folder view tool. The obvious function is to provide links to your recordings, automatically added each time you make a new recording. But there’s a lot more than that happening behind the scenes. Adding one of the Panopto tools (the block or folder view) creates a course folder on Panopto specifically linked to the course, making it easy to save your recordings directly into the course from Panopto Recorder or Capture.

Panopto also creates an access group for the recordings and automatically manages who is in the group as students add or drop the course. When you save a recording to the course folder, members of the access group automatically have viewing rights, allowing you to limit who can see the recording to students enrolled in the course. Panopto also adds any teachers on the course to the list of creators for the course.

Making the Moodle–Panopto connection

The Panopto video folder, which forges the connection between Panopto and a specific Moodle course, has been added to all the timetabled courses on the 2020-21 Moodle server. The folder is hidden by default, and will only become activated if you make it visible. Once activated, you can can later hide the video folder if you prefer, the connection between Panopto and the Moodle course will be maintained and recordings you embed elsewhere in your course will still be accessible to students in that course.

If you don’t intend to use Panopto, you can either leave the folder hidden, or delete it from your course.

If you would like to expand your understanding of how to use Panopto with Moodle, just reach out to iTech via the Help Desk.

You don’t need to use the Panopto block or folder view to add Panopto recordings to a Moodle course, but keep in mind that if you don’t use the connecter, you will have to manage the sharing settings for the recording yourself. The recommended setting in this case would be “Anyone from your organization with the link.” See Sharing and organizing your recordings elsewhere on this page for details.

In addition to providing links and embed codes as sharing options for each recording, Panopto adds a dedicated button into the Moodle editor for inserting recordings into a course.

To embed a Panopto recording into a Moodle activity or resource, anywhere you see the editor, simply expand the editor menu to show all the available tools and select the Panopto button.

In the Insert from Panopto dialog, select the recording you would like to embed, or upload a video. Panopto adds the embed code for the item to your Moodle page. You can also add whatever text or other material you want to include.

One way to reinforce learning is to add some quiz questions to your videos. Pausing to think about and answer a question, even a fairly simple one, causes a learner to more actively engage with the material. You can even set the video to not advance until a student gets the right answer, after re-watching the relevant section.

Quizzes can only be taken by signed-in Panopto users. Checking the results is one way to get a sense of which students are actively engaging with the content.

Quiz creation is a function of the Panopto editor, which can be accessed by hovering over a recording in the video library and selecting the Edit button.

Note that in addition to adding quizzes to your Panopto recordings, you can also upload video to Panopto and create quizzes within the uploaded video. Needless to say, you should make sure you have permission to use any video uploaded in this way.

Here’s a video showing how to add a quiz to a Panopto recording. Detailed documentation on using the Panopto quiz functions is available here.

To check the viewership statics for a Panopto recording, hover your cursor over the recording in your video library at go.stolaf.edu/panopto and select the Stats icon.

This will take you to a wealth of information such as unique views, views per day, number of minutes, and identity and viewership patterns of any logged in viewer. In addition to viewership data on individual recordings, you can also view aggregated statistics for entire folders of recordings.

Much more information about Panopto stats and analytics is available on the Panopto support site.

If you are using Zoom to cloud-record presentations, class sessions, and others meetings, Panopto can be set to automatically import the meetings into your Panopto video library. From there you can share and edit them like any other Panopto recording.

This is especially useful if you want to hold onto your Zoom recordings for more than a couple months. Zoom cloud storage is intended to be temporary. Contact iTech via the Help Desk to request this connection, it is not automatic.

Panopto is both a way to make recordings geared towards teaching and learning, and a video repository, a place to collect, organize and host rich media.

Follow these links to see some of the many ways Panopto is being used at St. Olaf College.

Panopto FAQ

Getting Started and Logging In

Viewing Panopto Recordings

Making Recordings

More about sharing Panopto recordings

Enhancing your Panopto recordings

Using Panopto with Moodle

Making the Moodle–Panopto connection

Teaching with Panopto

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