- There is a proposal to pilot Panopto for one year with existing funds. This will not be a comparison pilot. We have looked at Panopto (demos 1 and 2), Arc, and Ensemble. Arc is still in beta and not viable to use in pilot. Based on our research, it seems like we can do the most with Panopto (content capture, lecture capture, streaming). Feedback from other schools: faculty are using it themselves with little help. We have determined through research that Panopto is best of breed and affordable. The ACTT team supports the video streaming recommendation.
- Panopto would be available for one year. The recommendation on continuing will need to be made after the first semester. If we recommend Panopto, we should also recommend a term for continuing (e.g., 3 years).
- Is this a pilot or a staged rollout? Using the term pilot might be most appropriate, helps educate users on the process we use to evaluate systems, and gives us flexibility if we decide not to adopt it. It also clarifies the support expectations and how new to all of us this service is. Pilots are often considered to be part of staged rollouts. A pilot was planned as part of the MediaCore rollout. Team tentatively agreed to consider this an open pilot in the Fall with a more widespread rollout in the Spring, pending the decision at the end of the pilot.
- MiddMedia will be available through the pilot.
- The focus of the pilot will be academics and instruction. We are also interested in testing out its streaming capacity for events.
- Parameters of the pilot will be determined later. Will it be limited to specific classes or openly available? Should we limit it to instructional needs or to other use cases? Who should we reach out to specifically? We might set up workshops or intro videos to introduce the product. What model should we adopt as far as the contract is concerned? Enterprise (more expensive) or limited license (more management and limited use). Team felt it should be made available to the entire community.
- Should it be hooked into Course Hub during the pilot? (Anticipation of one and half months of calendar time / 1-2 weeks of work to integrate, similar to Canvas.) May be better to integrate to avoid messy cleanup with accounts if Panopto is adopted. Classes begin at Monterey during the 3rd week of August. June: begin integrating with Course Hub. Could Panopto set up a test account for Web Technology to tinker with?
- How to create shared libraries? Automatic provisioning or by request only? Who has permissions? Suggestion to have a request form to make sure the appropriate conversations happen in each case.
- We’ll need to determine an exit strategy if we don’t adopt Panopto.
- We’ll need to come up with criteria for evaluation. Asset management capability will need to be assessed during the pilot. What are our needs in this area? How will we organize our directories and assign permissions? How will we assess this?
- End of June: establish contract with Panopto.
Feedback from other colleges
Skidmore, Hamilton College, Holy Cross, Lake Forrest, and Gettysburg.
Skidmore and Hamilton are using Panopto and Ensemble for different purposes. Panopto for lecture capturing and Ensemble for video asset management. Both are happy with both products and say they are easy to use.
Holy Cross has been using Panopto for the last 2 years and they are happy with it.
Gettysburg College has been using Ensemble since the summer of 2014. It is used primarily to store videos for their library reserves (75%) and the rest for faculty created content (mostly flipped classrooms). For the most part happy with it.
Lake Forest College has had Panopto for 2 years and are pretty happy with the decision. Several faculty have done a lot of screen-casting, and they were able to get started with minimal hand-holding.